An Art Teacher in Hong Kong

The fact that there are no penis shrines in Hong Kong is kind of a drag, because I came up with the perfect title for such a blog.  What it lacks in phallus worship sites, though, it makes up for in art.  This is good, since my whole reason for going there during this curst bad time was to check out the logistics of an art-related school trip. 

If you are in HK and you want to get out of:
A.  The Heat
B.  The Rain
C.  Both
I suggest a museum day.  My second full day was my museum day, although I lost interest after the Museum of Art, which was excellent.  Their exhibition of Qing and Ming objets d'art had one of the best exhibition guides I've ever seen.  Throughout the exhibit were curio cards with a picture of one of the pieces on the front and an explanation of the particular aspect of this era's masterworks it embodied on the back.  They made a brilliant souvenir, and, since I went on Wednesday, free.

As I mentioned in my last post, the Museum of Art is on the promenade, and on the ground surrounding the building they have a sculpture park.  The current exhibition is "Heaven, Earth, and Man," and while the title didn't make an enormous amount of sense to me, I enjoyed seeing the sculpture anyways.

I was also happy to find some street art in Hong Kong.  Actually, since it was so bloody hot and I didn't feel like getting heat rash in the name of a school trip that probably won't come here, I didn't end up chasing down any galleries.  That made finding street art a welcome boon.  I was especially pleased to see yarn bombing on this hand rail.  I've never seen yarn bombing anywhere other than the internet.  To see it in the actual world made it a real thing.

For a long time, Hong Kong's street art was the domain of one man, the self-proclaimed King of Kowloon.   Since his death in 2007 there has been public pressure to protect his legacy, but I was pleased to see that other artists were continuing the tradition - perhaps not in his medium, because he was a calligrapher, but at least were making public works of art.

The last day I was there, I decided to take a friend's advice and ride the trolley along the length of Hong Kong Island, and stop by the IKEA at Causeway Bay for some frames.  Well, on my way to IKEA, I saw a poster advertising an exhibit about the art of Studio Ghibli at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum.  This seemed like a start at making up for the fact that I didn't make it to the Ghibli Museum when I was in Tokyo, so when I brought my haul back to the Mansion I went online to figure out where the Heritage Museum was.  It turned out to be "way out there."  (Not really, but considering most of my wanderings were confined to a fairly limited space, Sha Tin is pretty far out of the way).  It was a cool show and I'd wished I could have taken my students who are interested in animation, because I think they could have gotten a lot out of it.  However, my feet were worn the heck out and it didn't seem to be that well air conditioned and I was just kind of done with Hong Kong, so I didn't stay long.

And speaking of being done with Hong Kong, that's all, folks. 

Harbor Town

One thing that Hong Kong bests pretty much all comers in is a stunning skyline.  My first evening there I pretty much did nothing but stroll along the Kowloon promenade and admire the island from afar, watching the day turn into night.  (And, okay, look - unsuccessfully - for a Starbucks.)

I don't know whether or not it has anything to do with coming from way the hell in the middle of the US, thousands of miles from a coastline, but watching the water is fascinating to me.  Unfortunately I haven't lived that many places that have a good waterfront.  Bahrain and Ras Al Khaimah each had a corniche, but I never spent much time on either (although the Hilton beach resort in RAK was fantastic). 

The promenade in Kowloon (which includes the "Walk of Stars," which, again, didn't impress me that much), was bustling, and made for some great people watching.  I found that the wall behind the Hong Kong Museum of Art was just the right height to sit on and had a non-stop breeze blowing through, which I desperately needed on that first night.

On my second full day I found my way to the Star Ferry pier and bought a ticket to the Hong Kong side.  The Star Ferry has been running across the harbor since 1888 and is number one on the "Top Ten Most Exciting Ferry Rides" list as published by the Society of American Travel Writers. 

I am an American and I write about travel, but I have no idea by what criteria they were judging.  While my trip to Hong Kong and back on Star Ferry was comfortable and pleasant, I wouldn't call it exciting.  (If you want an exciting adventure, I suggest the ferry from Aqaba, Jordan to Nuweiba, Egypt.  Hoo, buddy, that's one that will stick with you for years!)

My last night in Hong Kong I went on another boat - the Grey Line harbor cruise.  I had to make my way to the other end of the Kowloon waterfront, to Hung Hom pier.  It was around 7:20 when I got there for my7:45 boarding (better early than late), and although the sun had set everything had a bluish sort of glowing quality.  I had to laugh a little at the guys fishing, in spite of the "No Fishing from Pier" signs, and had to wonder about what they were hoping to catch.  I'm sure the water is clean and the fish are healthy, but then again, I always find water in China sketchy, and in spite of the fact that it's open to the ocean, there are a LOT of people in Hong Kong.

