Shanghai
-The Shanghai rush hour is intense. One striking feature is the rudeness of passengers; a bump or a shove is almost to be expected, and there’s no quick apology or head-bow: these things are expected in rush hour. In fact, there’s really not even a word for in Chinese, much like there’s no “bless you” when someone else sneezes.
-For some reason watches were the big thing street peddlers were selling; my American-looking friend was approached on numerous occasions asking him whether he wanted one; they ignored me, suggesting that these vultures were looking for a certain type of species to prey on.
Both Shanghainese and Cantonese seemed like this intricate maze when I was smaller, but I’m kind of getting a hang of both of them; there’s a certain rhythm to them and structure that I appreciate now that I’m kind of getting into other languages.
Tipping- a big deal. Wasn’t aware that Chinese restaurants don’t accept tips ( hadn’t ever needed to foot the bill before) and was downright rejected a couple times for giving a tip. Harkened back to the Steve Buschemi debate in Reservoir Dogs about whether tipping is necessary or not; definitely feel like it’s a government subsidy for restaurant employees.
Maybe I’m getting old, but my feet hurt incredibly on this trip. Must….walk……less not time.
-Pearl Tower’s probably the crown jewel (pun intended) of the Shanghai tourism universal, and they’ve really made it an amusement park in there. Besides the great view up high, there’s a roller coaster, arcade, fine dining area, revolving buffet, museum, etc., etc. Not exactly Disneyland (Shanghai’s Disneyland is actually being built right now) but pretty glitzy.
The Bund, however, is not glitzy and is urban scenery at its place. Gotta say that a lot of these international cities (Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong) have a much better city line/ architecture than Los Angeles. Los Angeles is……..flat in comparison and without a major river running through it, just major traffic.
Shanghai, as with most modern cities, is very efficient now with its subway system. Can get almost anywhere, and quickly. I am almost positive I will live in one of these subway transportation-based cities soon…..L.A. is just not efficient.
A big thing I noticed that was similar to Tokyo was the amount of temples in urban centers; there’ll be streets and buildings and shopping malls and then suddenly one comes upon an open park with a temple inside with places of worship and burning incense. I guess these would just be churches in America, but pretty intriguing to have open-air religious establishments in such densely populated areas.
Everyone’s on their smartphones. Chinese have a word for it now called “Look-down society.” America has people who only look down at their cell phones while walking/sitting on the train/waiting/doing anything. Chinese have the same, and maybe even more so. EVERYONE has a smartphone.
Hong Kong
I was really looking forward to Hong Kong as Shanghai was more of a relative-bonding trip than sightseeing as I’d see pretty much everything as a kid; Hong Kong really was like being shut in for a while but then being unleashed into the world of Avatar or Lord of the Rings: everything was new and fresh. I didn’t know Hong Kong was a series of islands; I didn’t know Hong Kong had an accompanying Kowloon that is prominent in the urban activity of the city; I didn’t know the airport was on a completely different island (Lantau); I didn’t know horse racing was such a big deal; I didn’t know Cantonese. Ah how I love going to new places.
I was thinking that servers and employees in Hong Kong have to be one of the more language-proficient populations in the world……they have to have at least a basic knowledge of English, Mandarin, and Cantonese, and who knows what other languages for internal tourism. Truly a multicultural city.
There’s a Goldfish Market, a Birdcage Market, a Flower Market, basically a market for any kind of thing you can think of. Should I go there and start a fantasy football market?
The views of Hong Kong are spectacular. There’s a daytime view and a night view, and I still can’t decide which one is better. It is a very condensed city as the whole area is on one island, so the buildings are close to each other and you really get a nice skyline, unlike the 7 buildings that tower up above Los Angeles’s massive spread. At night all the buildings light up, and there’s even a light show every night across the Victoria Harbor that’s…..not spectacular but still pretty significant given that they do one every night.
To emphasize just how fast technology is moving, there are internet kiosks INSIDE the railroad stations one can use to access the internet (as long as you keep it to 15 minute sessions). No questions asked. Totally eliminates the need for internet cafes, etc. and shows how much people rely on their smartphones that these places are just given away for free. I personally enjoyed emailing, checking my fantasy football team from 10,000 miles away (although it turns out I would lose the matchups).
It’s really hard to describe being on the streets of Hong Kong. It’s at once disorganized and structured, kind of like controlled chaos. There are people selling all kinds of things sold on the streets and people just milling about with cabs, cars, bicycles motorcycles, trolley lines, buses, and all kinds of transportation, but you have very defined regions too Really epitomized what I think of in a modern Asian city…..lots of people, hustle, and bustle. O and horse racing.
Lantau is a separate island from Macau and Kowloon that’s all natural beauty….it has a giant Buddha and a nice cable car system that gives a great overlook of the Hong Kong Islands and harbors……..truly a great scene. When I went to Japan I did not experience any of the seas or island nature of Japan…..in Hong Kong I did; it was everywhere. There’s also “new territories” in Hong Kong that we didn’t even have time to visit……if there was a futuristic movie setting a city on an island separated from the world, Hong Kong would be it, I’d think, or at least I’d have Hong Kong in my mind. Truly a one-of-a-kind place that I’m gonna make sure I go to only once.
Macau
We only went to Macau for an afternoon/night session, but we got a lot done and it was really pretty eye-opening. We went through perhaps the busiest and loudest street market I’ve ever been through (it may be just me but Cantonese seems like a very LOUD dialect) on our way to Fortaleza de Monte (Monte Fort) where there’s a giant fort where you can see Macau in 4 different directions. My whole time walking the streets of Macau I saw one person who looked kind of Portuguese. The rest were tourists and Chinese people.
Wynn Macau might be my favorite casino ANYWHERE. It’s got a Bellagio-like water show every 15 minutes but the fresh Asian songs really got me as well as PYROTECHNICS. Yes, fire!!!! Truly eye-opening.
My friends consider me a derelict gambler, but even I was priced out of the Macau casino’s betting limits. First off, the most popular game is baccarat, which I don’t know how to play, but the minimum bet at these places was like $500 HK minimum, aka like $75 US minimum!!!!! The Wynn Las Vegas is only $15 US! What’s up with that! It might also because people in Macau or not there to have fun while gambling, drink while gambling, or “root against the dealer” like in craps/blackjacks (very sparse amount of tables in Macau as opposed to in US where it’s the main attractions)……they’re there to win money.
Everything about Macau screams “GAMBLE!” As soon as we got off the ferry from HK to Macau (one runs every 15 minutes and they’re all sold out) you can see free buses shuttling people to each of the casinos. They want to get you to the casinos as soon as possible.
I mean, why even have the Macau dollar? Restaurants accept Hong Kong dollars or Chinese Yuan, but they’re slightly different where Macau dollar is slightly less valuable so you have to go to the trouble of calculating………we should make tourism less complicated, guys, come on!
Btw, I’m a big believer in being able to watch good movies on internal flights (mainly because you’re packed in for at least 11 hours and you can’t just nap through that)…….Don’t take China Eastern Airlines. Take China Southern Airlines. Subtle difference, but huge IMO for spending that extra vacation time on the plane. I don’t know about most people, but my idea of flying to my vacation destination involves completely letting loose and vegetating on a movie.
Coming in 2014: Austrailia/Thailand?
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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