JOURNEY TO THE ORIENT
And, so the Journey begins in Hong Kong – a day’s travel from Boston. To be honest though, the Journey began many years earlier – during my junior high school days after reading “The Good Earth” by Pearl S. Buck, a Pulitzer Prize-winning American writer known for her extensive literary works on her life in the Orient. I was most impressed by her description of the rural family life in the heart of China—where women toiled in the fields from sun-up to sun-down, where giving birth was considered a short break from their labors, only to return to the fields again. In spite of such hardships, I discovered a rich culture between the lines of the novel, a simple life supported by absolute devotion to family and traditions.
Upon arriving at Hong Kong International Airport, I soon became aware of a balance between size and function. A massive airport connected by an extremely efficient transit system. However, that’s where the efficiency ended – finding myself lost on a rainy night in the bustling square of Causeway Bay. Not all was lost. We found fortune in two hospitable local residents that guided us through Victoria Park to the door of our hotel.
On our second day, we left our hotel and walked thru Victoria Park and everywhere we looked, we could see people exercising. Basketball and soccer, plus people of all ages doing Ti Chi. We proceeded to tour Hong Kong by foot. The streets were full of activity, cars, trucks, double decker buses and people. This city is a city of steps and escalators, always moving upward. We strolled thru the streets in the SO-HO District (South of Houston reference); looking in the windows of shops, jewelry antiques, art galleries showing the old and new art of china, always moving up hill. We then took the tram up to Victoria Peak. What a great view of the city. The breeze blowing in our faces and the camera clicking. We stayed up there until the lights came on in all the sky scrapers watching all the traffic in the harbor.
Then we took a bus down to level ground and proceeded to board a Ferry Boat over to Kowloon where we walked the Walk of Fame. This is their equivalent to Groman’s Chinese Theater. We viewed statues of their famous actors and actresses, hand prints in the concrete. We then went to the night market in Mong Kok. Now this place was OVERWHELMING, especially after having toured all day. So many people and we were all so tired. You could buy anything and everything at this market. Oh so many cameras, electronics and clothing, etc. Did we buy? No…so OVERWHELMED and tired, we walked and gaped at all the people and stores then left to go back to our hotel.
The third day was so exciting because we had a meeting planned at ING of Hong Kong. This meeting came about because the person (Matthew M. Bruce) from our group is a Financial Planner for ING and it was because of him that we were all in Hong Kong. They rolled out the red carpet for us and we had a great meeting informing us of their roll in the Asian Market. Then we all walked over to this private club (The China Club) that they had purchased from the British. We had our own room where we were served a delicious lunch and tea. So much tea, so little time. The art work was fabulous in this club. Very old art work from the time of the Cultural Revolution. This club also had a room for reading with many books in it. This definitely was one of the many highlights of our trip.
Day Four, off to the airport and over to Mainland China. The airports are totally amazing, very large, very clean and efficient. After arriving we were placed on a bus and sent off to Guangzhou (Guangdong Province). We had to change buses at the border. Visited factories in Shen Zen.
Flight to Guangzi Province here we boarded a bus and were taken to the Li Jian (LiRiver) to Guilin. Guilin has only been accessible for the last 15 years to tourist. We took a four hour cruise up the LI River. Definitely a big highlight of this trip. The scenery is so beautiful and the river was calm and the sun shining. At every turn, there was beauty from the small boats which people live on and fish off of to the buffalo swimming in the river to the beautiful scenery and the Snake Wine. YES, I did taste it….very strong. The bottle had snakes curled up on the bottom. Once in Guilin, we got settled in our Hotel and that evening we walked to an open air theater and saw one of the most breathtaking performances I have ever seen. This was called Impressions-Liu Sanjie (Jon Lmo); unique landscapes, the colors, the costumes, the singing all being performed on the lake. Probably a cast of 1,000 people. Sitting in the open air watching this with the beautiful mountains surrounding us. As I said, just breathtaking!
Boarded another bus and after five hours….arrived in Phoenix Town another great highlight! This was my favorite place. This village is beautifully set on the water and the houses are past down from generation to generation. At night when it is all lit up with the red lanterns, it is so beautiful. Here we met people who had never seen Americans before. They were intrigued by with us. We met young teenagers who wanted to take pictures with us. They thought that the men in our group were famous and they took their pictures. I had some women circle around me and they were intrigued with my long dangling earrings. Of course, I stood out , as I am tall, light skinned and blue eyed and they never touched me but they were all talking at once and admiring my silver hair and earrings.
I never felt threatened for they are gentle people. What is that saying? Save the best for last!
On the move again heading up to higher ground and colder climate. We arrived by plane at 13,000 feet. Board a bus to go down to about 11,000 feet to Jziu Jzai Gho their National Park. It is an amazing place with waterfalls, breathtaking scenery and lakes. It is cold sleeting rain and I have all five layers of everything that I own on. Running gear, turtle neck jersey, sweater, light nylon parker and a flannel lined rain slicker. Also, hat, gloves and my trusty hiking boots. I wanted so bad to hike this mountain but became sick from the altitude. Not enough time to adjust. I ended up taking the tram up the mountain and back again. However, several of our group hiked up and the photos were amazing. There was a buddest temple and these beautiful pristine water lakes that the colors are spectacular. Turquoise, green, blue. The oldest person in our group (Allan) of Cape Cod blew by many younger people hiking. Allan is in his seventies and he put us to shame. One of the strangest things that happened to us is to follow:
I hope I explained this so you have a good visual because I still do not know why they (The Chinese) would do this. It was probably twenty degrees and when you entered our hotel, which was very large…the front doors were wide open. So it looked like a ski lodge and inside everyone on the first floor level had their outerwear on and we are in this huge cafeteria eating and shivering. Well, I was sick so I went upstairs to our room and they have a small square heating pad on the bed and one tiny radiator which was located in the ceiling. I was nauseous and had a pounding headache and just wanted to lie down and get warm.
Lucky for me, I was rooming with an American Doctor who was raised in China. She went to the front desk and got a heater for our room. Thank God. Next day when we went down stairs and the doors to the lobby are still open but now we are getting the carbon monoxide of about 300 buses that are parked outside warming up to ferry all these people up to the national Park and it was a Chinese Holiday so there were thousands of people there to visit the park. Still cannot believe this. This was the only negative part of the trip.
Food!!!!!! The food was fabulous. Every thing was so fresh. Always white rice, some form of noodle soup, a chicken with his head looking at you and the whole fish. Besides these dishes there were vegetables and eggs. The wait staff was always smiling while delivering the wine, beer and the food.
I could go on and on regarding this trip of a lifetime but this is much too long already. I only hope I have given you an overview of China that you find interesting.
I wish everyone a wonderful Christmas and a health New Year. So great to read the stories on the site. I look forward to going to work on Tuesdays to find out what will be on the Lantern as I don’t have a computer at home.
A special thank you to Rose for all that you do for the Class of 62. Thank you to all who wished me a Happy Birthday. I have been celebrating for three weeks and it is fun. The big 65----The years just fly by.
Rose, thank you for spending the time and for your amazing writings.
Estella