The harbor cruise made me wonder what those cruises my family goes on are like.  The main cabin was a big room with a buffet at one end and a Filipino band (I think - aren't all cover bands in places like this Filipino?) at the other, and tons of tables scattered in between.  The food was fairly bland and involved a lot of seafood, so mostly I just ate fruit and marshmallows dipped in the chocolate fountain.  The band accompanied the "Symphony of Lights" performance, which is supposedly a big deal in the world of light shows, the world's largest, but since this is the first light show I've ever been to...no, I've never been to a light show.  Not at the Pyramids.  Not at Petra.  I watched the sparklies on the Eiffel Tower for a few minutes, but I was far away at the top of the hill in Belleville, so I don't suppose that counts.  So I didn't know what to expect.

I might not have known, but I'd hoped for fireworks.  I'd seen pictures with fireworks being shot off the sides of the buildings, and that looked cool as shit, but there weren't any fireworks last week, and this has left a bad taste in my mouth for light shows as well as cruises.  The light show was kind of neat, but it's hard to work up that much enthusiasm when nobody's blowing anything up.

Hong Kong: Day One

I remember the first time I saw real, honest-to-goodness palm trees.  I was a sophomore in high school and had traveled to Phoenix, to march in the Fiesta Bowl Parade as part of the Southwest Iowa Honor Marching Band ( >hack< nerd alert!)  My parents had bought me a set of American Tourister luggage (the suitcase of which I've almost completely worn out, 20+ years later, which is 10 years longer than the Kodak Advantix camera they gave me for Christmas just before my second Fiesta Bowl), and those palm trees were a sign that I was a TRAVELER - I was definitely in a different place, because we sure as hell didn't have any in Iowa.

up...those...stairs....UGH!

There is a possibility that I have become jaded in my last ten years (OH, YES...TEN YEARS THIS MONTH!  more on that to come), because it takes more than palm trees to thrill me now.  It is possible that at one point in Hong Kong that I rolled my eyes at them, because they have now become a sign that I am TOO FREAKIN' HOT, because we sure as hell don't have any in Mongolia (at least, I don't think so...I suppose there could be some hiding out in the Gobi - I'll let you know next spring).  However, for the record, I did do things in Hong Kong beyond drink frappuccinos and bitch about how hot it is. On my first full day there, for example, I got up relatively early and headed up to Victoria Peak.

Unfortunately, there is something you need to know about my sense of direction, in case you ever have to go anywhere with me.  I brag about it a lot, for good reason:  if I've been a place once, I will find it again.  Even if I haven't ever been there, I have an innate feel for the cardinal directions and read a map pretty well, but sometimes I don't go directly where I intend to.  I like to think this is my subconscious' way of being open to new experiences, but the honest truth is that I don't always read my map as carefully as I should, and that is how I ended up in the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens rather than at the Peak Tram.  I got there in the end, and it was a useful detour, since one of my students expressed an interest in the zoo if we do end up having to go to Hong Kong, but it involved me going further uphill than I would have liked under the circumstances.

After my first frappuccino of the day at the top of the tram (I had yet to discover the Starbucks across the street from Chungking Mansions) I had a look around at the top and enjoyed the view, but didn't end up staying too long - I wasn't really in much of a hiking mood.  I had considered walking down, but my drenched clothes and battered feet convinced me that was crazy talk before I even went up.  So I took the tram back down, stopped at the Hard Rock Cafe I'd passed on my way up, and after a couple of cherry limeades and a burger, got back on the subway and took it east to Sheung Wan station.  I tortured myself with another hike up a hill (thinking optimistically that this would be a good springboard into hiking again once I got back to Mongolia) to Man Mo temple, because temple-hopping is one of those things I do (unlike beach-hopping, which would have been much smarter on this trip).

I don't know if it's another sign that I am becoming a jaded traveler, or just the fact that Hong Kong really isn't my speed, but I wasn't blown away by Man Mo Temple.  It was a nice change from the skyscrapers and shopping centers, but...well, I've been to some amazing temples and monasteries.  The 108 stupas around Erdene Zuu Khiid in Kharkhorin were stunning.  The quietness of the countryside around Chimi Lhakhang in Bhutan was an interesting contrast to the cult of the Divine Madman who founded it.  Don't even get me started on Tibet.  And I'm only comparing to Buddhist temples here - if I start thinking about other traditions, Man Mo temple can't hold a candle...or a butter lamp.

This is not to say I didn't like it.  I did.  The incense drifting on the air - in this case, from really cool spiral sticks calms me, and I loved standing in front of the huge fans that were working their hearts out to keep visitors cool.  But I didn't feel like it deserved a place on the Hong Kong Top Ten list.  Maybe my expectations were just too high. 

How do you finish a day like that?  With another frappuccino and watching Guardians of the Galaxy (fun movie with a great soundtrack - I couldn't wait to buy it on iTunes and it has now hijacked my brain) at the cinema across from Chungking Mansions.  Life doesn't get much better than that.

