2-28-2011
Day 357 of 365: Hong Kong. Is it a city? Is it a country? Is it an island? Well...yes. Having always had a fascination with Kung Fu movies and Hong Kong cinema, I finally had an opportunity to visit Hong Kong for the Chinese New Year (aka - Lunar New Year), which took place during the first week of February. Though it's not officially celebrated in the U.S., the Chinese New Year is a national holiday in just about every Asian country. Many businesses close their doors for a few days at least, and some for up to 2 weeks or more. There were many festivals that week to celebrate the "Year of the Rabbit" in addition to all the sites, food and attractions of Hong Kong, so we just tried to soak in as much as we could.
Taking our own week-long vacation from school in Ansan, two fellow English teachers and I embarked on a 5 day trip that had us constantly moving from place to place. We didn't have much time to remain at any one site for very long, but I did spend a fair bit of time in the famous Lady's Market. I never thought to ask the locals where the Lady's Market got it's name from, but it is THE place for guys and gals alike to find whatever you're looking for in Hong Kong. New, used, real or fake, chances are there's somebody selling it there. Everybody's trying to make a buck, but it's not always on the up and up. For instance, while I was shopping alone (the 2 gals had made their way to Disneyland Hong Kong), an Arab guy asked me if I was interested in a fake Rolex on the street, but instead of showing me his stock right there, he wanted me to follow him 2 blocks, into a sketchy building and up an elevator. My "shady meter" was already going off just by talking to the guy (He was Arab. I'm just saying.), but when we got to that elevator, something in me was just saying, "walk away", so I did. Am I saying that he and his people were going to roll me for all my money or kidnap me and hold me for ransom? Not exactly, but I didn't want a fake watch bad enough to find out. Here's an idea: have your shop on the street level, out in the open like normal folks.
As far as food goes, dim sum (endless small-portioned waves of fried, boiled and steamed foods ranging from chicken and pork dumplings to jellyfish and chicken feet) is probably what Hong Kong is best known for. The food in Hong Kong was delicious and reasonably priced. As in Korea and Japan, I made my obligatory trip to the local McDonald's to see what kind of new and "exciting" burgers the U.S. is missing out on. However, the menu was very similar to back home. I did order a fried red bean desert pie, but it wasn't quite what I was used to. Red bean is a very popular dessert flavor in asian culture though. One thing I didn't realize before going was how much English is spoken in Hong Kong. While there, I found out that Hong Kong was a long time colony of Great Britain, which explains the dual languages. Chinese is still the first language, but English definitely runs a close second. It was rarely a problem getting around in the city since most signs were in English, and people on the street were almost always able to help us when asked.
The highlight of my trip was a solo adventure I took toward the end of our visit. The same day that I almost "bought" a watch and the girls went to Hong Kong Disney, I made reservations to take a harbor tour on a traditional Hong Kong style junk boat (pictured above). "Junks", which were primarily used for fishing back in the day, have long been a symbol of Hong Kong. Although there are not many left today, they are still very iconic and beautiful to look at. Hong Kong is famous for it's nightly laser-light show on the harbor skyline, and the junk tour was a perfect way to view it.
Since our flight back to Seoul was actually scheduled on the Lunar New Year's day (which I later realized was why our flights were so cheap), we missed the main festival happening that day. I imagine it was like a chinese version of the New Year's day parade back in the states, so I was a little disappointed. However, I had a great time overall, and may even make plans to go back this summer when a friend of mine will be there as well. I definitely think the home of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan is worth another visit!
