Finished Posting Pictures from the Trip

Subjects include Hong Kong Architecture, Cheung Chau, Kowloon, New Territories, and our last days in Hong Kong this time around.

I've also added to the gallery pages from previous trips to Hong Kong, China, and Japan.

Heading Home

Some final thoughts on the flight home...

...Hong Kong as "World City." Like I wrote a few weeks ago, the cultural borderland that is Hong Kong remains one of our favorite places in the world. I was afraid we were going to run out of things to do or see on this, our fourth trip. But familiarity in this case has bred an interest in digging a bit below the surface, focusing a bit more on day-to-day street life and historical context. It enriches the luxe aspect of this city by comparison. Lois keeps talking about returning when we next visit Asia again, and although I'm trying to explain it's a bit out of the way for a likely (third) trip to Japan, I'm really not all that opposed to the idea. (And I just notice on the airplane map that it's closer to Hanoi than it is to Shanghai. So one never knows.

No, I guess I do know. We'll be back.

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...Shanghai Second Thoughts. Looking back I was probably a bit tough on Shanghai (although I still do like my "teenager" metaphor). It wasn't as bad as I might have made it sound. Once there a few days, getting the pulse of the city and the lay of the land did end up making it interesting as well as chaotic. I think I might have just bought too much into the hype about the place of the last couple years, and had to dial down on the expectations a bit. And to be fair, having to deal with almost 20,000,000 people is a bit more of a challenge than the "mere" 7,000,000 in Hong Kong.

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...Power Loss Over Siberia. CRAP!!! Why is my battery telling me to save or shut down??? I'm plugged into the provided seat power!!! Back in a sec, while I figure out what's going on...OK, I'm back...Swapped to my second battery. It seems that the power on the plane, or my connection to it, is a bit unreliable. I plug in, the "connected, calculating" icon comes up, making me think I've got juice, then when I'm not looking, the icon switches to battery. Oh well. At least I've titled the pictures in iPhoto (watch for the uploads). But so much for my plan of watching my Lord of the Rings DVDs on the flight home. I'll have to see what Continental's offering on their small screens for the remaining 10 hours or maybe test the limits of the iPod battery. (I've never really been able to reliably sleep on planes, even on these marathon flights, while Lois easily conks right out.)

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...Following up with Randall. We wandered over to Victoria Park on Saturday to check out Randall's Tai Chi and Sword practice. He and his teacher ran through a couple sword forms while we were there. The slowness and fluidity of the movements involved are deceptive. The concentration involved (and, I suppose, the weather) result in a real workout, if the sweat on Randall's brow was any indication. It was good to see him again before we left.

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...Something We Shouldn't Have Missed. Not being big evening people, especially after busy days, we missed hitting the Bund/Pudong at night. Given the day/night difference of Hong Kong, maybe the Bund would have impressed me a bit more lit up. Lois says we'll just have to come back. hmmm...Shanghai is hosting a World Expo in 2010...hmmm

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...And finally, if anyone cared whether I ever found any more of those wasabi potato chips...

...it turned out the store we cleaned out was replenished.

The "Y"

Checked out of our hotel this morning. In the airport waiting for the flight home. With all my mentions of the fancy hotels like the Peninsula and Mandarin Oriental as sources of food stuff, I should really put in a word for where we slept in Hong Kong -- The Salisbury, aka the YMCA.

Yes. The YMCA.

The "Y" runs a nice hotel operation right on the waterfront in Tsim Sha Tsui. It's one of the closest hotels to the Star Ferry (our favorite mode of transport here), and right next to the lauded Peninsula Hotel.




Views from Our "Room at the Y."

For the same location and same view for about a third of the price, I can live without the marble walls and string quartets in the lobby. (For that matter, it's a mere stroll across the street to appreciate them at high tea.) If you find yourself going to Hong Kong, and you're footing the bill, I strongly recommend you look into it.

Getting Around Hong Kong - By Octopus

Getting around Hong Kong first requires knowing where you're going. Then you need to think about how to get there -- by land, under land, by sea, or by "air." Today we did a bit of all. We started out on the Star Ferry crossing Victoria Harbor from Kowloon to Hong Kong island. New York may have the Staten Island Ferry, but that's merely for commuting. The seven minute, 30 cent (US) Star Ferry is about getting from one downtown (Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon) to the other (Central or Wan Chai on the island). It's one of the most pleasant, cooling, and visually stimulating ways of getting around in this city.

We also traveled "by air" today, taking the top deck of a double-decker trolley from one end of the island (Western Market) to the other (Shau Kei Wan), watching the city wake up along the way.

Then underground, via the MTR -- the cleanest and most efficient subway system I've ever been on -- back to the downtown area for lunch (Thai Basil again) and some final shopping (Shanghai Tang and the CRC Supermarket again) for our last day.

Finally, after a return trip by Star Ferry, a bit by land -- a final walk around the neighborhood of our Kowloon hotel.

One of the handiest aspects of getting around Hong Kong, especially for inexpensive transportation like the ferry, buses, trolleys, and the MTR, is something called the Octopus Card. It's a smart chip card that stores cash and that's swiped entering and/or leaving all these modes of transportation (except walking -- although you can use it to fuel yourself as many convenience stores and most shops in MTR stations let you swipe it for purchases. For a currency system that relies on coins for almost everything up to about US$1.25, it's a real convenience. Most locals don't even take them out of their wallets or purses to swipe, and our favorite jeweler in town couldn't resist showing off his "new toy" -- a wristwatch with a built-in Octopus chip.

Infamy, and Infamy Redux

One of the things we did today, at the suggestion of our friend Randall, was visit the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defense. Set on a promontory at the eastern end of the island, on the site of an old redoubt, this museum tracks the naval/coastal history of Hong Kong from the Ming Dynasty to the current day.

Two bits of history were emphasized, at least to my eye and ear. The first is the original reason that Hong Kong became a British isle...the opium wars of the mid 19th century, fought because the Brits wanted access to the Chinese market for their Bengal opium. Puts a different spin on the concept of "drug wars" with the Brits playing the role of today's Colombian cartels, and the Chinese emperor trying to say "Just say no."

The other one was a gap in my knowledge of more recent history. Most Americans know what happened in Hawaii on Sunday, December 7, 1941, but did you know that the Japanese followed up on Monday, December 8, 1941, with a similar bombing of Hong Kong? I didn't.

