Day 20 Hong Kong- The assault on all five senses
When in Hong Kong, the human body is subject to extremities. Allow me to explain:
The Smell
The air was a recipe for hearty pollution soup. The thick, humid air held the smog firmly in place hovering low in the air like a graveyard fog. The smell of exhaust and fish wafted from every corner, stung our eyes, and caused miniature seizures in our nasal cavities. What made it worse was air conditioned hotels beckoning like some illicit drug providing temporary relief but in reality only making it worse when we ventured back out. Many residents had masks and umbrellas to shield themselves from the pollution and the smothered sun.
The Sights
Markets seemed to fester everywhere, even beside five star hotels. There were buckets of toads piled two feet high and cages stuffed to maximum capacity with countless birds including ducks. Raw intestines covered in flies hung at the entrance to every second store and vast plains of fish by-products beckoned our taste buds. Shabby apartment complexes with crumbling foundations perched precariously along the street. Humming window air conditioners ruined what little peace and quiet could be salvaged. All intersections were barred off forcing the over saturated streets to funnel pedestrians through narrow openings.
The Sounds
Any space not occupied by man-made structures was infested with man himself. The sea of black heads came in waves so strong anyone deciding to venture in the opposite direction was flattened. Conversation levels were in a constant state of shouting, attempting in vain to find any dominance over the traffic noise. Tailgating buses competed for the open road gunning their engines and braking so fiercely that the high pitched squeals overshadowed any last minute attempt at conversation. The crosswalk signals indicated it was never safe to cross by pumping out a sound akin to a woodpecker tapping its beak on a metal pole.
The Touch
Simply put, we didn’t touch anything. Mary nearly drowned us both in successive bottles of Purell. Everything was covered in a think layer of black soot. Handrails leading down to the subway trains oozed unidentifiable sludge that seemed to latch onto any unsuspecting hands.
The Taste
Although I’ll go into detail later about particular meals, we simply avoided any kind of meat that sounded exotic like feet, eyes, throat, tongue, spleen, intestines, ears etc etc. We could however taste the air and unfortunately consumed too much of it. I was struck with a sore throat that felt like tiny chicken feet scratching the fleshy lining of my oesophagus completely raw.
Now this all happened within the first five minutes of walking. We instantly fell in love with this city but thanked God we didn’t live here…
Our retreat five minutes later was the rooftop pool of our hotel. Somehow the air smelled cleaner, the sky looked brighter, the sounds were muffled, the feel of the water felt cleansing and the chlorine tasted refreshing.
We commuted via the Octopus card (a subway card with a radio signal that kept track of where you were and how far you were going) and arrived at the base of Victoria Peak. We waited over an hour to board a tram that took us to a viewing platform swarming with aggressive tourists. Each sightseer seemed determined to latch onto a square inch of personal space in order to view the impressive skyline of the city far below. Mary and I had already endured 10 separate escalator rides past countless brand name retail stores after disembarking from the tram. We weren’t ready to fight for a spot up here so we retreated to McDonald’s of all places…
After dinner, we took a hiking path around Victoria and found far better natural viewing platforms without what seemed like the rest of the world’s population. I can honestly say this was the most impressive view I’ve ever seen in my life. Please consult my Facebook profile or my website www.stevethetravelwriter.com Words cannot describe how our breath was taken away.
We took four hours to hike this trail and relished every minute of it. By the time we returned to the dreaded viewing platform it was night and astonishingly seemed even more packed. Photographers attempting to make a quick buck seemed intent on temporarily dispersing enough of this human mess to allow their subjects some privacy. This just created more confusion and eventually instigated some harsh words.
We walked all the way down instead of waiting at least two hours for the tram. This turned out to be the biggest physical exertion of my life. By the end of our two hour walk to the subway station, my knees supported my immense weight as successfully as a cheap lawn chair from Wal-Mart would. Fortunately, I was at least 20 pounds lighter from all the excessive sweating. However, I was not the most popular person in the crowded subway car.
