Melissa's Asian Adventure (Part 2 - Hong Kong)

I arrived in Hong Kong Friday night after a very lovely flight on Singapore Air - one of the nicest airlines I've ever traveled. Now SARs is still alive and well here in China. When you go through customs you need to go through a temperature check and many people are wearing masks. My temperature was normal so I proceeded to the money exchange. The lady asked and do you want a return (round trip) ticket for the airport express. I said, naturally, I don't know do I? In fact I did, so I was off to the train. I learned it's much cheaper and easier if you don't speak Chinese/Cantonese to take public transport. It's only about $70 ($10 usd) to get to and from the airport. The dollar is about 7 to one. I am getting a lot of use out of my 7 multiplication tables. Dinner should be about $300 that takes a little getting used too!
When I got to the hotel, it was dark and late so I went to bed. The sun woke me early and out of my floor to ceiling wall of windows on the 37 floor (one perk of traveling so much) I got my first glimpse of HK Island. WOW! This place makes NYC look like a small town. Hong Kong is a region made up of several islands. HK Island, Lantau, the New Territories (Kowloon), and a little Island that's how to Disney Land.
I wasn't completely unprepared for my first trip to China. I had been corresponding quite frequently with the concierge at the hotel so had a good itinerary laid out. I set off to do a self guide walking tour of HK Island. The city is steep! Much more so than San Francisco. Most streets even have steps on them. And there is a cross city outdoor escalator that runs above the street and takes you completely across the city from the low end to the high. There were people everywhere!
On Sunday I took the train, then the bus to Lantau Island to Po Lin Monastery. Home to the largest outdoor, seated, bronze Buddha in the world. I am not sure why it needs all of those qualifiers, I can't imagine there's a taller Buddha of any kind or indoors! I need to read a little more about this place because all of the signs and reading material was in Chinese. All I can say is that it was an intense and beautiful place. People were holding burning incense, bowing and praying. There was a temple structure with a fire burning and people were placing bags of folded paper inside. My dad probably knows why. If he reads this, he should post a comment and let us all know.
Anyway, so I took the bus to the monastery. Why the bus? Well when I got off the train people split in two directions. The white people went to the scenic cable car terminal and the Asian people went to the bus terminal. I followed them (although the agreed upon plan with the concierge had me going the other way).
The bus ride was an adventure!! We wound up a very steep mountain at high speeds on a one lane road meant for two way traffic. The locals even shrieked every once in a while. The scenery was the amazing Chinese countryside - mountains, lakes, and waterfalls all on the edge of the ocean.
So I figured that after spending the weekend in HK, I was now an expert and I could easily find my way to the offices for my meetings. Well, I got there, but it was an adventure.
First, maps are NOT drawn to scale and it is HOT. A nice local man walked me to the train station. It should be noted that I was on the right track it was just a lot further than the 500 m the map said. He was very nice, but a fast walker and only spoke chinese so I was speaking english and him chinese, running down the street. Me in a suit and him in running gear. Thank goodness I changed to flats at the last minute. Then two trains later and another 500m (read, more like 2km). I arrived at the address - I think. The address is written on the building in Chinese. So I walked up to the office and as I looked in there was a table set up with a white table cloth incense burning and fruit everywhere. The building name was all in chinese so I looked down at my map to the left and to the right. I had no choice but to go in and ask for help. It's a good thing I did, because I was in the right place. Oh no if it was this difficult to determine the right building, how hard would it be to have a conversation! But then the executive came down to meet me and it was a true "ahhhh" moment with a halo of light around her. She was Scottish! (Yes, I am that good at differentiating white people now... jk, I read her bio).