Hong Kong

Cal, the master of promoting all things Cal, wanted to me to clarify that this week in Hong Kong is not actually part of my sabbatical, but rather, my sabbatiCal.  (He's been letting me crash on his couch so I'm not in a position to deny this request).  Now onto slightly less Cal related things...

Given that I really needed a chance to recharge after a hectic couple of months, easing into travel by first crashing in Chicago for a few days and then spending a relaxing week in Hong Kong has proven to be a good decision.  I was able to get over jet lag quickly, take my time wandering around the city, and still tie up some loose ends back in DC without feeling like I was wasting limited time.

The weekend was spent hanging out with Cal and his friends and was pretty low key in general.  I was exhausted for most of it, although I think it had more to do with me being run down than with jet lag.  Sunday morning I decided to run the stairs in Cal's apartment building.  Given that the weekend before I placed fifth in my age group at the Willis Tower race, I thought a twenty eight story residential stairwell should be fine.  In fact, the stairwell wasn't much longer than my office stairwell, but it was so dusty and the air here is so miserable that I was struggling to breathe by the top.  Given that I think I'm in better aerobic shape now than I have been in a long time, I now understand why there isn't much of a fitness culture in Hong Kong.  Later that night Cal and I met up with a friend of his to hike up to the Peak.  From here we could see over the whole city.  I got gelato at the top, breaking my almost 48hr chocolate fast.  We took the tram down which reminded me of a slow roller coaster but was actually a pretty neat experience.

Before planning this trip I wasn't aware that Hong Kong is a city with the country just on the edges.  I heard that one of the islands, Lantau, had good hiking and a giant Buddha.  It was enough to sell me on the idea so I hopped on the MTR and within forty minutes I was queued for the cable car that goes to the big Buddha.  The Buddha sits on top of a hill and is huge so it could be seen from the cable car; up close it was even more impressive.  There is a monastery nearby, so I wandered over there for some vegetarian dim sum.  I then continued onto an art exhibition called the Wisdom Path which is a series of wooden stakes with passages from the Heart Sutra painted on them; these stakes are arranged in an infinity symbol on the side of a hill.  I was feeling pretty adventurous so I decided to hike up to Lantau Peak.  I had read this was a strenuous hike, but I am in pretty good shape so I decided to go for it.  The peak sits at 934m and the hike itself was pretty vertical on stone steps.

You thought I'd go to Asia without them?

YIt took about forty five minutes and I was so hot that my pant legs were rolled most of the way up and I was in just a tank top.  I passed a lot of people near the bottom of the trail.  Most were only hiking up high enough to get some good photos.  I don't think I saw anyone for the last twenty or thirty minutes of the hike up.  Since I didn't see anyone on my way up and I was drenched in sweat, I was very surprised to find two guys dressed in jeans and flannel shirts at the top.
They were both from Hong Kong and very surprised that as a tourist I chose to leave the city and go hiking.  I opted to go down the other side of the mountain which, while rolling, was preferable to the vertical climb down which was my other option.  I reached the bottom of the mountain, continued on the trail for a little bit longer, then hit the highway.  I hopped on the bus and was halfway across the island in twenty minutes.

The next day my legs were dead from my hike so I opted for a beach day.  I headed down to Stanley which is a beach town on the south side of Hong Kong island.  It reminded me of the Mediterranean.  I felt at ease for the first time since I arrived in Asia; for someone so pale I have a real fondness for the beach.  I wandered through a park that goes along the water for awhile, spent some exploring the woods off the path, then headed down to the beach.  The beach was kind of sandy but mostly slightly larger rocks; they weren't rough to walk on and they weren't so small they got into everything.  I slept, read, wrote up some notes, and ate chocolate.  The water was warm and clear; I somehow forgot to bring a swimsuit and the beach was not at all secluded so skinny dipping was out of the question.

Stupidly forgot my swimsuit

I eventually headed back towards Cal's, catching the MTR during rush hour.  I was warned of how crazy it could get.  Maybe I had my expectations set too high, but I didn't find rush hour to be crazy.  Everything was very orderly, albeit crowded, and people were very patient about waiting for the next train.

Mine is much smaller than Jackie Chan's

It was comparatively warm out the next day so I headed to the museum campus.  I started with the Avenue of the Stars which is Hong Kong's version of Hollywood's Walk of Fame.  From there I continued onto the art museum and was underwhelmed.  Hitting the local art museums is something I enjoy doing in a new place, along with climbing to the highest points, and checking out the underground city.  Half of the six exhibition halls were closed and the three that were open were quite underwhelming.  There was very little explanation about the work there and I didn't find myself really getting into anything.  Next was the space museum.  It was small and pretty elementary but I thought it was well done and entertaining enough.  I spent the next few hours wandering down the Kowloon waterfront and eating.

Sha Tin Race Course

That evening I headed to the racetrack.  Apparently horse racing is the only legal form of gambling in Hong Kong so the races are very popular.  There were lots of old men there, many just sitting in the betting rooms watching the race on the tv screens.  It was my first horse race that I remember (my dad tells me he took me once when I was very small and I was terrified by the horses charging towards me) and I thought it was worth the time just to see expats and locals all taking very different approaches to enjoying the same activity.

In summary, Hong Kong was much more varied in its terrain than I was expecting.  You can get to some great hikes and beaches in under an hour on public transit.  The food is good, plenty of variety, and it's much cheaper than most major cities I've been to.  The only real issue that stuck out to me regards traffic.  The city is very efficient at moving people around, but once they are off of mechanized transport, it seems to fall apart.  I think this is the one thing that really bothered me.  There is no established foot traffic pattern, people walk very slowly, and no one seems to think it's a problem if you just stop in the middle of the sidewalk for no apparent reason.  I am generally a fast walker and walk like I'm in a rush to get somewhere so I always think people move slowly, but Hong Kong stands out singularly in how inefficient foot travel is.