Kunming (2-5)

I flew to Kunming in Yunnan province on Monday. My flight was with Hong Kong Express, which I had chosen because it was the cheapest flight that left at a time when I wanted to leave. From the plane’s magazine, I learned that it is a new airline with only five planes, planning to expand to fourteen this year. It flies only between Hong Kong and several Asian cities. Kunming is the only city it flies to in China. Like U.S. planes, it did not provide lunch but sold it instead. And no drinks were provided. But all else was fine. The seats are farther apart than American planes, which was also the case on my previous plane and on April’s planes. The sky and clouds were especially beautiful, and I had good views of the land below.

After arriving in Kunming, I took the airport bus into the city and a taxi to the guesthouse. By this time, it was 4:45 and I was hungry. Because of the holiday, most places in the area are closed. The guesthouse gave me a great map of the area. Using it, I set off for a walk to become acquainted with the area and to find food. Going up the hill, I noticed the air is thinner in Kunming and remembered that its elevation is high—6,000 feet. This took some adjustment on my part.

I found a street nearby with a lot of old buildings, some of which have been renovated and some not. I enjoyed walking down that street and found a place that sells drinks. 

Eventually, I ended out at Green Lake and decided to walk around it. The streets beside the lake were lined with lanterns. By this time it was dark and the lighted lanterns and the lights reflecting in the lake were beautiful. Half way around I came across a woman selling sticky rice in bamboo, one of my favorites in Thailand; so I bought that for dinner. It was good to be walking after the day of traveling.

Tuesday I headed to the Western Hills, the mountains outside Kunming. The guesthouse map had bus directions, and they worked well. When I arrived, a few women were pushing bus tickets at people getting off the bus. I didn’t see any buses and didn’t know what they were talking about; so I just followed the crowd, which was walking up the mountain. Later I saw the green buses going up and down the mountain. We walked along the road most of the way, sometimes having views of the lake below and the city across the lake.

The first stop was the magnolia garden. Luckily, the trees were blooming, and it was a beautiful place to sit, relax, and eat. Many people were doing that. Farther along there were two temples. When entering these, I was given the senior free entrance, which was nice. 

Huating Temple, the second one, had the arhat figures that I enjoy, as each one is different and serves a different purpose. The ones here are golden rather than painted like I’ve seen before. 

I was especially struck by the detailed painting on the guardians at these temples.

After the second temple, I took the old path through the forest to the third temple. The first half is steps up the mountain. These were challenging because they are steps uphill and because of the higher elevation. But the walk was lovely.

At the third temple, the woman selling tickets said I wasn’t old enough for free entrance; so I paid. Before leaving the temple, I had a bowl of noodles. When I left and started to put the ticket in the bin, she called me over and pointed out the other two temples that the ticket is good for. I told her I’d been to them. When she asked about my ticket, I said they didn’t give me one. When she asked how much I paid, I explained that they didn’t want money (The only Chinese I know to say I didn’t have to pay.) because of my age. Then she gave me back my money. That was nice, but what I was really pleased about was that I had communicated successfully.

At the top, the ticket seller suggested I take the cable car up, walk down, and then take the shuttle back to the central area where I could get the green bus to the bottom. That sounded like a plan. The cable car, as always, was wonderful. It goes through the forest, and there are great views of the lake and city. 

The main destination at the top—elevation 8,000 feet—is Dragon Gate, a gate and grottoes carved out of the side of a cliff. These were carved over fourteen years starting in 1781. To get to the area, the path is downhill. One section has a group of karst rocks that are called a miniature Stone Forest. Not really. Part of the path is a narrow tunnel through the stone cliff. Part of it goes along the edge. 

There is a cave grotto with figures carved in it. 

At the main gate, there were many people and everyone had to touch it and have a personal photo taken with it. So it was hard to see the whole gate. But there were good views from the other side later. And many people went to the gate and then returned to the cable cars; so it was less crowded the rest of the way down. There are a couple more grottoes and a few temples on the way down.

At the bottom, I was happy that I had a ticket to take the shuttle back to the central area, as I was tired. From there, I took the green bus down the mountain. Once there, I started looking for the bus back to Kunming. I saw a group of people who were waiting and, thinking they were waiting for the bus, asked them about it. They were waiting for their car. But they had enough room for one more person and offered to drive me back to the city. Then they decided to drive me to the guesthouse, which was really nice. The woman speaks some English and wants to improve her spoken English. I was too tired to be very friendly, but I managed to chat a bit. She wants to be email friends. We’ll see.

