T here acting as guest blogger: Pressure is on to match L's wonderful descriptions of our trek thru Asia. Will have to exhume the writing skills that have dissipated after the last 9 years on Wall Street... here goes:
So Hong Kong was going to be my city on this trip. This is the one place that I was most excited to visit. I have tried (in the past) to convince L that it was time to pack up shop and move over here and give it a go. (To our families: she has always been the great voice of reason.) Hong Kong being the city to inhabit - the financial capital of Asia. I believed when we planned this voyage that Asia was the place to be in our generation. After being here now for over a month am more convinced of that then ever. But Hong Kong got off to a really bad start...
Despite the advice of one friend who lived here and one acquaintance who is living here, we made the erroneous decision to follow the opinion of our travel agent and stay in Kowloon. Said travel agent applauded the incredible views of Hong Kong's skyline, emphasized his ins with the hotel and his ability to get us a number of upgrades and amenities, and equated the ferry that crosses Victoria Harbor as being as easy as taking a taxi. Immediately, I sensed something was off here; but, not knowing much about the lay-out of the city, I agreed and booked his hotel. When we asked our friend what he thought of staying in Kowloon he eloquently replied: "Would you stay in Hoboken for views of New York City?" Right-0. Our other acquaintance - not even asked for advice, volunteered- "Don't stay in Kowloon."
So when we arrived at the hotel last night, after a long day that began at 3 AM with a voice (who I mistook as God) over the loud speaker informing us we needed to evacuate our hotel in Saigon due to "an emergency" (i.e. a small fire), I immediately sensed that our friend's sage words were not simply accurate, they may have been politely generous. This was not like staying in Hoboken, this was gritty Jersey City, with the urban wasteland of Port Elizabeth adjacent.
We made the immediate decision to remove ourselves from Kowloon. 45 minutes later we were in a new hotel in Hong Kong Island, at a cheaper rate, and getting the fourth night free. Better hotel, bigger room, beautiful view (of the financial landscape of HK and the mountains in the background), cheaper price... fourth night free. I wish I could chalk up this coup to negotiation skills, but I think it's a sign of the economy.
Hong Kong has gotten better from there...
Hong Kong is a city of glam and wealth. Cocktails at the bar, overlooking Victoria Harbor, with a jazz band from St. Louis - pretty difficult to beat. Consumerism is in full effect here. Parts of the city remind me of NYC when I moved there in 2000. We've seen a lot of Masseratis and Ferraris; a lot of LV bags; a lot of wealth on display. Having been turned over to China in 1997, it may appear beyond comprehension that this island is now part of the largest communist country on earth - but what I am learning as we travel thru Asia is that the Chinese are single-handledly the most capitalistic minded group of people I have come across, and Chinese Communism smells a little fishy. We shall see what the mainland is like, Shanghai and Beijing loom in the near future.
So today we woke up and did what every tourist in Hong Kong does and set out to shop. Versed in the ways of Asian cities and having built up an immunity to Mall Eye and its other vertiginous symptoms, we ventured thru the labyrinth of raised sidewalks into the lair of consumerism.
These malls dwarf those in Singapore and KL. They are also interconnected thru covered bridges, lacing across Connaught Street and Queens Road. On the walk home we were able to pass thru five malls (a few kilometers and at least five separate buildings) without ever leaving the confines of air conditioned space. I don't know what to infer from a culture that has built a city to avoid being en plein air - only that the troglodytic eye and shuffle is frequently observed.
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