Hong Kong - Nov 2nd, Nov 4th - Nov 7th 2004

We hopped onto an Airbus A330 via Dragon Airlines to make our way from Shanghai to Hong Kong. The Airbus A330 was definitely the nicest plane I've ever been on, the headrests had wings to make it easier for you to fall asleep as it kept your head from falling over into the lap of your neighbour. Our departure from Shanghai included a warning to not carry live crabs onto the aircraft and upon our arrival into Hong Kong Ernie and I met international movie star, Jackie Chan!

Rather than fly into the now defunct Kai Tak Airport we landed in the new Hong Kong International (aka Chep Lak Kop). Unlike the thrill ride that it used to be (never done it) the landing was as straightforward as at any other airport as the airport is a goliath with massive sprawl. Hong Kong spent megabucks getting this airport built - it includes a rail line, a major highway, the flattening of an island and several major bridges. My aunt's husband picked us up and took us down to a small neighbourhood restaurant that served roast goose (like Peking Duck but goose instead). Tasty stuff. The sweet and sour pork was also a lot better than the stuff we have in Vancouver - lighter flavour, better meat.

We had some time before we were due to arrive at my mom's parents home in Chai Wan so we were taken around Hong Kong Island by Richard (my aunt's husband). Our tour mostly revolved around the West side of the island and then the less populated Southern side. We stopped at Victoria Peak and got a nice view of Hong Kong although you can clearly see the pollution. On our loop of these neighbourhoods my parents recounted many memories of their youth including the private school which my dad attended and the roads where my dad courted my mom and raced his motorcycles down the mountain at night.

The exceedingly narrow roads on the south side of the island were where my dad and his friends used to race at night on their motorcycles and I found them fascinating - they reminded me of the fearsome Historic Columbia River Highway which I hit in 2004 except that these roads were busy with trucks and tour buses who navigated these narrow roads with the confidence that spoke of years of experience or lots of stupidity.

After a tour of most of the island we headed over my grandparents home in Chai Wai. My mom had warned Ernie and I that we should not be expecting the same living standards at my grandparents that we might be accustomed to especially as we had been staying in 4 and 5 star hotels for most of the trip. We had actually been offered the option of staying with my dad's older brother or of renting a hotel room for our stay in Hong Kong but I figured that if my grandparents could swing it then I could swing.

So we arrived and one of Ernie's first words to me were, "This is the most ghetto place I've ever stayed in" and he hadn't even been to the bathroom yet. I had no idea my grandparents lived in such a poor neighbourhood and in such a decrepit apartment. I had always assumed that they had something reasonably comfortable that was supplemented by contributions from the members of the family that still lived in Hong Kong. I had expected it to be cramped, I had expected it be older but I hadn't expected that it'd be a safe ghetto. I can see why when I send money back to her that it means a lot to her.

We quickly caught up with our grandparents, grandparents we hadn't seen in around 15 years. Grandpa was/is doing relatively well but grandma was getting progressively worse. I had known for a couple years that her health was degrading (she has diabetes) and that was a big part of my motivation for returning home, I wanted to see her one last time. You could see how much both of them loved their family, photos of every family member were plastered everywhere. They included wedding photos, family photos, baby pictures and some were old and some were new. There were pictures of myself when I was a child back when they lived with us in Vancouver.

I have lots of family in Hong Kong on both sides of the family tree and many of them I'd never met before; my dad is the ninth child out of eleven while mom is first among seven. Our first night in town would be spent having dinner with my mom's side of the family which consisted of her two younger brothers and their families. This is where I discovered that Hong Kong residents like to drink shitty American beers like Pabst Blue Ribbon. It didn't taste so bad mostly because I hadn't had a good beer in nearly 2 weeks.

My dad is an inverterate window shopper/walker so after dinner we hopped on the awesome subway system to head over to the mainland side of Hong Kong. From there we browsed Nathan Road briefly and then ended up in a night market which I believe fell into the Mongkok neighbourhood (Mui guy for those who know Cantonese). There, lots of people were offering to tell me my fortune of which I chose not to purchase. The last photo is actually on the island side but it didn't fit in with any other photos so therefore I grouped it here - I don't remember where I took it.