Hong Kong Hustle

Well, I got the next chapter of my life as a traveling/expat blogger off to a great start Friday before I left Hong Kong, but wherever will I go from such a fantastic beginning?  I guess I could whine some more by way of telling you about my posh digs at the Chungking Mansions. When I realized I was actually going there a week ago, I ignored my electronic copy of Lonely Planet Hong Kong and went to Hotels.com instead, sorting the results by price, and came up with a room at the New China Guesthouse for $28/night.  I was pretty sure at that point it was not going to be the most comfortable stay I'd ever - I had read something somewhere (in LP, it turned out) about the Chungking Mansions - but I figured it would be interesting, if nothing else, and it was pretty conveniently located in Kowloon, so I went for it.

I wandered through the ground floor, looking for the D Block elevators and growing more and more annoyed with the touts.  Eventually I found it, and after waiting what seemed like a couple of hours for my turn to be crammed into the tiny lift stopping at the odd-numbered floors, I got to my guesthouse, where I was shown to room M by an African dude, the only person at "reception" the whole time I was there.  Room M was smaller than a car, with a wall-unit air conditioner that trickled cool air out and a ceiling fan that you couldn't turn up above 3 unless you were willing to take your life into your own hands.  The lock seemed dubious, so I didn't leave anything of value in my room, which was kind of annoying because I had to remember to keep my outside zipper locked and a couple of times a day I had a mild panic attack when I questioned whether or not I had put my phone AND my Nook back in my bag. Room M did have a dinky private bathroom going for it which gave me nostalgic memories of my time in Korea thanks to the shower head installed above a toilet that didn't properly flush (a fact that I didn't realize until after I'd made my first "deposit").  There was, at least, hot water, but Hong Kong was so bloody hot that I only ever took cool showers.

I'm sure it wasn't the worst place I've ever stayed, but I can't think of anything to top it with at the moment.  I should have taken photos, but I don't really take pics of hotels, so you'll have to take my word for it.

Hong Kong was not a total gong show though. I did do some worthwhile sightseeing - the first day I was there I found these charming signs on my way to Man Mo temple.  I've been in Asia long enough that I shouldn't giggle over stuff like this, but it just never gets old.  And I guess that's enough of that - I'll get around to the real tourist attractions in my next post.

Hot Mess

The above is how I would categorize my trip to Hong Kong, a city that during my seven years as an expat in Asia has routinely been spoken of with hushed whispers of awe.  Expats LOVE Hong Kong.  Oh, the shopping, they say.  It's just like back home, they say, regardless of where back home may be for them.  My friends and colleagues over the last seven years had painted me a picture of an expat utopia, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Well, I'm here to debunk that myth.  It's possible that my assessment of Hong Kong won't be fair.  For starters, I just came from "back home."  The chiefest attraction of where I came from - namely, my family - isn't here, and everything else about the states that I will miss by the time I leave Mongolia again for Christmas (such as food) I haven't been away from long enough to have orgasms over (have I eaten breakfast at McDonald's every morning and stopped at Starbucks for a frappuccino two or three times a day?  Guilty as charged, but that has more to do with laziness and cooling off than my excitement and having them again).

Then there's the money aspect.  As a direct result of the fact that I just came back from the States, I'm not exactly flush with cash (although thanks to my Dad I had plenty to sightsee on), and so that limited how much I could spend.  While there are a lot of cool shops, I already did the shopping I needed last month, so I can't afford to go crazy buying new lenses (that I don't even need) in the camera shops strewn liberally across Kowloon, and the sum total of my Hong Kong shopping has been 10 frames from IKEA and a new case for my phone (because where else would I be able to buy a case that is pretty much a clone of the one that has finally fallen apart?)

Finally, there's the weather.  I realize that when I say it is "hot as balls" here that I am exaggerating.  I've lived in the Middle East, after all.  It hasn't even reached 90F this week, and trust me, I'm grateful.  I look around and I can see that nobody else is melting, but then, I'm guessing 99% of the people here didn't arrive from Mongolia on Monday.  When I turn in for the night I immediately take a cool shower.  I have to hang up my clothes because they are soaked with my sweat.  I may never be able to live in a hot climate again.

But apart from all those things, I just think Hong Kong is not my kind of city.  In some ways, it's too Chinese, even though you can see the traces of British rule in the double decker buses and the spontaneous joy on people's faces, or, more to the point, the people protesting across the street from me here.  In other ways, it's too cosmopolitan - all the nationalities clamoring together rob the city of a strong cultural identity, although I guess that could be considered its identity, if you want to get technical.  Either way it's a crowded megalopolis and I can't walk a block without being accosted by a tout.  Hong Kong is not without it's good points (which I'll get to eventually), but for my money give me Seoul.  I'll skip the odes about why I love it so much and assume you've read my blog enough to already know.