Where I Went

Some of you have asked me on FB and elsewhere exactly what I did and where I went while on my HK/China visit. There were six of us who went on this trip, but I mainly stayed with D and his parents, while my parents went to visit my dad's side of the family. I'll warn you, this will be long and I hope I won't bore you, but some of you asked and I aim to please, so here was my schedule:

Mar 17: My parents, D's parents, D, and I arrived in Hong Kong at 8:20pm (their time) and we reached Metropark Hotel Kowloon by 10:30pm (my parents went to stay at my aunt's apartment).


Mar 18: D's dad had some stocks that he wanted transferred to D's name, so we went to some business district and spent nearly half the day doing that. Then we checked out Stanley Market (HK Island), walked down the Avenue of Stars at Tsim Sha Tsui (Kowloon) before walking the busy streets in that area.








Mar 19: We wandered around Tsim Sha Tsui again. Around this time, D and I went on our own. Now, flashback to our bus ride to the hotel from the airport on the first night. During one quiet moment on the bus while we all took in the sights, one of the other tourists said out loud, "I think we're in Surrey." I burst out laughing just because I thought it was a funny thing to hear all the way in HK from BC. Now fast-forward to today and that tourist wasn't kidding. D and I saw this mini mall on Nathan Road (I think) and we thought it looked cool on the outside, so we went in. All of a sudden, there were less and less Chinese people and more and more Indians (from India, not First Nations people) around. D and I actually began to feel a little self-conscious and I quietly said to him, "I think we're in Surrey." We quickly left. Not that there is anything wrong with Indian people, but it just felt weird considering we were in Hong Kong and they all stood outside their shops staring us as we walked by, trying to act casual. Anyway, we met up with D's parents and we had "tea" at The Peninsula. It was quite classy. Later that evening, D and I had dinner with both sets of parents and my dad's two sisters.













Mar 20: After having breakfast at the same restaurant beside our hotel (D's father is a creature of habit; he finds something good and he sticks with it, so we ate breakfast at the place every day we stayed in HK; the manager actually remembers D's dad from previous years), we went to pay our respects to D's grandfather (dad's side) at the Stone Mountain Cemetery (I think that's what it was called). It was probably the last time D's dad was going to travel to HK because he felt like he was getting too old to travel such a distance. At the grave site, I heard D's dad talking to his father, saying things like "Look here. Your grandson is here to see you. Now both your grandkids have come to see you." Then just before we left, D's dad touched the photo of D's grandfather and in English, D's dad said, "Ok, bye-bye." :(
After that, we window-shopped at Ladies Market (Mong Kok) and at some electronics department store. That evening, we had dinner with some of D's extended family before walking another market on Man Ming Street. D's dad's cousins were incredibly friendly people who were our tour guides today. Loud, but friendly -- the Hong Kong way.


Mar 21: Today was the day we traveled into China. Getting through customs was a bit hectic because we left on Good Friday, the long weekend where everyone else decided to make their pilgrimages to their respective villages for "bai sun." We took a four-hour long bus ride to Taishan. Along the way, a woman with a very loud voice complained about a kid pushing his seat back and "crushing" her legs. The parents were trying to talk to the lady, but they all ended up in a yelling match. The useless attendant, who accompanies the driver, got up to tell the people to "stop arguing" and that's all she said, but I guess you really can't say much to someone who was being so rude. Later another lady, or it might be the same lady, complained about the washroom on the bus: "Why is there a bucket here? Why is the bucket so large? Where am I supposed to stand? How am I supposed to wash my hands with the bucket in the way?" and she would stand at the doorway, holding the washroom door open, complaining about this while the foul odour of the washroom wafted into the bus. I don't know what's worse, being on the airplane or being on that bus. Finally, we got to Taishan and we saw that we got a pretty decent hotel.

Mar 22: We rented a van and driver to take us to D's dad's village where we paid our respects to more family members, mainly D's great-grandparents.




















Mar 23: We visited D's mom's village.





















Mar 24: We went shopping finally, but since D and I aren't big spenders, we didn't buy very much. I know, I know...some of you thrifty shoppers are probably shaking your fists at me.


Mar 25: We left Taishan by van and ferry. The unmarked van just pulled up to our hotel and then went to pick more people up at another hotel. After almost two hours of driving, the van U-turned into a dirt path and I thought to myself, "This is it. This is where the driver and his buddy will rob us at gunpoint in the middle of nowhere and then leave us out here to find our own way back if they let us go alive." Of course, my silly suspicions were all in my head because suddenly we found ourselves in a parking lot with a tour bus. They loaded our luggage up into the bus, but because the bus didn't have enough seats, we continued in the van. This new van driver was a total nutcase on the highway. If you know China traffic, imagine this guy five times worse. That's how scary the ride was. Oh yeah, and no seat belts. We made it to Chong Shan ten minutes before the ferry takes off and we head back into Hong Kong. (My parents came to visit me at the HK hotel despite the bruised leg that my poor daddy got from falling off the stool at one of the street food vendors. He complained that he hadn't seen me in four days, so he absolutely had to come see me. I told him, "Baba, when I live in Mission, which is only one hour away from you, you said it was too far to visit. Now we're thousands of miles away from Vancouver and you needed to come and see me now?!?" Not that I wasn't grateful, but see the irony here?)

Mar 26: This was the only day D and I got to spend with my parents, although my godfather and godbrother came along, too. We all went to Macau, the Portugese-influenced part of China, about 60km southwest of HK. After some souvenir shopping and sight-seeing, we went to visit a couple of casinos, including The Venetian. What a beautiful place! Unfortunately, D's parents were both sick and couldn't come to Macau with us.




















Mar 27: D and I flew home. I didn't realize that despite having traveled by air several times before, I am nervous about the turbulence. Must be because I'm older and I've seen one too many documentaries on airplane crashes on Discovery Channel.

Both sets of parents will be staying until this Friday, April 4th. As I write this, D's parents are still battling the flu. We are praying that it's not something more serious. D's father has been to a doctor's already; his symptoms come and go, but he's definitely not feeling very well. D's parents are able to go out a little bit at a time, but they are lamenting the fact that they feel their time is wasted because of their illness. We hope they will feel better soon. We are also praying that my dad's leg will heal. My dad's entire thigh, calf, and shin on his right leg is bruised and a bit swollen. He says he feels better (the day after he had his fall, he was in pain), but the appearance of the injury looked horrendous. My stubborn father refuses to get it checked out, though. I haven't been able to get a hold of my parents for the last two days, so I'm not sure how he's doing. I'm glad that my mom's with him.

Thanks for bearing with me. If you lasted this long, you are truly an amazing friend. Now get some sleep. :)