Hong Kong

I’ve been in China for less than a week – and not really in China at that – and I’m already sick of Chinese food. I’ve come to like Chinese food less and less in recent years – the restaurants in D.C. are terrible - and have been pointedly reminded of that fact in recent days. I’ve been getting by on raisin-croissants and sundry other items: On Monday night we rode the Peak Tram, a glorious trip, up to the peak and ate pizza and Australian wine at Café Deco. Tonight Ed Turner and his wife Mary – friends of Bill Meadows’ at TWS – took us out to dinner at the China Club, which partially restored my hope about the country’s cuisine. The Peking duck was the best I’ve ever had.

I am reminded of why I fell in love with this city on my first visit several years ago. It is like New York, without the cultural attractions, without the grime, with better architecture, and with twice the human energy. People are everywhere, buildings are everywhere, and, above all, stores are everywhere. There is no space too small for a shop, and no self-respecting office building that does not have a full-blown shopping mall on the ground floor. I dislike shopping, but there is something awe inspiring about the sheer scale of commerce in this city. Its philosophy was artfully articulated by a sign we saw in one of the malls, this one in one of the pedestrian overpasses that keep people from getting run over on the streets. “Whoever said that money cannot buy happiness simply did not know where to shop.”

We’ve seen all the major sights: The Peak, the ultra-modern buildings in Central, Nathan Road on the Kowloon peninsula, the Peninsula Hotel, the crowded markets of Mong Kok, and the Star Ferry, with its dreamy panoramic views of the city’s glittering lights. Speaking of which, the city has a laser and light show every evening at 8PM that adds even more wattage to what is already the brightest skyline I’ve ever seen.

Today we made it to the museum, which I missed on my previous visit, and which has an impressive collection of Chinese paintings, ceramics, and decorative arts. Some of the most beautiful works were by a contemporary artist, Huang Yongyu. His painting was terrific, the inscriptions he included on some of them were what really sold me on his work. I would elaborate, but I think most of the work is better appreciated visually.

Public transportation here is amazingly efficient. We’ve never waited more than three minutes, literally, for the subway, and can get from our hotel in North Point, a business-ey neighborhood several miles from downtown in 20 minutes – door to door. There is even free internet access at the Central subway station. The hotel itself is pleasant, though the room is small; it is infinitely better than some of the decrepit old hotels that cater to backpackers closer in town.

We cross into mainland China tomorrow (Wednesday), and then catch an overnight bus to Guilin. We were quite naïve in our thinking about travel in China: when we went to the CTS office (state-run Chinese Travel Agency), we were told that all of the trains from Guangzhou – the main city in southern China, about two hours by rain from Hong Kong, and Guilin were booked for days. Even the buses are largely sold out. We also decided that we would cheat some on the overland portion of the trip – we’ll be flying from Guilin to Lijiang on Feb. 2nd, rather than gearing up for the 30 hour-plus overland journey. We’ll do some of that overland going the other direction from Lijiang to Hanoi later in February.