Hong Kong, Beijing, & Shanghai – CHINA: the Vertical Nation of Miscommunication

THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA!

Hong Kong at Sunset - View from the Ship!

Panda Hat! And Bamboo of course!

 My Chinese adventure began in Hong Kong, which is still considered separate from China. I had to spend a lot of my time there trying to get a Chinese visa. Thus, Hong Kong for me was RUSH RUSH….wait. I clearly misjudged the Chinese because I thought they were orderly and efficient but this wasn’t the case at the visa office where 2-hour lines were the norm. After rushing over to the Chinese Ministry office, I realized they had JUST closed for lunch. I killed time going to lunch at a local spot where it was obvious that I was the only white girl and the whole menu was in Chinese. My first cultural roadblock.

The rest of the day and the next were spent on a wild hunt for the visa. I was told I couldn’t get it till the following afternoon but when I showed up at 3pm the next day I needed $200 in Hong Kong Dollars and no credit card was allowed. Unfortunately all my money ($200 exactly) was on the ship. I then began my mad dash through the city. Luckily, I conquered the subway system but it was still a fight against the hundreds of Asians perusing the mall that was connected to the ship’s terminal. Then I made another citywide sprint to the train station that led out to the airport. I had another stressful wait as the train sped towards the airport. Arriving at 5:30 when my flight left at 6 was beyond stressful but I was determined not to miss that flight to Beijing. And I didn’t, despite the odds against me such as a gate change and the impossibly gigantic airport. Although Hong Kong was a busy blur, it was fun. I enjoyed my night out there as well, especially the killer view from the Intercontinental while I was there with some friends.

I was so excited to finally catch up with my group and guide in Beijing, and when I arrived at the Red Wall Hotel all my friends were wearing these hilarious panda hats. By the end of the trip, if you didn’t have one you were not really in China. We went out into the freezing cold and bar hopped along an icicle-draped road and danced the Beijing night away. The next morning the sightseeing began with trips to the Forbidden City (the emperor’s palace) and Tiananmen Square – the biggest square in the world. We ended the day in shopper’s paradise, the Silk Road. It was laden with jackets to combat the cold on the Great Wall and knockoffs to die for. Although my mother probably won’t believe this, I wasn’t too interested in shopping so I sat down at a restaurant with 3 German guys. “Prost!” they said, the German word for cheers, and informed me that Mercedes Benz was paying them good money to go out drinking every day in Beijing. How they accomplished this I do not know!

A two-hour drive took us to the epic Great Wall of China. We had dinner at the base of the wall and then braced our bodies for the 10-degree night we would spend sleeping on the wall. It was a long, cold night spent snuggling up in our sleeping bags trying to keep warm. I was worth it though as the next day we had a gorgeous 3-mile hike across the wall. At the end, I was so thirsty that I convinced a Chinese man to give me some water. I was so happy that I gave him a huge hug. It’s the little things like standing on the top of the Great Wall hugging a little China man that make this trip incredible. Looking out of the watchtower into the mountains and across the winding wall wasn’t a bad experience either.

The day continued with a trip to the Olympic Stadium back in Beijing. There are two adjacent buildings – the Crow’s Nest and the Ice Cube that are really incredible works of architecture and their names reflect what they look like. One of the absolute highlights though was the Kung Fu show we saw. It was like a Chinese Cirque De Soleil but for only $15. It was quality entertainment and I laughed and cheered the entire time. Those Asian men can flip, jump, and kick in an impressive way.

 We killed time waiting for the overnight train to Shanghai by grubbing on Micky D’s. Although we gag from it in US, McDonald’s tastes amazing in different countries. It’s not that we are desperate for American food – we get it on the ship, it’s because it really is delish! I would also like to add here that surprisingly there are just as many if not more KFCs around the world. Two hundred of us got on the train where there were 2 bunks to each cabin and I was pumped to discover the complimentary slippers they gave us. The 11-hour train ride was a blast  - quality social time and I met a lot of new students that I hadn’t met before. I didn’t sleep much but it was a ton of fun, especially since I’d never been on a sleeper train before.

When we got to the ship in Shanghai we were faced with a 3-hour line to get onto the ship. I took a moment of wondering why the ship cannot be more efficient – they have to check ids, passports, and search each individual’s belongings looking for anything that cannot be brought onboard. To kill time while the line went down we went to the Hyatt for an unbelievable buffet breakfast. It was the most amazing buffet spread I have EVER seen – although expensive it was worth every penny. They had everything you could wish for and when I asked for OJ or hot chocolate they brought the best OJ and hot chocolate ever.

Although all I wanted to do was sleep, I “rallied” and went out exploring Shanghai. Here I found more culture shocks. A Chinese boy came up to me to shake my hand and tell me he loved me. Then I tried to take a taxi back to the ship but got lost because communicating in Chinese difficult – I often drew pictures of a boat to tell them where to take me. At one point I was dropped off somewhere random so that I had to take a psychedelic tunnel under the harbor to make it back to the ship. Only in Asia would they have a “site seeing tunnel” that was a crazy light show with bizarre crying baby mixed with rocket ship sounds blaring from the speakers. My night out in Shanghai was really fun with a dinner where they cooked on the table in front of you, and an evening watching crazy dancers in an authentic Chinese club.

On the last day I went to the Shanghai Zoo and absolutely loved it. The leaves had turned gorgeous colors and I enjoyed the scenery just as much as the animals. The highlights were the Panda bears and the grizzly bear. The Chinese are allowed to throw food to the animals so the bears and elephants would sit up like dogs begging for food. Quite the scene. The zoo also had every kind of domesticated dog you could imagine and it was so funny to see dogs on display just like a pet shop.

In some closing thoughts, everywhere we went it was incredible to see gorgeous, vertical cities rising against the water. I thought Singapore was incredible but Hong Kong and Shanghai had even more breathtaking views. As we left the port it took many hours to get out of the canal and into the ocean. It seemed Shanghai’s high rises went on forever and you have to wonder just have far they can expand outward and upward before the planet buckles under the weight of all these buildings and people.