I tried to order the special noodle dish—across the bridge noodles—that is recommended. I had it written in Chinese, but the woman at the restaurant only pointed to the photos on a menu. Maybe that’s all she sells and I should have tried to go upstairs, but I was too tired to deal with it. (After having the dish later, I realize that one of the pictures may have been it, but I had no idea at the time.) I had noticed another café that was open, and when I glanced into it on the way back, the man said “hello.” That usually gets me to go in. It was a Muslim noodles shop; so I had noodles with vegetables.

When I was relaxing in my room, I realized that one reason I was so tired from the day’s walking was the altitude. I probably did too much, but the altitude also contributed to my more than usual tiredness. But I enjoyed the day. I had no idea what Dragon Gate was; I only knew it was highly recommended. I’m glad I made the trip, and I’m glad I walked so much, as I do enjoy the walking.

Wednesday was a slow day, which was good, as I needed to take it easy. I returned to Green Lake to see it during the day. It’s a totally different place. I’d read about the sea gulls that come to the lake between November and February. The area capitalizes on the sea gulls: A board at the entrance features 3-D sea gulls; the street lights have sea gulls. When I saw a sculpture I’d seen Monday night, I realized that it is sea gulls. 

In the morning, there were hundreds of sea gulls on the lake. People were feeding them bread, which, of course, attracted them to that area of the lake. Many people were riding paddle boats on the lake among the sea gulls. Many were walking around or standing or sitting and enjoying the lake. 

Flowering trees were in bloom. Tulips, daffodils, and narcissus were in bloom. It was a very pleasant, relaxing morning.

In the afternoon, I went to Yuantong Temple, which is the most important temple in the province. It was constructed in the 9^th century. In front of one of the buildings there were two statues of mythical animals. People would rub part of the animal, the eyes for example, and then rub that part on their body. I remember being told that this is done to bring good heath to that part of the body.

After a brief rest in my room, I went to the bird and flower market that is near the old street I’d walked down Monday evening. All kinds of animals are sold to be pets—birds, dogs, turtles, snakes, mice, rabbits. More places were open because it was earlier and, I think, because it’s the end of the Spring Festival holiday. I joined many other tourists walking among the stalls. Most of the items being sold were things I’d seen in Fenghuang—Miao embroidered bags, horn combs. I found a hat stall and bought a hat since, for some reason, I’d forgotten to pack a hat and I needed one for protection from the sun. I chatted with a woman from Gansu. Her father was looking at hats and wanted to know what “Marlboro” means. He chose the hat with the Marlboro band after I explained it.

At breakfast I was introduced to puer tea, a red tea that is a specialty of Yunnan province. I really liked it and knew I’d be buying some to take with me. In the morning, I stopped at a tea shop and priced it—220 to 350 yuan ($17 to $58) for a six-inch disk. The man at the guesthouse had told me it can be expensive but it lasts a long time. At the market, a woman was selling disks for 25 to 120 yuan ($4 to $20). I figured the cheap ones wouldn’t be as good; so I purchased the more expensive one with a 20 yuan discount.

I had dinner with an American man who lives here. He’s 69 years old and is a life coach, doing most of his work by phone with clients in the U.S. He cooked mixed vegetables—no rice—that were delicious, especially since I hadn’t had vegetables for a few days. We had an interesting discussion.

Hong Kong Part 2 (2-2)

When we returned from Macau and arrived at Sylvia’s house, it was dinner time. Since this was Chinese New Year’s Eve, many family members had come for dinner. New Year’s Eve is the traditional time for families to have a special dinner together. Red envelopes with money were given to the children, most of whom are now young adults. April was given some to give to her children. The meal was delicious. The mushroom dish and huge prawns were my favorites. There were also a special Hong Kong style chicken (April’s favorite), green vegetables, pork belly with yams, potatoes, and broth soup. Food is not spicy and doesn’t have much oil; so it was delicious and easy for me to eat. Several people complimented me (through April) on my skill with chopsticks. After dinner, April and Sylvia joined the family to chat and play mahjong. This was the first time some of them, including April, had been together for four years. While they hung out with the family, I stayed in Sylvia’s flat. She turned on the TV to keep me company. The program turned out to be quite interesting, as it was a New Year’s Eve special. Between verbal—in Chinese—entertainment, there were special dances and acrobatic performances that I enjoyed.