The next morning we actually traversed over to Macau for a daytrip but on our return we began to see more of Hong Kong as my parents began to take my brother and I around. It is at this point that we realized that Hong Kong is just one gigantic shopping mall - there's nowhere that you can't buy stuff. The damn subway system is built entirely around the idea of shopping, each stop has a big mall on top of it, even in poor ass Chai Wan.

After wandering around Hong Kong and shopping for awhile we stopped at a desert shop. Cantonese deserts are awesome and it's a shame that we don't have such desert shops in Vancouver (our population doesn't support it). Following that we headed over for dinner with my mom's side of the family where we enjoyed "normal" food. Up till now we'd pretty much been doing the fine dining route and hadn't really sampled the food that the poletariat ate and tonight we would do that. It was great.

I briefly mentioned the awesome subway earlier on but let me expand on it. It's great! Multiple lines, straightforward routing and ticket purchasing (although one ticket of mine failed on exit). The dense population has helped make this possible as it means they can invest a lot of money into short lines but at the same time the dense population doesn't make the subway system an unliveable system - it was never jammed packed and there were no delays to speak of. The rest of the transit system, the trains, buses, ferries and streetcars were just as efficient. Nice job HK. Oh yeah, that little girl was the cutest kid I'd ever seen, I wish I had taken more pictures of her.

As Hong Kong is just one big mall we went out to shop some more. This time around I snagged a slick Adidas watch and a pair of shoes. Then we took the ferry across the increasingly narrow Hong Kong harbour to meet my dad's older brother. On the topic of shopping and being in Hong Kong I have a reasonable level of fluency in Cantonese and because of it my comfort level was much higher in Hong Kong than it was in China. I was a little nervous regardless though because this was going to be the first time where I was really putting my 2nd language to full use - in Vancouver I can use English as a backup but with my relatives this wasn't going to fly. Luckily enough, I had no trouble communicating with my relatives at any point; I never felt the need to resort to English as the conversations flowed just fine in Cantonese.

This night was set aside for my dad's side of the family - a group that isn't nearly as close as my mom's side. My dad's family was relatively well off and the children got to indulge in their in whatever hobbies or interests they had. They went to school in English universities in the states and in England, they were raised by a coterie of nannies while my grandparents ran the business. My dad indulged in his interest in motorcycles - he even raced in a support race in Macau for the Macau Grand Prix back in the 70s.

The next day we made our way to shopping central of Hong Kong but before that we visited the stationery store that my cousin had opened in a very pricey mall (I forget the name). I picked up a variety of photo albums for which I'm going to put many of these pictures into. Anyways, we headed over to the escalator seen in Chungking Express. It runs for quite a while, that's all I've got to say about it.

Finally, the day before we left we headed out to the far side of Hong Kong island (I don't recall the name either) to have lunch with my mom's side of the family. This was perhaps the only place where pollution didn't really pollute the view although the view was not towards the mainland but out onto the water.

While Shanghai was the city that provoked the most wows Hong Kong was perhaps the most fascinating and personally satisfying. I attribute it partly to the fact that I saw more of it than the other cities but also because I can see where the blood runs. I don't know how long I could live there but I can call it home despite not being raised there and having spent no more than 4 weeks there in my first 28 years, it sorta felt like home. It was the city I could understand. It's how I see my mother, she is entirely a woman of Hong Kong, scrappy, tempermental and hard-working.

It was in Hong Kong where I didn't feel like a foreigner (language helped but they speak English and Cantonese in Macau and it didn't work there). What couldn't I deal with in Hong Kong? The relentless pace, I dial my intensity in and out when I need but I never leave it turned on as much as they do in Hong Kong. Actually, it's not the whole place that is turned on but to make it in Hong Kong you have to be dialed in. Not dialed in? Well, you'll live in public housing like a third of the population.