Maid's Day Off

Within Hong Kong is a huge hidden army of domestic help. These women, primarily from the Philippines, clean houses, cook meals, and help with the logistics of child-raising. Sunday is their day off and they make use of that free time to gather together with their country-women in and around the Central downtown area.



Lois with Maids on Star Ferry
The approach to the star ferry, the park in Central, some of the streets, and the floor of the atrium of the Hang Seng Bank Corp building become filled with hundreds (at least) of these women. They partake of some Sunday morning religion, do a little group singing, sit around and chat, and do various crafts like beaded flowers. The din of all these women in some of the enclosed spaces (and even in the open) is impressive.

Miscellaneuous Food Stuff

...Golden Goodies. In Hong Kong (and Shanghai), we've come to appreciate -- and even search out -- Chinese Egg Tarts,. These little golden yellow two and a half inch pies are made of flakey crust filled with an egg custard -- a perfect combination of texture with enough bite to hold together and enough creaminess to melt in the mouth.


Egg Tarts in Tai Po Market
(The New Territories)
Some are plain custard and some are "Portuguese" style, with bit of caramelized topping. They're available in some supermarkets, most small bakeries, often open to the street or market lanes, and even featured in take-away windows of restaurants. Lois and I are both partial to those that are on the "eggy" side, a near perfect example of which we found in Shanghai. The woman doling them out insisted -- in "sign language" -- that we eat them immediately, still warm. Good advice. The four she sold us for 10 Yuan (about US$1.25) didn't make it to the end of the block.

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...In the weekly lifestyle publication ShanghaiTalk, we came across a restaurant review of a place called "We Go," appreciated in the review for its bilingual menu,

"...which is useful for those English speakers who are squeamish about what they eat. It means they can avoid any of the dishes with duck blood, pork bowel, shark fin, cow tongue, pig brains, or bullfrog. And of course 'stinky tofu.'"

After a couple weeks avoiding unidentifiable ingredients that would clash with Lois' near-vegetarian diet, there was little chance of finding ourselves in such a place.

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...Hong Kong bills itself as "Asia's World City," and as such, the range of available dining is "world wide." Our breakfasts have been primarily "French" a la light, fresh croissants from a Delifrance, a chain of coffee shops around town, and the slightly heavier chocolate croissants from the bakery of the Mandarin Oriental hotel. Another chain around town is a little more "American." No, not McDonald's, for which Hong Kong is one of it most profitable cities...Starbucks. I'm not a coffee drinker -- Lois is -- but even I occasionally appreciate a mocha frappacino for a mid-afternoon kick of caffeine and sugar. In addition to the Dim Sum lunch with Randall, one great meal we had was at a mall restaurant, Thai Basil -- large grilled tiger prawns in a curry sauce or some sea bass infused with ginger and wrapped in cucumber, followed by a steamed ginger pudding with rum raisin ice cream. Another excellent meal was at Kikuzen -- a deluxe sushi platter featuring a piece of melt-in-the-mouth toro (from the rich, fatty part of the tuna).

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...Golden Goodies II. Mango pudding. Mango ice cream. Sago (tapioca) with mango. I'm not that big on tropical fruits like papaya or passionfruit, but there's nothing more refreshing during a subtropical Hong Kong afternoon than mango. Fortunately, there's a lot of dessert shops around town that feature it.

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...Cafe Deco. Up on Victoria Peak, overlooking the city, any restaurant could probably make it on the view alone. At Cafe Deco, they do really good food as well. Fresh sushi was my choice, while Lois enjoyed a tasty Indian-based "veggie-burger" on a bed of asparagus and chutney. And I'll admit, the view was good, too.

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...And speaking of views, our "special dinner" for this trip was at Felix, atop the Peninsula Hotel with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the harbor. One of Conde Nast's "50 Best Restaurants of the World," Felix is overseen by a chef who was originally based in Hawaii, and has a special way with seafood -- seared ahi on a bed of garlic mashed potatoes with essence of pinot noir for me, and grilled snapper with wasabi mashed for Lois. The place is also renown for a surprise in it's men's room, but I won't spoil it for you here.

Heritage Tour

Today was dominated by a bus tour up to the New Territories to visit several places associated with the Chinese heritage of the region. Our tour guide, Richard Gee, pointed out that as a nation, China has the longest identity in the world, stretching back to the second century BC. While the political rule might have changed, the language and culture have been consistent for a couple millennia. That's almost 10 times as long as the US and twice as long as England, the oldest continually recognizable nation in Europe. With a perspective like that, the 100-150 years of British ownership of Hong Kong is a mere blip in time.

The New Territories came under British control in 1896, designed to be a buffer between Hong Kong/Kowloon and peasant uprisings that foreshadowed the end of the Qing Dynasty to the north. The magistrate's house, walled village, ancestral halls, and temples visited today all pre-dated the British era, and reflected older Chinese government, daily life, generational respect, and "practical prayer," respectively, all but the first of which carry on with a level of continuity today.

More Pictures Posted

From Suzhou (text) and Zhouzhuang (text).

Wizdom Found, More Wanted

On past trips to Hong Kong, we became addicted to a particular brand (Wizdom) of wasabi-flavored potato chips. After checking several outlets of our previous source, we gave up looking for them this time around. Then today, looking through the window of a CRC Shop, there they were. We emptied their shelves of about 15 individual serving size bags, but still have room in the carry-on we packed for them.

(Back in 2002, I brought about 20 bags home, and mid-flight, I went to get one to nibble on, and the vinyl bag was bloated with the cumulative expansion of the individual packs due to a combination of lessened air pressure in the cabin, and good solid, airtight packaging that allows them to claim a 1-year shelf life for these chips.)

Now with 3 full days left in our trip, we've got a mission -- to find some more CRC Shops and to search for more Wizdom of the East.

Big White Guide

Yesterday, we took a "guided tour" of some spots in Hong Kong not usually included in the usual tour packages. Our guide was Randall van der Woning, also known via his weblog as "a Big White Guy living in Hong Kong" for the last six years. For the last couple of those years, I've followed this transplanted Canadian's stuff as a "link" to this city that Lois and I appreciate so much.

We met about mid morning at an MTR station in the upper reaches of Kowloon, where Randall said we would likely be pretty much the only caucasians around, and therefore easy to identify. As we emerged from the train level, he found he was right. Matching my 6' 2", we were also mutually easy to spot from quite a distance. After initial introductions and greetings, we were off to our initial destination, the Buddist Chi Lin Nunnery. I wrote the other day about islands of peace and calm in this city. Unlike Cheung Chau, his nunnery is one that you don't have to get on a boat to get to.

