Chinese New Year in HONG KONG! Part One

I just got back from celebrating the Chinese New Year in Hong Kong! 2009 is the Year of the Ox. Hong Kong was amazing and I did the usual Chinese New Year stuff. Of course, it was usual for the Chinese and not for me. The Chinese New Year, also called Spring Festival, is a two week long holiday. I flew over to Hong Kong last Sunday, the 25th of January-the Eve of the Chinese New Year. I arrived pretty early in the day, around 12 noon into Hong Kong International Airport. The first "weird" thing I noticed about Hong Kong is that they have body temperature sensors once you get out of the plane and entered through the gate. Apparently, HK police do not want people with a high body temperature in the country. Yes, HK is a different country; and American citizens do not need a visa, yes! Anyway, I thought the body temperature sensors were very strange. I understand that you do not want sick people in a country, but temperature sensors? I had thought that it was a little extreme.

I had come to HK with my colleague, Claudia; then we boarded the bus to the city. We were staying in this really, really shitty hostel on Kowloon side of the city. The city is split into two main areas: Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. Hong Kong as the country has a lot of islands including the New Territories that border with mainland China. Kowloon is on the same piece of land as the New Territories. Anyway apprantly, Kowloon is the ghetto side of HK; though it was cool. Kowloon's main district, Tsim Sha Tsui is pretty lively with a lot of bright neon light signs. My despicable piece of shit hostel, called the Mirador Mansion, was in Tsim Sha Tsui. The hostel was just disgusting. It reeked of urine and there were bugs all over the place. The paint was coming off the walls, leaving several big ugly patches of color, even though the paint is not a pretty color itself. It seemed like the building was in the slums. I took pictures of course, only to show off how gross this hostel was. My bed was actually ok, well at least to the naked eye. My shower however, was over the toilet. It was really awkward trying to shower. I kept thinking, "Should I sit on the toilet and shower...or should I stand in an odd position around the toilet?" Nonetheless, I was in Hong Kong and sure as hell wasn't going to spend my time in a hostel, especially a gross one.

My first day there, the Eve of CNY (Chinese New Year), I walked around the Avenue of the Stars and saw all of the Chinese movie star names on the pavement, similar to the one in Hollywood. Then I took the Star Ferry, much like those water taxis in Baltimore, across the Victoria Harbor to Hong Kong Island. I saw the much talked about Hong Kong skyline. I took the also much talked about trams from the Central District to the Causeway Bay District. Causeway Bay had so many bright neon light signs, even more than Kowloon. It reminded me of those pictures and movies I would see of Hong Kong back at home. This area was always how Hong Kong was illustrated in movies. I went over to the CNY Flower Market in Victoria Park next to Causeway Bay and saw the wide variety of flowers. There were flowers that I had seen before and others that I had never seen before. I took a lot of pictures. At the market, I tried bamboo juice. It was very thick and very green. I was a little nervous trying it, but it turned out not bad. It tastes like the smell of freshly cut grass. After that, Claudia and I had an Italian dinner at Causeway Bay.

Second day in HK, the first day of the CNY, Claudia and I had a traditional Hong Kong brunch serving dim sum. Dim sum is Hong Kong's specialty. We had at least four or five kinds of dim sum. It was delicious. One of the truly delicious meals I have come to find in a Chinese country. When we had paid for our meal, we got a little present in return from the restaurant. I opened it and it happend to be ten Hong Kong dollars. Whoo, I love CNY! Everyone gets presents or money, I mean, literally everyone. Then we hopped on a ferry and headed to Lantau Island, one of HK's outlying islands. Lantau Island was beautiful; it was a mountainous countryside covered in a jungle. I had seen different kinds of vegetation that I had never seen before, not counting the bamboo. We docked at this tiny village and took the bus to one of the Lantau's peaks. The bus reminded me of those pictures I had seen of buses in Africa, but this was just only a step up from that. It was really bumpy on the way up and felt ages old. I was a little apprehensive going up the mountains since the bus drove along the edge of it and felt like it could drop and roll down the moutain cliffs. But I saw goregous countryside, which I would love to see again. At the top of one of Lantau's peaks was the infamous Giant Buddha. The Giant Buddha is over 300 meters tall and make of solid bronze. It is in a little one-street village called Ngong Ping. As I climbed up the very long stairway to see the Buddha, I was also looking over Lantau Island and the South China Sea. So much greenery, things that I never see in Shanghai. I also visited the Buddhist monastery, Po Lin it was called, and it was completely decked out in CNY decorations. There were so many people that had come to see the monastery and to pray. There were lighted incense in various stick sizes; it had actually gotten to the point when it was hard to breathe due to all of the smoke in the air. The monastery was beautiful as it was plentiful in gold buddha statues. After seeing the monastery, we walked back to the village down the road and had gotten our palms read by a very old man, who of all languages could also speak English. He looked at my palm lines and said that I had operations before and also had gotten into serious trouble before as well. Both true. He also said that I have a very clever brain; but I do not use it enough due to my stubbornness. Maybe also true. Overall, it was a great day on Lantau Island and a great way to start the first day of the Lunar Year, the Year of the Ox. I saw the Giant Buddha, went to the Po Lin monastery and gotten my palm read.

Claudia and I headed back to Kowloon for the CNY parade. The parade was awesome. It had many different floats from various countries. I also saw the dragon that I always seen in movies based in Hong Kong. That was my favorite part of the parade. There were three dragons total, all in many vivid colors. There was a float that had a giant ox, which I thought was pretty cool. There was one part of the parade that I didn't like. It was the American float. Of all things, they chose to represent the United States with cheerleaders. Yes, cheerleaders. I kept thinking, "oh my god, this is an awful way for HK residents and other tourists to see America." This might have well strengthen the American stereotypes. The parade lasted an hour and half long. After that, Claudia and I headed over to Hong Kong Island's main nightlife district, Lan Kwai Fong for some drinks. Lan Kwai Fong was a really neat little area, just full of bars. It had streets that was designated for pedestrians only and the temperature that day was so pleasant, I could walk around without a coat. Most of the bars are all outdoors, which almost never I get to enjoy in January.

Overall, this was a great way to start of my first CNY. After this day, I had decided that I love Hong Kong and sort of wished that I had moved there in the first place. Anyway, I am started to get tired of typing, since I have so much to say. I will be back soon for part two of CNY and will also write a separate entry on differences between Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong Chinese. So different, by the way.