Young children dress in traditional Chinese outfits for the New Year. The five-year-old wore such an outfit. We saw others while we were out and about.

Friday we had a slow morning at the house. Then it was time for lunch with the family. April told me that it would be vegetarian, as no animals are killed for the New Year meal. I guess oysters don’t count, as that was one of the dishes. Others were greens and fungus and noodles. Again, it was all delicious.

At 1:30 we left for our activities of the day. First we stopped at two small temples. The first one was quiet, but the second one was busy with many people coming to light incense for the New Year. 

Then we went to Avenue of the Stars. This is like the one in Hollywood with Chinese film stars. The first one I noticed was Run Run Shaw, whom I recognized from the university’s Run Run Shaw library. I had looked him up before and learned that he was a famous director and philanthropist, having sponsored many university libraries. He recently died at age 107. We also saw stars for Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, the only other names I recognized. 

The Avenue is along the bay, the side opposite Victoria Peak; so it’s a lovely place to walk and view the skyline. We could barely see the building we had been at on Tuesday. At the end of the Avenue, we stopped at Starbuck’s for a drink and muffin. Next we went to the nearby shopping mall to walk around while we waited for it to get dark so we could see the skyline with the night lights.

Back on the Avenue, we waited to see the laser show at 8:00. I wasn’t impressed, but it was interesting to see. 

Next we went to wait for the parade that started at 8:30. We joined the throngs vying for a view of the floats and groups. The floats were plastic lighted up from inside like the lanterns we saw in Macau. We had seen a few of them in the waiting area, which was good because we could barely see them in the parade. Occasionally, I could glimpse something in a small space between the bodies and the arms thrust up with phone cameras, cameras, and notepad cameras. Sometimes I could see what was happening on their screens. But mostly I had no idea what was happening. And there were a few rows of people behind us. After an hour, we left because we really couldn’t see anything and so we could beat the masses to the metro. That we did. Neither April nor Sylvia had been to the parade before; so this was a once in a lifetime experience.

On the way home, we stopped for a late night snack: fish balls and a huge bowl of fruit and grass jelly. The place was packed; so we had to wait for about 45 minutes. But it was worth the wait. I hadn’t had fruit for several days, and it was delicious fruit.

Saturday morning was another slow one, which was our usual pattern. We had lunch with the family again: fish, Hong Kong chicken, yams and pork belly, greens, and broth soup. April and I did laundry while we had lunch and they chatted with the family. Then we were off to the city. The event of the day was the evening fireworks display at the harbor. We arrived in Kowloon at 3:30 and went to Kowloon Park to hang out and relax before going to the Avenue of the Stars to wait for the 8:00 show. The park is a lovely respite from the busyness of the city. Many people were there. Many were Muslim, as the park is on a hill next to the mosque. Many paths go through the park, and the landscaping is lovely with all the trees and flowers. The park also features a sculpture area where we sat on a bench and enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere. After a while, I went for a walk around part of the park. Among other things, there are two fountains, a pond with flamingos, and a rose garden where beautiful, huge roses were blooming.

At 6:00 we headed to the harbor to await the fireworks. We arrived at 6:15, and the main harbor-front area was already closed because it was full. We found room to stand at the entrance, which is usually closed to standing crowds, but people were allowed to stand there for the special New Year’s event. They had put plastic signs above the railing; so the lower part of the skyline could not be seen. I wasn’t sure why this was there, but maybe it was to protect the people in case there was a problem with the fireworks. The nice thing about the crowd was that people left a little space between each other. It wasn’t body to body, which made waiting easier. Still, standing in one place for an hour and forty-five minutes was challenging. 

The show started promptly at 8:00. Fireworks were constant for twenty minutes. Ten or more went off at a time. They were set off from boats along the shore. April reported that the show was computerized for the first time and that it used 500,000 pounds of gunpowder. It was truly amazing and was well worth the wait. There were the standard bursting balls, some that became stars shooting down, and fluttering dots. My favorites were the ones that opened into flowers like chrysanthemums.

