Golden Week in Hong Kong

We arrived in Hong Kong from Bali via Singapore just in time for the huge fireworks display for National Day to kick off Golden week. There are two Golden weeks celebrations in China where people travel home from big cities or as we discovered, travel to Hong Kong to shop! We were lucky enough to be able to watch the fireworks over Victoria Harbor from our hotel on Hong Kong Island. Seeing the harbor lit up on both sides from all of the high-rise buildings almost dwarfed the fireworks!

We have adventured out to find some famous Hong Kong dim sum. We found a place inside one of the big high-rises. It was a little intimidating as we were the only foreigners in the restaurant until we realized that it wasn’t really that different than venturing into a dim sum restaurant in Monterey Park! The only real confusion was trying to get some soy sauce (we didn’t know the word in Cantonese) and “soy sauce” seemed to translate as vinegar…

Other meals have been a little more challenging – with vague menus or descriptions that are only slightly more useful than just staring at the Chinese characters (eight delights with XO sauce). We have been trying to try something new each meal – something we would not be likely to order. Shredded jellyfish was our first challenge (I was holding a grudge against them every since snorkeling in Indonesia). It wasn’t much – more like really stiff Jell-O with sesame oil – we probably don’t need to get again. Another meal it was stir-fried eel. We actually weren’t that sure about it, but the “helpful” waitress wouldn’t really let us NOT order it. It came in a sizzling hot stone bowl, cut into delicate fillets and stir-fried with green onions and ginger…and yes, it was delicious! We also tried something called “mantis” prawns that ended up coming looking just like 2-inch lobster tails. I think they were actually langoustines. Hairy crabs are the big delicacy here. We haven’t tried that yet but are working our way up to it!

We have been getting to know our way around Hong Kong Island and Kowloon little by little. We took the Star Ferry across Victoria Harbor to Kowloon and wove our way through the crazy Chinese shoppers. People were actually lined up to get in to the Chanel and Prada shops! We found our way through the crowd to end up at Kowloon Park to let the kids run around and check out the bird aviary.

Another day, we took a double-decker hop-on, hop-off bus around town. We toured all through Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. We were blown away by the number of huge, high-rise buildings and how many people we saw in the streets. Singapore is also very densely populated, with most people living in apartments, but you never felt crowded. Here in Hong Kong, you are very aware of how many people are around. The parks are all full of people playing tennis, basketball, doing tai chi and just hanging out and the streets and metro are almost always full.

Yesterday, for a change of pace from Kowloon and Hong Kong Island, we took a ferryboat ride out to Lantau, one of the hundreds of outlying islands. It was so small and sweet! There was a small waterfront area with delicious seafood restaurants and pedestrian paths with almost no one around. We took a bus up to the top of the island where the largest outdoor Buddha is seated (he is 34 meters tall!). There were lots of people here, but still fewer than Hong Kong! It was drizzly and foggy, so Buddha looked very mysterious peering down on us through the wispy clouds.

For all of its modern and Western ways, Hong Kong is still very traditional. In the newspaper there was a story about people in the new territories being able to sue the government for public projects that impact the feng shui of their communities. In addition to this, the government has a fund to pay for the requisite rituals to be conducted before starting on new projects to appease the proper deities. We also heard about fortunetellers that you could go to (who many locals go to) to put curses on your enemies. Apparently there is a relationship between how long the curse lasts and how much it costs – you can chose for just a day or two or for eternity if you are a big spender!

We are really enjoying Hong Kong so far and still have much more to explore. We will be here for another week and then head off to Mainland China. We’ll spend a about a week in Beijing, a few days in Xian to see the terra cotta warriors, and then a few weeks to Shanghai (including the Expo before it closes!).