As you enter the grounds, behind the yellow cedar walls, a surprising drop in traffic decibels is one of the first respites. Then you notice the collection of cultivated lotus ponds, distracting you further from wherever you might have been coming from. Finally, the various halls, altars, and statues of the Buddha and his disciples complete the illusion. (Well, almost complete it...If you look above the walls of the complex, you still see a few surrounding high-rise apartment buildings that dominate residential life in this town.)

From the nunnery, Randall took us to another quiet spot -- the Kowloon Walled City Park -- a park designed like a Chinese garden on the grounds of what was (from the 1930's to the 1980's) one of world's most notorious slum dwellings. These days, it's another nice place to "get away."


Lois and our host Randall, in KWC Park
Between the nunnery and the park, we must have run into lunchtime at several schools, as the sidewalks were filled with the outpouring of uniformed little people from what must have been a primary school. And just down the road, a river of different uniforms filled with older kids were apparently headed for the local mall and (unfortunately) the call of its McDonald's and KFC.

Randall was a more than gracious host and wonderful guide, continually asking how we were doing, and responding to Lois' interest in seeing "everyday life," particularly with a visit to a local "wet market." With the importance the Chinese place on the freshness of their food, he pointed out that you can't get much fresher than live, as in the tubs of fish, eels, cuttlefish, and crabs. Down the aisle were some of the "cutest" (Lois' word) baby bok choy, and around the corner was the meat department. Nothing live there, but given the lack of refrigeration, its apparent that what we did see was walking around not too long before.

Satisfied that our appetites were still intact, Randall provided what had prevented us from doing much in the way of Dim Sum dining...a working knowledge of the language. Choi sum sauteed with garlic, some spring rolls, shrimp in a rice noodle version of manicotti, a few different dumplings and buns, and too much tea made for a meal to remember. (And less than US$20 for the three of us...such a deal.) And over lunch, our "guide" suggested other places to see, a task not that all easy, since this is our fourth visit here.

Assuring us that it was his "day off" from the writing, editing, proofreading, and English tutoring that he does here, we continued after lunch to one of the city's street markets, where Lois gave him a lesson in haggling over a souvenir abacus...

Price tag HK$240...100...180...120...150...122!!!

Talk about nerve...if we had a haggling culture in the US, she'd be dangerous. And I had something to carry. We finished our visit with Randall at a dessert shop with some very refreshing mango puddings and "soups." We also promised to check out his Tai Chi and sword exercises in Victoria Park on Saturday.

There are a number of people that, through my blogging and/or theirs, as well as via email, I've come to regard as "online friends." With Randall, it would have been a bit of a stretch to put him in that category before (maybe an online acquaintance), but now, after his gracious day of traipsing us around places that he said others might have been bored with, we've got a new friend over in this part of the world.

Thanks, BWG!!! (And please forgive me for purloining the title for this post.)

An "Observation"

If you've got the tallest building in town, and you provide an observation floor, why not put it on the top floor? Hong Kong's previous and current tallest -- the I. M. Pei-designed Bank of China tower and Cesar Pelli's Two IFC both offer observation floors, but only about two-thirds the way up.


From the 55th floor of Two IFC,
with Bank of China Tower at the left
and unfortunate reflections in the southern
sun-facing windows

More Pictures Posted

From Xian and Shanghai.

Cheung Chau

Hong Kong is not just a "Type A" city; it's got it's slower side as well.

One place you'll find a place to wind down is the "outer islands." The smallest of the three major outer islands is Cheung Chau, a half hour away from central Hong Kong on the "fast ferry." It's primarily a fishing village, with a fleet of boats of various sizes and a "main street" that borders the harbor. It's also narrow enough in one place to walk from the western harbor to and eastern beach.

A few hours of walking around, dipping toes in perfectly cool water, seeing a few temples, and watching the boats is a perfect way to decompress from the city.

Back in Hong Kong - A Peak Experience

Arrived back in Hong Kong last night and did a bit of wandering around the Wan Chai district, with its streets of shops devoted to different trades and products. We were on one of Lois' "missions." She saw a piece in a local paper about something carried by a particular shop that she thought would make a good gift for someone. (Sorry about being so fuzzy with that...the potenial recipient might be reading this.)

Well, we found it, wandered a bit more, did a trolley ride across the city, had a good lunch at a Japanese restaurant (finished my sushi platter with a piece of toro that melted in my mouth), and strolled through the major architectural area (watch for pictures of some key HK building soon).

Finished off the day with a trip to Victoria Peak, atop the island looking down on the city and across the harbor to Kowloon (pictures from this to come as well). There's a cable-driven tram that takes you from Central up to The Peak, where there are a collection of restaurants, gift shops, and an observation deck. I've taken that tram a few times in the past, and this is the first time it ever stopped midway up the hill to drop off an apparent "commuter" who lives up near the top. Both Lois and an Australian woman sitting across from us said quietly "He must be loaded." to the respective mates as he stepped off. I heard both and started a chat. The Aussie guy looked out at an apartment near the drop-off point, and noted 3 Ferraris and 2 Porsches in the parking area. Yup. Loaded.

Randall, a self-described "Big White Guy" in Hong Kong who I'm going to be meeting this week recently wrote about Peak [Real Estate] Prices in his Hong Kong-centric weblog.

Shanghai Streets, Revisited

It took just about our full stay in Shanghai, since we head back to Hong Kong (or as Lois put it, home) today, but we've finally gotten used to the throngs of people on the sidewalks.

Saturday's "stroll" down the Nanjing Xilu pedestrian mall, this yesterday's trek transferring between Metro lines (Lois wondered if we were walking to the Pudong instead of just getting to the train to take us there), and last evening's wanderings among the "antiques" and curios of the Old Town got us prepared for a return walk down the main drag of the French Concession area of our hotel. What seemed oppressive and fatiguing the first night and day now seemed merely crowded but moving along.

The one thing, however, about Shanghai sidewalks that I don't quite understand, is that in a lot of the city, they're in the process of laying a sort of "path" in the sidewalk made of a grooved surface that is uncomfortable, if not unsafe, to walk on, effectively removing in some places a good 20% of the walking surface. I can't for the life of me figure out the purpose of such an impediment in such crowded conditions.

What the heck are they for?

[Later...] According to the woman handling our hotel-airport transfer, the different surface is to facilitate the movement of blind people down the sidewalk, with a different, round button texture on the approach to intersections. Quite an investment for such a small part of the population.