After the show we headed home. We went to the fruit bowl place, but it was very crowded and many people were waiting. So we went to another place for a bowl of fresh yogurt.

Sunday was my last day in Hong Kong. We started earlier than usual—10:00. Before leaving, we were given a light breakfast treat: special New Year’s rice cakes. Sylvia’s mother-in-law, the oldest person in the family, gave me a red envelope with 100 HK dollars (about $12). I was surprised to receive this, but it was sweet of her. On New Year’s Eve, I had given her (at April’s instruction to give it to the oldest person) a small gift I had taken along.

The destination of the day was Lantau Island to see the Big Buddha and Po Lin Monastery. 

When we got to the place where you take a bus or cable car up the mountain, there were already very long lines for both. April remembered that the third day of Spring Festival is for making offerings to the gods. Thus the extra large number of people going to visit the Big Buddha. They thought the line for the bus looked shorter; so we joined it. Deceivingly, the line went around the building to the back side and turned again there. We waited about an hour to get on a bus. 

The ride went around and up the mountain, going around curves most of the time. Even I was feeling a little weak from that, and winding roads don’t usually bother me. Sometimes we had a glimpse of the bay with its islands and of the interior mountains. At the top, the crowds dispersed a bit and we were able to walk around comfortably. 

We stopped at the vegetarian restaurant for lunch: sweet and sour “chicken,” “duck”, and curried tofu. Also five kinds of desserts. Sylvia got carried away.

After looking at the temple and the beautiful flowers near it, we started up straight stairs up the mountain to the Big Buddha. There was a solid line of people walking up. 

Views from the top are magnificent. I especially enjoyed the statues around the Buddha of women holding different offerings.

April had said that we would take the bus up and the cable car down. But they decided that the line for the cable car would probably be too long; so we took the bus down. I was a little disappointed because I enjoy the cable cars and was looking forward to the views on the way down. But it was OK. After we got on the metro, April decided to take the spur to Disney World so I could see the special train and the entrance. It was a nice surprise. The train has mouse head-shaped windows and mouse head-shaped hand holders. The seats are plush. On the way there, we had the car almost to ourselves since it was late and very few people were going that direction. The station is also special—full of trees. We walked toward the entrance and enjoyed the whale fountain with a Mickey Mouse bobbing up and down of the whale’s spout. It was a fun detour.

When we arrived in Yuen Long, it was only 8:00; so we went to the fruit bowl place. It wasn’t as crowded as it had been on Saturday, but it took an hour for our order to arrive. We were home by 10:00, the earliest we’d arrived home, but we had left earlier; so it was still a long day.

When April and I were leaving to take me to the bus to the airport, one of the men saw us and offered to drive us to the airport, which was really nice. I had convinced April that it was OK to see me get on the bus that goes directly to the airport because I couldn’t get lost, but she was glad to have the ride to the airport and felt better seeing me check in. We had a great week together, but now it was time to go our separate ways.

As I became more familiar with the area, I realized that, although we did a lot, we saw only a small part of Hong Kong. Actually, we were only on Hong Kong island to go to Victoria Peak. So we didn’t see much of the area where Lois and I had been. Most of what we saw was in the newer areas. I hadn’t realized that Hong Kong is a collection of islands; I had thought it was one island plus the New Territories on the mainland. April said that, because it is growing so much, they are filling in the bays and making the islands larger.

Hong Kong notes:

Escalators are very steep. This saves space but took some getting used to.

Cars stop for pedestrians when the light turns red, and it’s safe and easy to cross the street.

When it’s time for pedestrians to cross, a timer ticks along with the light.

People form lines most of the time.

Money is issued by the banks. Two banks have different pictures on the bills. They are the same size and color. April said there is a third bank that also issues money, but I didn’t see any of their bills.

Chinese New Year’s note:

On Chinese New Year’s Day, I had a message from a student with the subject “Merry Christmas Day.” As with some of the stores, she didn’t realize that “Merry Christmas” only applies to one day—December 25. After that, it’s not used. Another example of my observation that the holidays seem to be merged.

