Hey All,
Well I have begun the long voyage back to our part of the world. We left Japan 2 days ago and it already feels like months ago. Japan was an amazing experience, but unfortunately, I still haven’t talked about my time in Hong Kong and China yet. I also have a Global Studies exam in 2 days, so it might be a while until I get my post about Japan up. Also, today is the day we cross the international dateline. Because of that, we live Easter twice. That is an interesting phenomenon if you ask me… Also, I forgot to mention something that I bought in Vietnam. I bought some lacquer wall art. Each is made up of 4 pictures made out of wood, stone and gloss. They are very pretty. I bought one set for myself and one set for my grandparents in Florida. They are really pretty. I forgot to mention them because they are wrapped up really neatly under my bed and I forgot about them… In Japan I almost got no time to shop, but I was able to pick up some Japanese baseball jerseys for my dad and myself. Go Yokohama Bay Stars! I am getting ahead of myself, first I have to talk about Hong Kong and China.
When we arrived in Hong Kong a few weeks ago, it was a shock to the system. Since South Africa, we had not seen a decidedly western place. Hong Kong is as if San Francisco and Shanghai had a baby. It has the beautiful landscape of San Francisco, with the hills and water. It is covered in fog. It has great public transportation. It has the large city aspect of Shanghai. The city is HUGE. Every building is so tall you have to break your neck just to see the tops. It also has the asian flair we all expect. Large neon signs covered in characters. Lots of Chinese Dim Sum. Everything you’d expect.
When we arrived in Hong Kong it was foggy and gross out. We had just left sunny Vietnam where it was 100+ degrees outside and was decidedly uncomfortable. Needless to say, Hong Kong was not 100 degrees out… Our ship docked up next to the Harbor Mall. The Harbor Mall was the most expensive place I’ve ever seen. In order to disembark the ship, you had to walk the length of this place. It was kind of dumb, but interesting in its own way. Upon arriving, I went with some friends to explore the city. We traveled over to Hong Kong Island and found a great little restaurant to eat at. I had to return to the ship early on because the UVa students had been offered a chance to meet with the president of UVa, John T. Casteen III. After meeting with him for a few hours, including free drinks and food as every meeting with him seems to include, it was time for me to get ready to perform. MICE was contracted by the board of SAS to play for a large group of Chinese dignitaries, investors, and donors. We played a song called “World Strings” in which I played in instrument from Vietnam called the Dan Bow. It was a very good song, I’m trying to get the video from my professor so that I can share it with all of you. Following that, my friends and I hit the town and went to the top of “The Peak,” the mountain/hill that is behind Hong Kong. It gave us the best view of the city at night. I forgot my camera, so I don’t have any good pictures from up there :(.
The following day began my journey to Shanghai. A group of friends and I had decided to take an overnight train from Hong Kong to Shanghai. The train ride took 20 hours and I had to sleep on the top top bunk in a very cramped cabin. It did end up being a lot of fun though. We got to talk to Chinese people on board as well as have some quiet time to read and sleep. It was like a 20 hour break from caring about anything. We also got to see some of the Chinese countryside, which from SAS students got to see due to flying to Beijing or riding on the boat between the two cities of Hong Kong and Shanghai. The countryside was not as barren as I had expected. I had expected some poorly tended farmland, small farmhouses, and very poor people. I did see very poor people, but the land was not barren. There were high rises filled with people almost the entire ride between the two cities. Where there weren’t any high rises, high rises were being built. I like to think of China as a country under construction. It will be really cool in 10 years once it is all built, but be ready to see lots of cranes and construction if you go now. It looked as if land had been partitioned off into plots for families as there were distinct sections with different crops and they only ever had one person working on them. It was an interesting experience. It seemed as if a lot of the wealth of urban china has begun to leak into rural china.
Upon arriving in Shanghai, Mike, Alex, Rachel, Carolyn, Jen, and I found ourselves searching for a place to stay. We stumbled upon a hostel called Y35 which had free internet, a room with 6 beds, a pool table, a bar, and comfy beds for only 55 yuan a night. That’s about 8 dollars a night. It was a great place and worked really well for our group. We then made our way to the Shanghai museum where they had some amazing ancient and modern Chinese art. If you are an art nut, that is a place to see. After dinner and a beer we walked up to the Bund, the river district, in order to see the skyline of the city at night. It was beautiful. It really is one of the most picturesque cities in the world. With the coming Expo 2010, aka the world’s fair, the city will be reshaped and made beautiful. They are adding 10 subway lines, massive buildings, etc. just for the event. How about that communism… Once again, ahead of myself.
The following day we made our way over and took a quick bus tour of a small part of the city. It was nothing too special, but we did it anyway. We then made our way to the Urban Planning Museum. Now this was a sight. It showed how this city went from a small fishing village into the bustling metropolis it is today. It also showed their plans for Expo and much more over the next many years. The breadth of planning really left me in awe. To have so many massive buildings in construction at the same time, it doesn’t feel like its possible, but they are doing it… I guess if anyone has the manpower to do it, it’s the Chinese… We then made our way over to the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. It is the big space aged looking tower in Shanghai. Look it up if you haven’t seen it. It was like the Seattle Space Needle on steroids. We went up into the tower and waited until the sun went down in order to see the city as well as the Bund at night. You could see all the construction underway and it was astonishing. You could feel the city getting bigger as you sat up there watching the sun go down. It was truly breathtaking.
The following day marked the arrival of the MV Explorer to Shanghai. We made our way to the ship early in the morning just to wait for them to let us on the ship… It took 3 hours for them to clear the ship and allow us to come on. I had about 10 seconds on the ship and no breakfast before I had to go on an SAS sponsored trip. We traveled around the city and saw the major sights. We saw the Yu Yuan Gardens and Bazaar, the Temple of the Jade Buddha, and an acrobatic show. It was a fun, but very long day. At night, I needed to rest because of all the traveling and sightseeing I had done over the past four days.
On our last day in Shanghai, I had another SAS sponsored trip to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. It was really disappointing. We spent the day at the Stock Exchange where nobody was even working! We could see the trading floor, but nobody was working there. They didn’t even let us on the floor or give us a speech about the exchange at all. It was severely disappointing. After that, it was time to leave China. It was a great experience and I will have to go back in the future to see Beijing and the beautiful things that my friends saw there.
On the topic of communism, if you couldn’t see it everywhere, you could feel it everywhere. Everything around you screamed of government control. The way the subways were set up, the way the city is planned, the attitudes of the people. It all screams communism. The country is growing and is proud of its growth, but you can tell the people want their freedom. They want to be able to control their own lives. For all the economic freedoms they have been given, they have still not been given freedom. I feel sorry for the people there sometimes. If you try to talk to young people today about Tiananmen Square, they don’t have any idea about it. And those that do know of it, believe it to be a hoax by the west in order to slander their government. I say this because we were there on the 30th anniversary of the massacre that happened there. To me it is inexcusable for a government to repress such an event. I know they want to keep power, but people have a right to know. It is scary how they can take away such an event from the history of their people. I pray and wish for the Chinese government to free their people and let them live and decide how they feel is right. I met the people, there is a lot of good in that country. More good than most countries. They deserve the right to live free.
Love,
Steven at Sea
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