[Still later - 10/19...] I never noticed them in Hong Kong before, but at intersections, up and down stairways, and in the MTR, there are similar grooved and dotted surfaces. Despite their bright yellow color, I wasn't really aware of them before Shanghai, probably because the surfaces seem to be more subtle than on the mainland, and perhaps their hard rubber material might provide more "give."

An aside, but related to walking...I never knew you could get a blister that could just about double the size of your little toe. Impressive.

The Pudong and Potential

Across from the older part of Shanghai, on western side of the Huang Po River, lies the the new, highly hyped, ultra- or even post-modern Pudong section. It's the part of the city with the biggest concentration of the newest architecture, meant to steal thunder from Hong Kong and set up Shanghai as the forward looking future of China's new capitalist leanings. We headed over there today for lunch at the 54th floor cafe at the Grand Hyatt in the 88-story Jintao Tower. Thanks to the complexities of the city's Metro system, and, in no small part, to my distinct lackings in the local language department, it took us a bit longer than planned to get there from the Museum.

As a result, we only had a half hour left of the buffet offering, which deserved a much more leisurely approach and appreciation. (It was a choice of doing the subway, which stretched my usually good map-reading abilities or of doing the taxi thing, which we did to get to the Museum. Since the morning's taxi ride involved a distinct lack of communication capability on my part, I figured I didn't want to go through that embarrassment again.) The food was as innovative and interesting as the architecture, and the view overlooking the expanse of the western part of the city was more than impressive.

Looking down and out from our table, we were able to really appreciate the size and scope of the city that we could feel on the ground. Unlike our tour guides, who seemed to rattle off such statistics effortlessly, I'm not sure of the actual sizes involved, but what came to mind was an areas that could be the expanse of a Los Angeles or Tokyo, but as uniformly and densely built up as New York. It is a huge city (that wreaks havoc with my 4-class city description system). And while it does have some serious history behind it as a major player in the early part of the 20th century, seems to still be growing into what it can be, coping with the special circumstances associated with its size and population, and with a growing consumer class. It'll be interesting to see what happens when individual automobile ownership starts to work its way into the current bicycle-dependent classes.

Take the Pudong. While the architecture of this concentrated building boom is attention getting, and looks way cool from afar and in aggregate, once actually over in the area, I got the feeling not of a neighborhood with a character of its own, but of merely a high end office park. Admittedly, a real high end office park -- the individual structures were arresting and interesting individually, but to say that it created a cohesive whole as an area, and is more than just a skyline to be admired from across the river, would be stretching it a bit, in my opinion. That said, it's only a few years old, and still needs to grow into its promise.

In the early part of our visit a few days ago, Lois and I kept using the the phrase "rough around the edges" in describing the Shanghai experience (or the entire mainland China experience, for that matter). The chaotic traffic, the in-your-face hawkers, the toothless doorman in our "5-star" hotel, the 10-year old Metro that feels either unfinished or beat up beyond its age, and the too often ignored "please don't spit" signs around the city all added up to the feeling that it's a world-size city, but despite the hype and hoopla of recent years, it's still growing into its world-class potential.

To be fair, it was pretty isolated for most of the first 40 years of the Communist era in China, and was really only reopened, reborn, and re-missioned in the 80's, so it's not too much of a stretch to describe it as the gangly teenager of major world cities, dressing to get attention, testing out its new capitalist hormones, still in danger of growing out of its infrastructure, clearly no longer a child, but not yet quite mature by the standards of other cities.

Not quite mature, but full of energy and potential.

Shanghai Museum

I'm a museum person.

Give me a day in Washington, DC, and you'll find me wandering the Smithsonian and the National Gallery. I've been known to play hookey from packaging shows in Chicago to trek up Michigan Avenue in early winter to get to the Art Institute. I'm looking forward to the upcoming reopening of the MOMA in New York. Beyond just the rush of looking at beautiful objects in general, as an Asiaphile, I've also developed an appreciation for classical Chinese paintings over the years. I can stand in front of a large scroll and easily get lost in the mountains, clouds, and waterways depicted. With this in mind, I knew the Shanghai Museum was a world class institution that was going to be a highlight of this trip. And I wasn't disappointed.

The museum is divided into sections by type of object; bronzes, sculpture, ceramics, calligraphy, seals, paintings, ethnic arts and crafts, coins, jade, and furniture. Within each group, the pieces are organized largely chronologically by dynasty. I knew I was going to enjoy the paintings (and I also knew that I had previously overdosed on bronzes in Xi'an), but what I wasn't prepared for was being blown away by some of the older ceramics and the sculpture.

The sculpture section included some of the most serene Buddhas and Bodhis (from around the 6th century AD) that I've ever seen, as well as some early pre-Qin figures (back a couple centuries BC) that are timeless in their simplicity. There was also a large 6-foot slab with a couple hundred seated Buddhas supporting a slightly larger depiction of the same. The presentation, lighting, labeling, and introduction (happily including literate English, for which I must say xie xie) were excellent, bringing out the best of pieces that deserved the best.

Random Bits

...The rhythmic poetry of the "second language" tour guide. Yes, guide. It seems that they often confirm, yes, confirm, their spiel on the fly, on the fly, with repetition of word and phrases. Yes, words and phrases.

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...Consistent, if not correct. Interesting to see two commercial signs...the Littie Sheep restaurant and a Teddy Bear shop called Cuddies. Both of these were printed in all caps, which made the exchange of the penultimate L with an I that much more evident.

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..."My English name is..." -- Our guide in Xi'an told us her "English name" was "Candy." In Suzhou, we had "Sheila." In Shanghai, "Jo." I've run into "English names" in other Chinese acquaintances as well. Is it because they don't trust us not to mangle their real names? Is it because they want to make things more comfortable for us? Or is there some insecurity involved in the practice?

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...Potato Potahto -- For Xi'an, I've been saying she-on. Over here, I'm hearing something closer to cee-ann. And for the big city, instead of shang-high (rhyming with hang high), it seems to be closer to shahng-high. (Similarly, when we visited Japan a few years ago, it was clear that the two cities we visted were not to-ki-yo and ky-o-to, but tok-yo and kyo-to.)

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...Hometown Hero -- Given how many times his face seems to show up on billboards, it seems that NBA star Yao Ming is to Shanghai as Michael Jordan was to Chicago. While we're here this week, a few NBA teams are playing exhibitions to sold out crowds here. Perhaps China is starting to take to basketball in the way that Japan has adopted baseball.