Hong Kong and Macau (2-2)

Monday morning I began my three-week holiday. I had17 days of annual leave to use, since I won’t have any more free time to use them. Conveniently for me, the five-day Spring Festival holiday—free days because it’s an official holiday—is in the middle of my vacation. So I ended out with three weeks of travel time. Good for me!

I had learned that there is a bus from the Wenjiang bus station to the airport. When I noticed the schedule of buses I had, I decided to ask a security guard to read it for me. The one on duty was the man who has never been friendly and doesn’t respond to my greetings. But he assisted me and seemed happy to do so. He found “Shuang Liu,” the name of the airport, on the schedule and explained that buses leave every 20 minutes. So, off I went Monday morning. I had read that it takes half an hour to drive from Wenjiang to the airport. To my surprise, the bus stopped—not at the airport—after an hour (It wasn’t a direct route.) and everyone got off. A woman took my bag out and started walking, motioning for me to follow. I didn’t have much choice, since she had my bag. She turned out to be a taxi driver who wanted to take me to the airport. The bus stops at the nearby town. I realized later that there may be a shuttle from there to the airport. Since I was a bit dazed at not knowing where I was and needing to get to the airport and having no idea how far it was, I agreed to her price, which was probably too high. Ten minutes later I was dropped off at the airport. That wasn’t quite how I thought the trip would work, but I got there on time.

April was waiting for me when I arrive in Shenzhen, in China but near Hong Kong. We had flown there because it was considerably less money than flying to Hong Kong and because it would be easy to go from that airport to her sister’s house. Since I had it in my mind that I was flying to Hong Kong, I had to readjust to still being in China and not having to go through customs. We took a bus, crossed into Hong Kong, went through customs, and then took a metro. Sylvia, April’s sister, was waiting for us when we arrived at the agreed location, which was really nice. First we ate, as April and I hadn’t eaten much all day because we were traveling. When I saw eel and rice on the menu, I knew I had to have it. I enjoyed it so much in Japan and haven’t had much eel since then.

After eating, we took two more buses to get to Sylvia’s home. She lives in the New Territories, an area of Hong Kong on the mainland. I remember taking a day tour to the New Territories when Lois and I were in Hong Kong 33 years ago. What I remember most is how green and undeveloped it was. Not any more. The area is developed and most of it looks fairly new. April commented a few times that “all this wasn’t here twenty years ago” and that it was all farms and green then.

We dropped our bags off our at Sylvia’s house and headed to a nearby town—thirty minutes by bus—for dinner and to see the Chinese New Year’s market. Half of the market had a lot of stalls selling little things. The other half had flowers, as these are a necessary decoration for the holiday in Hong Kong. Orchids were abundant and beautiful. Another “must” is groomed orange trees that are seen almost everywhere. 

We ate at a street restaurant Sylvia recommended and had a delicious eggplant dish among other things. Then we did a little window shopping in the area.

Sylvia has a small flat in a complex of homes of her husband’s family. There are five buildings with three floors each. I never did sort out who all lives here, but they are all part of the extended family. Several other families came for holiday meals.

Tuesday was our day in Hong Kong itself. First we walked to the orchid farm that is close to Sylvia’s house. The orchids were beautiful, as always. April said that what we saw was less than half of what they had, as most had been sold. 

Then we headed to the city by bus and metro, which took an hour and a half to our first destination—the Mong Kok shopping area, which is in Kowloon. One section has rows and rows of stalls selling everything. 

After eating and walking around a bit, we headed to Victoria Peak, our main destination of the day. They decided to take a bus rather than the tram because we could ride all the way without changing. The trip on the winding road up the peak took about an hour. In some places there are good views of the city and the harbor. 

At the top there are two buildings from which you can see a good view of Victoria Harbor. The plan was to walk around to see the views in the afternoon and then again after sunset when the lights were on. After our first viewing, we had dinner. I had shrimp and spinach dumplings, one of my favorite Hong Kong meals. 

The sun went down while we ate. I knew it wasn’t going to be a magnificent sunset; so it was OK to be eating. When I went to the toilet, the sun was an orange ball. 

After dinner, the city lights were on. The most amazing was a building that had moving displays. The most magnificent of these was a display of running horses for the Year of the Horse.

