Sweating the sights

Because that is what sightseeing in Hong Kong is all about. Each wonderful adventure leaves a lasting impression, not just in my head, but as a sweats stain on my shirt.

The Harbor


On my first full day in Hong Kong I went with one of my roommates, Audrey, to Tsim Sha Tsoi, which is one of the shopping hubs of Hong Kong. We walked around for a little while, but since neither of us had any money to blow we decided on dinner. Audrey is a vegetarian, and my guidebook listed a good and fairly inexpensive vegetarian restaurant in the area, so after some detective work we managed to find it on the 7th floor of a building fairly near the pier. It looked a little fancy for us (table cloths and about as many waiters as tables) but since it was Audrey's last night before flying home to Switzerland after several months of travel, we decided to go for it anyway. We were seated at a table by the window with a fantastic view of the harbor. We each ordered two dishes. It was by far the nicest meal I have had on this trip. And when the bill came we each had to pay the extravagant price of HK$80, or US$10. Now this was a nice change from Australia where $10 might buy you a burger, fries, and a drink, but more likely just the burger. After our luxurious meal we met up with another roommate for a night cruise of the harbor, which gave us a fantastic view of the light show. I am pretty sure that the light show is a uniquely Hong Kong experience. All the buildings on both side of the harbor are lit up and shine spot lights and whatnot for about 20 minutes in time with some music coming from some unseen but undoubtedly huge speakers. It was quite a sight, even though it was pouring rain and we had to time our picture taking with the breaks in the storm.

The Peak

Hong Kong is built somewhat haphazardly between, around, and on the hills that make up most of the islands. "The Peak" as it's called is where you go to get a look at it all. On Friday, I took the Peak Tram up to the top, then rode several escalators to the top of the viewing deck that opens up a spectacular view of everything. It's a strange feeling to be looking down on hundreds of skyscrapers. It's even stranger to walk across the viewing deck and see an expanse of water and islands that, aside from the boats, seems to have no idea of the city that is just around the corner. I decided to walk down instead of taking the tram again, and of course I began to sweat immediately and was quite sweaty and embarrassed by the time I had to sit next to some very serious businessmen on the subway. And that was walking down the hill. Imagine if I had tried to walk up!

The beach

Sunday, I took a ferry out to an island and went to the beach for the day. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and I was looking forward to spending my afternoon buried in this huge book I've borrowed from my hostel. After 30 minutes on the ferry and another 15 walking from the pier to the beach, I put on my third layer of sunscreen and lay down. The sweat was literally pouring off of me, down my nose onto my book, off my legs and arms and back onto my towel, and no matter how many times I reminded myself I had on a ton of sunscreen I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being fried. Even swimming didn't help much, and I only lasted an hour and a half on the beach. I had heard of a nice hour long walk across the island between the beach I was on and the other beach (both with Chinese names I cannot remember), so I decided that walking might be a better way to spend my afternoon. But there wasn't an ounce of shade on the path, and after only 20 minutes I turned around and headed back the way I had come, terrified that I was going to spend the next two weeks peeling sunburned skin off my face. So I ended up wandering around the little town on the island for a while, which was very un-Hong Kong and more like something out of a Jimmy Buffet song.

The Project

The rest of my time has been been spent doing my project, which is much harder here. Even though most people speak English, the University is in summer session and in general people are less talkative. Luckily there is a lot of information on the internet and that has given me a good amount of people to harass through email, which is what I have been doing. The campus is amazing though, set apart from the city and just massive. It's a little quiet since it's summer, but it's kind of fun to be on a campus when it's peaceful.