History Lessons Needed

As a self-described fan of eastern Asia, I'm ashamed to admit that I'm still struggling to wrap my mind around its history. As a citizen of the youngest major nation in the world, our paltry 400 (pilgrims) to 500 or so (Columbus) years of (non-aboriginal) history pales when faced with the 2,500 years of what was to become China. The extension of our history into its largely European predecessors doesn't help me completely either. The fact that China's history is usually described in terms of dynasties and eras, helps sort it out a bit.

Just the last dynasty -- the Qing (from 1600s to the first decade or so of the 20th century), along with the Republican and Communist eras that followed it, pretty much span most of the significant history of the US. The Ming (1300s to 1600s) are more or less coincidental with the European Reformation and Renaissance. The first emperor and his Qin era, around 200 BC and the Han era that followed it paralleled the Roman Empire, more or less.

But the vaunted Tang Dynasty, often described as the pinnacle of classical Chinese culture started around the 6th century AD. Trying to extend my parallel history context, I realize I have no idea what the heck was going on in Europe from the dissipation of the Roman Empire until the battle of Hastings in 1066, and not much more than some Shakespearean hints of English monarchy from then until the Reformation. That's quite a gap to be unaccounted for.

Embarrassing.

Canals of Zhouzhuang

The day trip today ended up at the water village of Zhouzhuang, typical of the history of the region and preserved to exemplify it. Even Shanghai in olden days was one of a collection of "water villages" in the area. Canals connected them to each other, even as far to the north as Beijing, and to the Huang Po and the Yangtze Rivers. Even today, the larger canals still connect to the rivers and carry barge traffic.

Zhouzhuang is typical for a tourist town in China - a commercial, tourist trap environment surrounding a truly interesting site with moments of calm beauty. The canals, stone bridges, and old buildings were really quite nice once you got past the souvenir shops and roasted pig leg shops.

Of course you can't always blame the locals for a less than ideal experience. One member of our tour group got into a bit of a shouting match with a Chinese tourist over who was blocking who in trying to take a picture in front of a stone bridge. Even if our guy wasn't at fault, which I suspect was not the case (ugly syntax -- translation: he struck both Lois and I as a bit of a jerk), the way he handled it certainly made it seem like and "ugly American" situation.

Gardens of Suzhou

This morning was devoted to a visit to two private (not imperial) gardens from the 14th and 16th centuries. The first -- The Garden of the Humble Administrator, was a lovely place, capitalizing on a refined art of landscaping to provide the illusion of more space than is really there and to make the most of the rocks, water, plants, and pavillions. At every turn, a different view was presented thanks to the techniques of screening, framing, and borrowing scenery.

The second garden was devoted more intensely to erosion-sculpted lake rocks, assembled, according to the guide, in the days before cement with "sticky rice and mud."

The morning was closed out with a visit to the "Number One Silk Factory."

Shanghai Outskirts

On our way to a day trip outside the city. As the city expands, the construction moves from vertical office and residential buildings to the horizontal roads, overpasses, and factories. While the construction cranes in the city were plentiful, today we saw a string of what must have been easily a hundred loaded dump trucks going in one direction perpendicular to our road, and a similar number of empty ones going the other way.

The road to Suzhou is an interesting mix of old farms and newer factories, many of which include interesting English translations of their business names. One that stuck with me was a "Gluey Products Company."

Stuck with me. Get it?

I must be getting punchy.

Chaos in the Streets

One of the most vivid memories of our first trip to China (Beijing in 1996), was the traffic, which was characterized by the overwhelming number of bicycles "sharing" the road with the auto traffic. When we hit Guilin in 2000, add pedestrians and water buffalo to the mix, and a guide who claimed that when crossing a street, the trick is not to make eye contact with the operator of whatever vehicle is heading in your direction, since the larger (car) is responsible to watch out for the smaller (pedestrian). It seemed like the hierarchy was supposed to be person, water buffalo, bike, and motor vehicles. Supposed to be in theory, but not necessarily in practice.

As we hit Xi'an -- a mid-sized Chinese city of 7 million people -- this week, we noticed that there were definitely more cars than in the smaller Guilin of four years ago. Expected. What was not expected was that the chaos in the streets has not abated a bit since then. I thought roundabouts were dangerous in the UK or even at home. In a country where the "no eye contact" rule is apparently still in effect, why they bother painting lines on the road or installing stop lights anywhere but the largest cities eludes me.

At least there's one benefit of such chaos on the roads. While laws prohibiting cell phone use while driving are pretty well ignored at home in the US, there is little choice but to follow them in China, despite what seems to be near universal use of mobiles. To do so, and therefore divert your attention from the chaotic traffic, would be to invite disaster.

[Later...] I wrote too soon. Even in the largest city, Shanghai, the existing lights and lines are largely an illusion. Admittedly, in Shanghai, the traffic is a tad bit more controlled. It has to be, given the sheer numbers of people, bikes, motorcycles, busses, trucks and cars involved. In a city with 16 million overnight residents and a daytime population of almost 20 million, you would have to have a bit more control, if not self control. It would seem...

One example of an attempt at more control, at least in the area around our hotel, is a small army of traffic control people augmenting the police. Armed with piercing whistles, they add to the din at every major intersection in the neighborhood. (Another example of an employment opportunity?) Despite the best efforts of these folks, which seem to succeed most in keeping pedestrians on the sidewalks until the crossing light turns green, the apparently quite liberal "right-turn-on-red" rules still result in taxis barreling through the hundred+ people crossing at each opportunity.

Terra Cotta Soldiers - And More

After a brief stop at a museum dedicated to a neolithic village found in the area, we headed off to the previously mentioned "institute" related to terra cotta warrior souveniers. Then on to the premiere attraction in Xi'an.

The first emperor of what was to be China, Qinshi Huangdi, attained that title by defeating and bringing together about a half dozen previously warring kingdoms. He's also the guy who got the Great Wall started around the second century BC. One of his other works -- an army of thousands of full-size, uniquely featured terra cotta warriors buried to the east of his own mausoleum (which remains untouched due to the fear of disturbing too many potentially valuable relics) -- remained unknown to the world until 1974, when three farmers stumbled into them while digging a well.

The fact of their existence is impressive enough. The fact that no one knew they existed for two millennia struck me as equally, if not more mind boggling. That said, entering the multi-football-field sized enclosed area where the delicate work of unearthing the army in place is being undertaken is an experience worth the trip.

