Comments on the stories below:

Our flight from Air Canada took us to Hong Kong, considered an "territory" of China.  Therefore, we had to get our passports stamped as leaving Hong Kong and go to another checkpoint which is considered as entering China.

When Ken refers to "Cairo", it was from our trip to Egypt in Spring 1999.

Intrepid is an Australian tour agency; they conduct "off-the-beaten-path" tours in Asia.

The terms "yuan" and "RMB" are used interchangeably for the Chinese currency.  8 yuan equals $1 USD.

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September 1 (Mel) 

I slept through September 1.  Those "special" sleeping pills did the trick for killing 13 hours on the plane.  We landed in Hong Kong around 9:30pm, breezed through Customs, got on the express train, then caught a taxi and, voila -- we're at our hotel, which is the in the heart of the Kowloon district.  We threw our bags in the room, met the tour guide, then went out to see the city.  But we can't see much, because friggin' Air Canada made us arrive late, and we leave Hong Kong in the morning.  So for us, it's walking around the district, go to the Temple Street market, buy water, and go in search of food.  We found a mom-and-pop place where we just point to food and say how many.  We had buckwheat noodles, humbow, rice and chicken wrapped in banana leaves, and this orange juice/pop thing.  It poured down rain when we started eating.  On the way back to the hotel, we saw a homeless guy sleeping in the doorway of a building.  I'm not surprised; Hong Kong is more a free market than communist area.

Now I will be sleeping on my nice, clean, rock-hard mattress at the hotel. 

      
Ken at Street Diner

               
            Mel in Hong Kong

September 2 (Mel) 

In pouring rain, we went to find Bank of Hong Kong to get Chinese yuan money.  We finally found it, got the money, then went in search of breakfast.  On the way I found an "Afro Ken" umbrella.  Had to buy it.  It's like the Hello Kitty stuff, except a dog with a blue afro.  We went back to the district of our hotel and bought fruit, these friend donuts, the Tang juice stuff, then went back to the hotel to dry off, eat breakfast, and watch Chinese soap operas.  Chinese soaps are a lot about losing/saving face, and fathers who must have their honor restored.  There's lots of kung fu in Chinese soaps.  At 11am we met up with the members of our Intrepid group, then took taxi to the bus station, then bus to a different bus, and now we are going to the Chinese border.  We have to make sure we have proper stickers, paperwork, and cards.  The people in Hong Kong are friendly; a girl on the bus pointed out that I needed my sticker and helped me get it.  And she doesn't speak English.

Hong Kong is crowded, humid, and noisy.  It's not gritty, and doesn't smell.  There is Shell Oil, McDonalds, KFC, Coca-Cola, British churches, Toyota cars, everybody drives on the left, fashions are like the US, public transportation is fast and efficient.  Most things are also in English too, and it's still the monsoon season here.  Something like 120mm (~40") rain for September.  Saw an advertisement for Rush Hour 2 on a bus.  Everybody here has a cell phone.

[Note: The "monsoon" ended up being the tailend of a hurricane, which followed us throughout our trip, making it hot and humid.  Oh joy.]

Rain in Hong Kong

September 3 (Ken)

The trip thus far has been pretty much a constant state of motion.  Well, except for our 5-hour delay in Vancouver.  Aside from the delay, the flight wasn't too bad.  I went over the first 2 pages of the Mandarin phrasebook (with the language cassette tape) about a dozen times on the plane.  I can now say "yes, no, please, thank you, hello, goodbye, my name is, and I want/don't want".  The only one I've put to use so far is "hello".  Our transition into China (through Hong Kong), for better or worse, was a gradual one.  The airport and the express train were more modern than one would find in most American cities.  We found the hotel okay, it was clean, but the beds were hard.  Went out for a walk after we arrived -- the market in the Kowloon district stays open until 1am.  The walk around the city at night wasn't too overwhelming -- certainly not as much as our first night in Cairo.  Lots of neon and brightly-lit storefronts, but most of the merchandise was typical Western junk.  Seemed like every third store or stall sold cell phones and cell phone accessories.  And every person on the street seems to have a cell phone.  The city seemed very clean.  Occasionally there was an odd smell or a pile of rubbish, but for the most part, I think the rain washes everything clean.  The rain and humidity are pervasive.  My first impression of China is "damp".  Mel and I went for a walk this morning to exchange some US$ for RMB and find some breakfast, and the rain came down on us in torrents.

Random thoughts.  Ate a late dinner in Hong Kong at a corner food counter.  The food wasn't as interesting as I would have expected, bland noodles and a chicken-rice mixture wrapped in a banana leaf.  But the man at the counter was friendly, and kept encouraging us to try the different sauces on the counter -- peanut, chili, and hoisin, which helped make the food a little more interesting.

The border crossing was surprisingly easy between Hong Kong and mainland China. 

Our group is friendly, still getting to know each other.  Seven out of 12 are Americans, to our somewhat disappointment.

The bus ride from Hong Kong to Guangzhou...surprised at how much Western influence.  Lots of billboards along the highway, although in many places, the billboards overshadow shanties among the canals and fields.  An interesting mix of rivers and canals, fields, shanties, and industrial developments, and modern apartment buildings.  Everything is under construction.  Everywhere is damp -- seems like we crossed a river every mile or so.

Went to McDonald's in Guangzhou, then a 20-minute walk to the train station.  The line getting into the train station was our abrupt introduction to queues in China -- a crush of sweaty bodies with no regard for the line, all trying to squeeze through one door.  Now we're on the train.  The scenery finally looks a bit more rural -- working our way through lush green hills, still with villages of relatively modern apartment buildings, although less new-looking than we saw on the bus ride.  Portable toilets at the border crossing were squat toilets.  I dubbed them "port-a-squatties". 

The warm beer that we're drinking on the train was made in Oregon. 

                                    
                                        Mel in McDonalds                                                                                                    Ken on our first train

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Next segment:  

being attacked by old women at the train station, 
climbing 812 steps to Moon Rock, 
lunch from the Farmer Wives, 
the tragedy about Lisa...

mkadenko/01.01.02