Wednesday April and I headed to Macau for two days. It took three hours to get to the hotel by two buses, turbojet ferry, and another bus. We stayed at the Venetian as a special treat. April had mentioned that she always wanted to stay there but knew it wasn’t a possibility. So I looked online and learned that their website special promotion—book and pay a month in advance—cost wasn’t much more than that of other hotels in the area. So we booked. 

When we arrived, it wasn’t yet check-in time; so we walked around the outside where there are nineteen beautiful horse sculptures. Later we learned that there are 38 around the city; so half of them are at the Venetian. We ate lunch and returned to check in. After waiting for half an hour, I was at the front of the line and was told to follow a young woman. So we did and were taken to the VIP check in. Two people were working in that room, and as they became available, people at the front of the other line got to be VIPs. The man reminded me that our special deal included free wifi in the room and late check out—2:00 instead of 11:00.

Our room was really nice. We had a suite with a king-sized bed (big enough to share for one night), a sitting area with a sofa and chair, and a large bathroom. It was luxurious—more than we are accustomed to. We thoroughly enjoyed it.

After relaxing in our lovely room, we took off for Macau’s old area, which is on another of the islands. I hadn’t realized that Macau is a group of small islands. The hotel has a shuttle bus that goes there. We walked around the area, which is very touristic—full of shops selling local food specialties—pork and beef jerky—wet, not dry like jerky usually is—and a few kinds of cookies that are specialties of Macau. We sampled our way up the street. The town has a European flavor since it was settled by the Portuguese. Lantern sculptures were in the square and lanterns were hanging above the main street in preparation for the lantern festival at the end of the Spring Festival—the full moon on February 14. We decided to hang around to see them lighted up.

At the top of the hill are the ruins of St. Paul’s church. Only the front side is still standing, which I think is rather amazing. We also walked around the fortress. 

After we ate dinner, it was dark, and the lanterns were lit. This was exciting. We went back to the church ruins, and it, too was lit up for the night. 

After revisiting the lantern sculptures, we noticed that there was something beautiful inside a building across the street and went in to see it. It turned out to be a hotel entrance. 

On one side of the entrance there was another area that had a special exhibit of Tang dynasty ceramic figures. We were fortunate to happen across that just before it closed for the night.

Back at the hotel, we went outside to see the night lights and caught part of the light show projected onto the building. It was fun. 

Then we walked around the Venetian to see the canals. The area is like the canal area in the Las Vegas Venetian, which April has heard about and seen photos of from friends. She was excited to see it in person. I, too, found the environment exciting since it reminded me of being in the Venetian in Vegas and of being in Venice. And it was fun to share April’s excitement. The reproduction is magical.

Thursday morning we relaxed in our wonderful suite and then walked around some more. We decided to check out the Venetian’s golf course, which turned out to be a highlight of the hotel experience. It’s on an interior rooftop that has artificial turf and real trees. Being there is like being in a completely different environment. Then we went across the street to The Sands. (I think that’s what it was. They do all blend together.) When I asked if there is any special place to see, the man said we could go to Paradise Garden and have a photo taken with the characters. The garden area is beautiful. The character of the moment was Kung Fu Panda. We tried to avoid the photo op, but I was motioned to go in; so we did it. After our walk, we relaxed in our room for another hour before check out time. We did enjoy the Venetian experience.

Although it wasn’t what I was anticipating, we had an enjoyable time in Macau. I guess I thought it would be more like Malacca in Malaysia, which was larger and more rebuilt. Macau may be more authentic in that it wasn’t as developed and the historic sites are in the midst of a local area where people live. Still, I had expected something more—although I’m not sure what—because a friend had told me how much he liked it. Since the old part of Macau is such a small area, it seems more crowded with all the tourists. Of course, there were many more tourists because of the holiday. So it was a different experience than it might have been another time. Having the casino hotels so far away from the local/historic area was also disappointing. There wasn’t anything to do in that area except walk around the hotels, which would be the intention and which one could do for hours, as they are interconnected and seem to go on forever. In spite of all this, it was a good trip and I’m glad we did it. It won’t need to be repeated.

The trip back to Sylvia’s home took five hours. At one point, we waited for an hour for a bus. Then April talked to another woman who suggested a different bus. That one worked out just fine. With all the travel time, I have been glad to have my Kindle so I always have something to read.