One of the original farmer discoverers, having outlived his friends, has been installed in the accompanying museum as well. They trot the old guy out to sign books purchased in the museum shop. Our guide tells us that the government actually lost track of him until a few years ago, when Bill Clinton visited China. Clinton, ever interested in the little guy, apparently expressed interest in meeting the farmers who found the site, which sent the government scurrying to find them. It was then that they found out that only one was still alive. According to the story, the old gentleman was illiterate, and had never even written his name before. When he found out that Clinton wanted his autograph, he had someone teach him. He's apparently made a career of that autograph ever since.

Later that day, after a stop at the Tang imperial hot springs complex of Huaqing, and a side trip to an old gent our guide knew who still lived in a "cave," actually a rather acceptable hole cut in the side of a hill, we were slated to close out our visit to Xi'an seeing a dinner theatre performance of classical Tang Dynasty song and dance. Remembering a similar exposure to Beijing Opera in Guilin, it really wasn't on the top of our list in terms of anticipation, but it turned out we were pleasantly surprised at the very nice instrumental ensemble and singers.

Terra Cotta Shoppers

If you ever get a chance to go to China, and your itinerary calls for (or if your guide suggests) visiting an exhibition, an institute, a factory, or a workshop, be prepared for an example of "socialism with Chinese characteristics," also known as in-your-face capitalism. When we were in Guilin in 2000, it was an exhibition of Chinese painting at a university, where we picked up a couple scroll paintings of the Li River, one of which hangs in our living room today. Here in Xi'an, we were offered a jade workshop, and an institute where we would learn about how the terra cotta warriors were made -- at least terra cotta warrior souvenirs.

To be fair, the latter was actually kind of neat, with little rows of mini warriors in the showroom. With the right camera angle, I could almost pass off a picture of the 9 inch miniatures for the 6 foot originals, with only the identical faces of the facsimiles to give it away. (Yeah, sure.) But actually, a set of three warriors and a horse (with a free emperor -- which is a creation of the "institute" rather than a document of an actual archeological find -- thrown in) was a pretty good bargain for 480 yuan compared to 1,150 at the official museum.

The jade "workshop" was a whole 'nother experience yesterday. After being shown three idle jade carving and polishing stations that didnt' really look like they had been anything but idle for quite a while, we quickly found ourselves in the showroom. Lois was impressed with the looks of a pendant that was price-tagged at the equivalent of about US$3,000. But of course, as soon as we noted the expense as an impediment, we got the old "but for a piece like this we can take off 40%" response, bringing it down to $1,800. Still hesitating, I went into disapproving husband mode, which led to first $1,500, and then "I can talk to my manager..." as we were leaving. When it was clear we weren't going for the used car salesman ploy, and were leaving, we were flabbergasted that the salesperson tried to steer us to look at some silk carpets. She didn't want to hear "no."

Talking about it last night, Lois, who appreciates a good deal as well as good jewelry, said the whole process simply led her to suspect the real value of the pendant. We're not naive -- we know that jewelry has a huge retail markup, but to start with the "retail" price (if they could get it), only to be marked down so quickly and easily just put a question on what a fair price really would be. We surmised that we could probably could have offered $1,000 (fully 2/3 off the original marked price) and taken the piece home.

The punchline...this morning -- the day after the experience -- our guide hands Lois her cell phone. It's the jade salesperson offering a price of $1,150.

Close, but no cigar. But an interesting experience, nonetheless.

[A few days later -- In the tours of Suzhou and Shanghai, the examples were of silk "factories," complete with worms, cocoons, a couple spinning machines -- actually in operation -- and the inevitable salesroom. The damage -- a half dozen scarves and a couple CDs of "classical Chinese music."]

Xi'an - From Bronze to Dumplings

Today, we arrived for a two night stay in Xi'an, a historical dynastic capital of China known best to foreigners as the home of the army of terra cotta warriors discovered in the 70s. Upon landing after the 2 1/2 hour flight, it was clear we were no longer in Hong Kong. It was as if we were dropped somewhere in the mid-west of the US, in a flat region of corn and wheat. (China is too big to depend on rice alone for carbs. And after all, where do you think noodles and dumplings come from?)

At the center of this 7 million inhabitant city is the original historic city, surrounded by a "city wall" 10 miles around, complete with battlements, gates, drawbridge, and moat. Within the wall, at its center, is a Bell Tower and Drum Tower that used to be sounded in the morning and evening, respectively. A traffic circle currently surrounds the Bell Tower, which I at the intersection of the four cardinal avenues within the walls. The means of negotiating this circle reminded us of a previous visit to China -- our first exposure to the no-holds-barred approach to driving in the smaller cities.

After lunch, our tour started (if you don't count the thrill ride of the drive through town) with a visit to Shanxi Provincial Museum, a collection of neolithic stoneware, early bronzes, ceramics and jades associated with the region. An admission, while I do consider myself a museum person, there are just so many old bronze wine and food vessels I can handle, especially with the commentary of a local guide apparently proud of them. (It's not just a cultural thing, A similar boredom sets in in galleries featuring the middle ages in Euro-centric museums.) We finally got to an introductory gallery for the terra cotta warriors before leaving the museum.

Next stop was the Big Wild Geese Pagoda, a good sized stone tower, with an accompanying temple. A bit of excitement as, apparently, a purse-snatching thief was pursued through the grounds. I wish we had a little more time to explore those grounds, which seemed to have some interesting garden areas, but it was apparently not in the itinerary to do so as we moved on to our hotel -- a surprisingly nice, modern Hyatt. After a quick check-in a refresh break, our guide and driver took us to a restaurant we hope was the one recommended by various people -- an 80 year old dumpling house. A noisy, steamy, flaming affair, I probably didn't get the full benefit of its menu, since, having explained Lois' near vegetarian lifestyle to the guide, I also ended up limited to dumplings full of mushrooms and greens. Having been abandoned by the guide for the meal, there was no communicating with the staff to tell them that I might appreciate the more common (and apparently more quickly prepared) versions of pork and other protein. That said, the non-meat versions were quite tasty, washed down with some local beer.

CITS

We are met at the Xi'an airport by our guide and driver. Yeah...OUR guide and driver. We're the group...a group of 2.

