To Hong Kong…China Journey, Part One

Leaving on an overnight train to Shenzhen, we began our trek heading south in search of warm weather. Jeff and I had waited three hours in line for train tickets the week before (train travel is very popular with the Chinese), purchasing our only option of sleeper seats in two separate cabins. Tanner & I took the top bunks above an elderly Chinese couple with Jeff in the adjacent cabin over a young couple with a baby. We all managed to get some sleep in spite of noisy passengers and multiple stops throughout the night. Following our early morning arrival we eventually found the path to immigration to enter Hong Kong. Literally crossing the border bridge, aside high walls with barbed wire barriers, we entered a city much different from Mainland China. As even the currency is Hong Kong Dollars, we traded in some of our RMB for HKD and began translating yet another exchange rate. We took the ultra modern train/subway route into the heart of the city (Kowloon) to find our proposed accommodations. Lonely Planet had recommended budget rooms in “mansions” along Nathan Road, the main drag in HK. These mansions (old buildings) had been subdivided into numerous small “hotels” some with only portions of a floor. After reviewing Mr. Chan’s triple room options on the 14^th floor, we checked out Tanner’s pick at The Cosmic Hotel two floors below. When they showed us a cramped corner room with a view down Nathan Road, we took it negotiating a rate of $30. As the beds formed a “U” shape around the room, we could actually hold hands while lying down. The corner compact bathroom with showerhead over the toilet completed the suite. We had hoped this traveling would bring us close family time; we just had not considered it literally!

After taking the historic Star Ferry across to Hong Kong Island, we took the tram up to Victoria Peak to get oriented to the city. Following the beautiful trail around the peak, we took in lovely views across the harbor and to surrounding islands. Coming upon an overlook on the west side, an elderly man offered us a dark piece of glass through which to view the setting sun. We were overwhelmed to view a spectacular solar eclipse occurring! We knew that God had brought us to this particular place and moment to witness His glory! As we went on our way, we encouraged others to look, as most people on the mountain were unaware of the wondrous display. (It reminded us of other ways in which we are often unaware of His working.) Searching out dinner options we found Bubba Gump’s Shrimp Co. also on the Peak and were seated with a view of the nighttime HK Harbor. Since many of our Chinese students often spoke of Forrest Gump, we had recently watched the movie and enjoyed the many references to our southern roots and Greenbow, AL. As Forrest says we should all “live life like it’s the two minute warning.” We took many pictures to share with our student friends. Riding atop the double-decker bus and bargaining in the Temple Street Night Market ended our first day in HK.

For our second day in HK, Tanner chose a ferry trip over to Lamma Island, a picturesque island with a few small villages and an abundance of natural beauty. Walking a 5 km path across the island, we took in tropical views of flowers, mountains and sea. Before returning to the big island, we couldn’t resist sharing an order of fresh prawns. Sunday was our third HK day, and we chose a path through Kowloon Park to a nearby church. Upon hearing familiar congregational praise songs (…L_rd there is none like you…), we were overwhelmed in His presence! It had been five long months away from our ch_rch family, and we had not realized how much we missed singing & wo_shiping together with a large group in our own native language! It was a blessing to see the S_irit moving among many Asian people openly joining together in pra_se! The warmth of the people and the message from Revelation 3 of His warning to be not be lukewarm comfortable Chr_stains was extremely encouraging. Afterwards we took directions to a Chr_stain bookstore nearby where we were encouraged by another couple visiting from Michigan as well as the shop proprietor. Browsing through the shelves, we came across Gary Chapman’s Five Love Languages of Teenagers with our friends from Atlanta pictured on the cover…a sweet reminder of home! Of course then we thought of singing “ It’s a small world…” but thought they might not understand, so…we didn’t. We went on our way refreshed in His love brought to us by brothers and sisters in Chr_st! Our day ended with more bargaining at the Mong Kok Ladies Street Market where Tanner found a cool Batman belt and we all got HK T-shirts for a total of $8.50.

In many ways Hong Kong hit us like a blast of fresh air! We almost didn’t include it on our itinerary as we thought it was just another big city like Shanghai. However, it was a big city more like the US or Europe than China with Western influences, restaurants and shopping. We found delicious Mrs. Field’s cookies, 7-Elevens on every corner, Dr Pepper & Quaker Oat Squares at the supermarket, Caesar salad topped with chicken and English spoken everywhere. Hong Kong left us all with a wonderful taste of home that was what we needed in many ways.

From Hong Kong we traveled on along the coastline to Hainan, China’s popular beach island. At the recommendation of our previous Chinese Friendspeak readers, we went to the Da Dong Hai Bay beach in the city of Sanya. As we didn’t make a reservation, we took a city bus to a hotel that we had read about in LP. Unfortunately, the hotel had no available rooms, nor did the one across the street, or the one next to it, as we drug our suitcases to each and began to think maybe we should of made a reservation. Finally we found a Chinese hotel with a clerk who spoke a bit of English, and put on our shorts to head to the beach! (A real treat as we left Hangzhou wearing our heavy winter coats!) Even though this is not their high season, the beach was fairly crowded and swimmers were in the cold water. Palm trees and outdoor restaurants encircled the bay, but it didn’t compare to our beautiful Florida beaches! As this portion of the beach is very popular with Russians, we found many restaurants and shops with Russian words…yet another foreign language to us! (Here English is the third language!) We found a Russian beachside spot and ordered the carbonara and the fish meatloaf. (Yes, it was a bit odd!)

The following day we followed Tanner’s choice to relax on the beach. Renting padded beach chairs under a cabana for $4/day, we sat back to read and take in the sights. People watching was very amusing as we began to notice many who came to pose on the beach. Although we often take photos on the beach, we have not seen such model-like posing…so we couldn’t resist taking pictures of the models and the photographers. After a friendly English-speaking girl at a nearby supermarket offered us tastes of many interesting fruits, Tanner decided she liked the “mountain dragon fruit” best. Jeff & I also took an interesting walk around the bay to discover terraces leading to steps, to walkways, to bridges, to a final overlook point which reminded us of those novels where someone accidentally?…slips into the sea…never to be seen again! Although we savored the respite, we were anxious to get back to the mainland, so we took off to Kunming early the next morning.

~ Cathy