Day 21 Incense on top of injury
We slept very well. Our hotel was soundproof and more importantly cool. The hallways were not air-conditioned however so they served as a natural progression to the sauna that awaited outside. The maid seemed appalled by our choice in room temperature resulting in an all out thermostat war with her every time we returned to our room.
We followed a walking tour using one of our guidebooks and were led into numerous Chinese temples. I have permanently sworn off the concept of incense creating a serene mood. Combined with the humidity and smog, the extreme usage of incense nearly rendered me unconscious. I couldn’t even begin to enjoy the beauty of these ancient temples because my senses were overrun by the texture and scent in the air. We literally ran through each temple ignoring our guide book’s attempt to have us stop and cherish each moment.
The guide carried us through stores supplying Buddha statues, kitchenware, jade and tailored suits. Once again, the heat took its toll on us and we retreated to our hotel room. Mary slept for two hours while I researched about air-conditioned attractions listed in our guide books.
This research took us to one of the world’s premier hotels, The Peninsula. The view of the harbour from the lobby was considered the world’s best and it did not disappoint. However, Mary felt out of place in such a ritzy establishment as she forced us back outside into the urban sweatshop.
We managed to cool off by taking a 40 cent ferry ride on the Star Ferry to the business district of the city. This was not the place to find a restaurant for dinner though. After endless walking and our first altercation on this trip, we found a crowded little Chinese place and ate bean sprout pork, ox tail curry and sweet and sour shrimp. That meal calmed our frayed nerves.
After dinner, we took the world’s longest escalator up more than halfway until we realized that there was not a separate one going down. This time Mary forced me to order a cab back to the subway station. We arrived back at our hotel room and once again collapsed.
Day 22 Mary needs her rest
After 7 ½ year of marriage, I knew Mary needed a siesta every afternoon if we toured around. Coupled with the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong, these siestas turned into three hour slumber marathons for my dear wife. After embarking on yet another walking tour this morning, she’d had enough. The scent of religious offerings of dried seafood spread out alongside curbs and dried shark fins hanging in a huge hot market combined with a lunch consisting of a salted egg, won ton shrimp salad and black bean squid, brought my wife to a threshold that should have never been crossed.
As she slept back in our hotel, I foolishly explored further. I discovered that Hong Kong was divided specifically into retail districts. I found myself lost in one selling only ceramic tiles and aquarium fish. Curiously, these poor fish were already pre-packed in their tiny bag-cells hanging outside literally hundreds of stores. I eventually found my way back and was dragged by a rejuvenated wife to ANOTHER market.
The market bearing the name of TEMPLE proudly called itself the night market. It sold everything from sex toys to key chains to splatters (toys that looked like vomit when thrown fiercely on a flat surface but re-emerge to their original form within 5 seconds). Mary bought a splatter eyeball, pig and penis.
Hong Kong does not have many restaurants with patios because of the noise and pollution but we found one near the Temple market. Any resemblance of marine life looked like it had been torn apart by a pack of hounds by the time the tourists tossed the remnants on extra plates. It was a disgusting affair that had me considering becoming a vegetarian.
Mary and I had enough of the exotic and voted to eat at Pizza Hut. The restaurant’s supplier seemed to be the markets down below but we managed to top our pizza with something that did not seem endlessly chewy or downright squishy.
Once outside, the preferred snack of choice was Octopus tentacles on a stick. We found bubble tea instead or Gatorade type drinks bought at 7-Elevens in our attempts to constantly re-hydrate.
We walked back to the harbour and walked along the Avenue of the Stars whom none of them we’ve ever heard of. Realizing we were once again exhausted, we fumbled our way back to the hotel and crashed.
In the next and FINAL Asian Trip Report, Mary and I decide to venture outside of the city limits and into the Chinese countryside. We had some final culture shocks to attend to! Thanks for reading!