But it's no big deal..we're not special. One of the benefits of travel in a country of a billion people is that they all need a job. One growth industry -- and source of jobs -- for China is tourism, and unless you explicitly sign on for a group tour, it's not uncommon to find yourself with your own individual guide and driver from the China International Travel Service (CITS), as we did in Beijing in '96 and Guilin in 2000. Having a guide is a nice way to get around in a country in which you don't speak and can't read the language, and having a driver is a necessary way to get around in a country that no one seems to speak the same language of the road.

[Later...10/12] Apparently our guide was using the same CITS itinerary as another, if not many others, because almost everywhere we went, we kept running into the same couple from New Zealand. After running into them at our Hyatt breakfast buffet as well, we chatted them up. This was their first exposure to the system, and it struck them as somewhat inefficient, but appreciated. Running into them one last time at the hot springs after the terra cotta warriors, we had our guide and driver team up with theirs for a special little side trip that Candy had in her (unofficial?) bag of tricks...a visit to an old couple that live in a "cave" fronted by a house into which their children have moved. Actually a couple rooms and a couple chicken coops dug out of the side of a hill, the arrangement didn't seem all that strange once seen first hand. Our New Zealand acquaintances appreciated being included, and we appreciated having someone with whom to share it.

Quiet in the Streets

In my previous post, I concluded with an allusion to the livability of Hong Kong. Yes, there's usually a lot of people on the sidewalks, but once you're out of the Kowloon hawker areas, it somehow doesn't seem oppressive.

Yes, around rush hour, the MTR might approach the mythic density of its Tokyo counterpart (and from our experience, it matches, if not exceeds it, in utility and efficiency), but if you don't get on one sardine-packed train, it always seems that the next one has plenty of room, comparatively.

And yes, traffic can be heavy, but (and this is easy for me to say, never having been behind a wheel there) it moves in a reasonable manner. We did run into some relatively peaceful moments on Saturday and Sunday mornings during the hour or so before shops opened and before the suit and watch hawkers awoke. But there's nothing like a 5:00am taxi ride to the Airport Express train station to see how quiet the streets actually can be, as is the station before the first train of the day. Downright deserted, it's a nice respite to ready ourselves for the flight to Xi'an.

Hong Kong - Vertical Living

Sunday -- We finish the obligatory tourist shopping in Stanley Market, a seaside outpost on the southeastern part of Hong Kong Island. Not much to report here other than the collection of stalls of inexpensive artwork, souvenirs, silk clothing, and tee shirts. Since the last time we were here, they've added a mall-like addition to the more carnival-like atmosphere of the older market area.

The trip to Stanley, however, got me thinking about the verticality of life in Hong Kong. The bus took us over a familiar route, passing the mountain-top apartment complex my sister used to live at when she was here. The road winds up from the harbor, above and around a race course and a largely residential area known as Happy Valley, then down the southern side of the mountain that is the island. Since we were last here four years ago, it seems that the already dense area of "housing estates" had multiplied, with newer and fancier towers filling the sky.

These housing units yield nothing to their commercial skyline neighbors in height. Many of them are easily 30 stories, and not a few reaching 40 to 50 stories by my rough drive-by count. Happy Valley, being on northern part of the island and a part of the neighborhoods that make up the city proper, is home to probably some of the above average in affluence, and show a bit more architectural style than the middle class counterparts in the farther from downtown Aberdeen and Kowloon. There was one new addition on the road to Stanley, easily 40+ stories, standing high on an overlook above the area, with aggressive styling dominated by curved blue-green glass exterior. Its height, impressive on its own, is added to by its seemingly precarious perch over the road and the valley. One has to wonder what it's like at the top of that tower in a typhoon.

But again, these houses in the sky are not limited to the affluent. In the northern reaches of Kowloon, surrounding the harbor of Aberdeen on the souther part of the main island, and flanking the airport approach in both Kowloon and Lantau, these behemoth bedroom communities dominate the scenery. Middle class and lower income get their own share of the sky, contributing to the overall density of population of the region...a density that, while significant compared to my suburban New Jersey home (no slouch itself in the density department for US standards), somehow seems to work in Hong Kong.

Some Pictures Posted

If you haven't already figured out from the two previous posts, my first set of photos from the trip have been posted.

Four Weddings and a Traffic Jam

Friday and Saturday must be wedding days in Hong Kong. Looking down from our hotel window yesterday and today, we must have seen a parade of over 20 brides, grooms, and families on the steps and front courtyard of the Hong Kong Cultural Center jockeying for picture position.

(Larger view available here.)
One may think it strange that the preferred position seemed to be on the steps with nothing but steps as a background until one realizes that those in the courtyard had, just out of view at the bottom of the picture, heavily trafficked Salisbury Road with busses, taxis, other vehicles, and pedestrians going by. With all the scenic places in Hong Kong, a very strange choice for so many weddings.

[Later...] We're informed that there is an extension of City Hall in the Culture Center, dispensing marriage licenses and civil ceremonies, hence the gatherings out front on the steps.

Copy Watch?

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (as it is officially known) consists of the New Territories (a greenish buffer bordering the rest of China), a range of Outer Islands, the Kowloon peninsula, and Hong Kong Island. The last two contain the major urban areas of the region. Do you want to know how to tell which one you are in?

If, in the last five minutes of walking down the street, you've been approached by someone sidling up to you saying "Copy watch?" or more openly accosting you offering to "Make a nice suit for you?", you're in Kowloon.

In some places -- typically around the hotels and near the tourist-heavy areas like the Star Ferry pier -- it's like running a gauntlet, and somewhat amazing that you can turn down 4 of these hawkers within five yards and still be approached by a fifth who must have seen you try to ignore or wave off the others.

And it's not like there isn't enough pedestrian traffic in Kowloon...
(Larger view available here.)

More Antiquing

Some more antiquing today; this time at a place my brother-in-law introduced us to a few years ago. L&E Arts and Crafts offers both antiques and near-antiques. They take trips to the mainland, collecting old pieces from farms and old houses. Bringing them back to their shop, depending on the quality, they either clean them up as antiques or do fuller restorations, refinishing, and refurbishing of the pieces. For example, I've seen a few pieces made suitable for entertainment centers by adding a few well-placed hole for cabling that the original owners never thought they needed. They'll also refinish pieces in a range of stains and colors to match the decor needs of their customers -- something that serious antique folks like Honeychurch wouldn't approve of, but it seems to meet the needs of others...including us. One of their pieces, along with a collection of various carriers and buckets, is the focal point of our living room in New Jersey.

