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November 15, 2005
Long weekend in Hong Kong
After Thursday’s late arrival, Gene and I quickly met at his office building, Charter House in Central, so I could access his flat. Then it was a quick HK$20 taxi ride up into the mid levels of Hong Kong Island. (The mid-levels are served transport-wise by cars, busses, taxis, sidewalks, and most interestingly a reversible escalator that starts smack in the center of Central). Next was a quick dinner with Alice and then straight to bed—the past 1.5 days of travel had taken its toll.
The mid-level escalators drop one directly into the heart of central. On Sunday’s this becomes the focal meeting point for the thousands of foreign domestic servants to meet up with each other, eat, gossip, play cards and enjoy their once a week day off. Most of these women seem to be from the Philippines but there appear to be other countries as well.
Friday saw me on a walking tour of Central and thereabouts in search of the Chinese Visa Office. Through security, up to the seventh story of China Resources Centre on Harbour Road, fill out the application form, take a number…and wait. An hour and HK$390 later I was instructed to return Tuesday morning to pickup my passport with visa. Next was Tex-Mex time at Coyote Bar & Grill Lockhart Road that Lonely Planet lists near the Visa Office. Veggie burrito, basket of chips and a water: HK$270! Not a good deal. I was beat and went straight back to Gene’s to watch DVDs and sleep. Blah.
Saturday was more fun: Alice and I met at the MTR’s Central station, exit A and then were off on the ferry to Lamma Island. Our last planned hiking trip on the isle was a wee bit on the wet side. This time the sky was sunny and clear. Along the way we came across this cool Organic Farm/Tea bar run by a nice chap, his wife, and an orange cat who demanded respect. We had some organic passion fruit, organic iced Lemon Grass Tea, and I bought some organic red chilies for a certain punk ass bitch named Steve in Denver. Oh, I should mention that we tossed the passion fruit peals to the rabbits that were clearly grateful.
That evening, Gene, Alice, Alice’s friend Mary, and myself went in search of Stu-friendly food. On the third attempt we found an Indian joint on Wellington Street called Tandoor Indian Restaurant. Good stuff. HK$960 later, Alice and Mary went their individual ways home. Gene and I stayed in SoHo and headed for a private party some of his friends were hosting at Om’s Lounge on Graham Street just north of Staunton Street. After an hour or so of talking to banker after banker after banker, I finally met a non-banker. It was very refreshing. That said, one of the bankers had heard of Child’s Dream before! Very exciting—surely Marc and Daniel back in Chiang Mai will be pleased. Then Hong Kong’s finest showed up and made everyone go inside. Om’s is a small joint and it quickly became unbearably hot. So, Gene and I headed for Barco on Staunton Street where we drank many San Miguel beers until 0500 while talking politics, history, and all that drunken argument-inducing kind of stuff. (Gene’s one of those well informed conservative types who knows his shit. But I’m still right, damn it!)
Sunday was culture day. Alice and I went to the Space Museum to watch a one hour film in the Stanley Ho Space Theatre (HK$32) about Albert Einstein. Next we were off to the Hong Kong Art Museum to see the ancient Chinese Gold and Jade jewelry exhibition. Some really old items were on display, some dating back to 3000 B.C.E.! Alice had to leave for a family dinner but I stayed on and toured the Chinese Fine Art Gallery on the fourth floor. My favorite painting was Zhang Ding’s contemporary, western-influenced Girl of Ethnic Minority.
Today, Monday, had a single goal: organize the transportation to Nanning in mainland China. After some initial confusion and hours of walking all over Central and TST (southern Kowloon), I had purchased a KCR East train ticket to Guangzhou East Station on the mainland for HK$190. In two days, Wednesday, my 1100 High Speed Express Through Train take me into China proper were I have about four hours to catch my HK$660 China Southern Airlines CZ 3331 flight to Nanning.
Tomorrow’s plan includes checking out Hong Kong University’s graduate school admissions office, picking up my laundry, buying some Stu-friendly food for the following day’s journey, dinner with friends, and packing. Blah.
Posted by stu at November 15, 2005 02:33 AM