In addition to a small showroom on Hollywood Road, they also operate out of a warehouse. It used to be in Fangling in the New Territories, and when my brother-in-law lived here, he drove us there. We were looking forward to getting there this time by making an adventure of a train and taxi trip. But it turns out that since we were last there, L&E moved their warehouse to the far more accessible southern side of Hong Kong Island in Aberdeen. Taxi there -- HK$70 (about US$9). Bus back -- HK$9 (about US$1.15) for the two of us. Live and learn.

Hong Kong - Symphony of Lights

I've already mentioned the skyline of Hong Kong Island. Since we were last there, a new skyscraper -- the IFC (International Financial Center?) building -- was completed. If you are one of the few people who saw the second Lara Croft movie, it's the building from which Angelina Jolie base-jumped that cinematic "classic." (Even if you missed it, maybe you saw the preview like I did.) It's taking a bit of getting used to, as it's height and proximity to the water make it seem a tad over-proportioned compared to the rest of the skyline...at least to the skyline that I remember.

We had time to get used to it this evening, as we relaxed on the Kowloon side for about an hour waiting for a city-wide light, laser, and illumination show known as the "Symphony of Lights." Apparently there was some soundtrack associated with it that could be heard on some radio station or by dialing in on your mobile. Without the music, though, it was a pleasant enough diversion, with some colored floods, what looked like some animated "movement" of office lighting, and lasers, a nice relaxing end to the first day here.

Hong Kong - Fashion and Antiques

Yesterday, I alluded to the commercial character of Hong Kong, so it should not surprise that a major activity for visitors is shopping. Since we're already familiar with most of the "tourist attractions," today, after the initial trip across the harbor on the Star Ferry (about US$0.28 for a pleasant 7 minute trip made by thousands every day), we started with some of our usual wallet-lightening stops.

Now I'm not sure whether it was the sub-tropical humidity or the stress of watching Lois' excitement at our first stop, but I sure was sweating at pricey Shanghai Tang. The creation of entrepreneur David Tang (who also operates the exclusive China Club), Shanghai Tang offers modern takes on classic chinese fashion. From custom-made silk chongsams to silk or cotton or linen or denim tang jackets to tee shirts with quirky, kitschy designs based on Mao or kung-fu fighters, the shop does, I admit, offer some nice stuff, some of which is going home with us.

Then on to Hollywood Road, and its concentration of antique emporiums. But keep in mind that Hong Kong island is a very vertical city; not only the skyscrapers and high-rise apartment complexes, but the island itself. The central part of the city climbs a hill eventually known at the top as "The Peak." To get from Shanghai Tang's lower neighborhood known as Central to Hollywood Road involves climbing hills, striding up stairs, or taking the world's longest escalator system. Taking advantage of the latter, we arrived on "antique row" without getting too much out of breath.

Our usual stops on Hollywood include Honeychurch Antiques and the Man Mo Temple. Honeychurch, owned by some expats, offers real antiques rather than the commonly found restorations and reproductions. Catching our eye this time around were a carved Japanese panel and a large step tansu, as well as a nice painted porcelain panel and a small side table, but we put off any purchases since we'll be back in town in about a week after the mainland portion of our trip. Something else that the folks at Honeychurch are good at providing are recommendations for eating places. Four years ago, they sent us to Manchu Bistro for some delicious dumplings. This year, they sent us to a Vietnamese place called Song, which offered a good lunch buffet featuring some tuna and wasabi mayo spring rolls, a roast duck salad, fish curry, and some interesting "pudding" which was more like a fruit soup with coconut milk, mango and pomelo. Nice and refreshing after the curry.

Also on Hollywood Road is the Man Mo Temple. Already old when the British arrived, its coiled incense hanging from the ceiling, offerings of fruit and joss sticks on the altars, juxtaposed with some electric "candles" and strings of what some might consider "Christmas lights" make for an interesting experience.

En Route - Borders

Just passed the north pole a little while ago, slipping across a border between hemispheres. What was approaching midnight is now coming up on noon, without the passing of time. The border of night to day is usually one of time, thought of as and seen in a moment of sunrise. When traveling this route, it's more of a movement thing. But rather than the movement of the earth on its axis defining the day/night border, it's the movement of the plane across that axis. Rather than a line as a border that moves to you, it's a point that you cross over.

But enough waxing poetic or philosophic, probably triggered by my inability to sleep on planes and being in the middle of my usual strategy to pull an "all-nighter" so my head is ready for the pillow at sleepy time in our destination.

This is our fourth trip together to Hong Kong since my sister first brought us there in 1996. Other than long weekends to Ocean City, these trips have constituted the sum of our vacations for the period. Funny, but I've got an aunt and uncle who always used to go back to the same place year after year for vacations, and I always thought that was silly, with such a wide world out there. But here we are, hitting our same place yet again.

Now admittedly, Hong Kong is more of a base of operations for these trips; 96 was Hong Kong, Macau, and Beijing, 98 was Hong Kong and Japan. In 2000, we redid Japan, adding Nara and Kamakura to the initial Tokyo and Kyoto, but that time starting in the land of the rising sun, and then moving on to "relax" and recover at our home away from home in the city of the fragrant harbor (with a side trip to Guilin on the mainland). Returning to Tokyo and Kyoto a second time was fantastic, exploring more on our own after we got to know the basics of the places the first time around. But even with the use of the place as a jumping off or decompression location, this being the fourth time for us back to Hong Kong (fifth for me -- a conference in 2002), we do still get the "Your going back there again?" queries.

I think the fascination with Hong Kong is that -- getting back to my opening theme -- it's a border town. It's probably the final border between the classic colonial era and a today's global sensibilities. The significant remnants of British influence makes it a relatively porous border between two of the world's major languages -- English and Chinese. When you have streets named Salisbury, Nathan, Jordan, and Queensway and neighborhoods like Admiralty and Central next to places like Wan Chai, Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok, the other borders between the Anglo and Sino cultures are a bit easier to negotiate. For Americans abroad, the exoticism of Hong Kong is made far more accessible due to the wide acceptance of English.

While it's no longer a "property" of another island nation thousands of miles away, it's also not fully assimilated into the motherland to the north, the relationship with which is defined the political and economic border known as "one nation, two systems." On this trip, we'll be visiting China's major home-grown response to the success of Hong Kong -- Shanghai. It'll be interesting to compare the two.

Some other borders...I tend to classify cities by four categories. First is the business hustle bustle of New York and Chicago and London, full of energy. Then there are the cities whose character is dominated by their natural locale...San Francisco and Rio de Janeiro a