chapter 7 - hong kong

We walked down busy Nathan Street, past designer clothing and jewelry stores intermingled with dens full of incense and aromatic herbs, taking a detour for dim sum at the Jade Garden. The trolleys were driven by unsmiling old ladies who treated the whole process as if it was a race to get back to the kitchen with as much food still on their trolley as possible, avoiding actually serving patrons. It took us ages to work out the Chinese characters on the little sheet at our table, and in the end we would just say the words for ‘shrimp’, or ‘pork’ or ‘peppers’ and hope to get something vaguely edible. The chicken legs were the only things that defeated me. They looked so pathetic sticking up in the air like that.

Preparing for our venture into China took a lot longer then expected, even though I knew it would take awhile. Most people travel in groups to well trodden cities and tourist sites, but I don’t do the group thing let alone the well-trodden path thing, so not surprisingly we are treated a little suspiciously. We are only allowed to visit certain cities and towns, so have agreed to use these as a base and try to visit the surrounding countryside once there. We have unfortunately had to veto Beijing and the Great Wall which seems a little sacrilegious to me. I can’t imagine visiting China without seeing the Great Wall. It’s an architectural and military marvel. Chinese maps of any kind aren’t common, and yet there’s an anonymous manuscript from 1609 that shows fifteen provinces with principal cities and the Great Wall in the British Library. I’ve gazed at that map for years and here I am in China, ready to see the real thing and now it looks like I’m not going to.

Hamish could see I was disappointed but reasoned, “We only have one month, and you said your priorities were the Guilin region and Shanghai and that we are to travel only by land. It will take days to get to each place by train. If we were travelling with a tour or by plane it would be different. Are you sure about what your priorities are? We could change them you know.”

I nodded assent. From a topographical viewpoint the Guilin area is most unusual. Sudden hills burst out of watery flatness, it’s the setting on countless Chinese paintings and photos; it’s what I always imagined China to look like. I have visions of floating down some river between those mystical hills with Hamish at my side. Shanghai has always held a certain fascination for me. The Paris of the East. Silk and Art Deco and international trade. We can take a local boat from there back to Hong Kong that is too irresistible to miss. Besides, everyone goes to Beijing. I want to see a China less seen. And that means travelling by land, by train and bus and bicycle even. We bought our first tickets and hoped the rest will go well from there.

Hamish has done all the organizing because everyone only responds to him; he’s the man. I tried, but failed, to treat it as an example of what it must feel like to be on the other side of prejudice and to use the experience to achieve a greater level of understanding. After we left the last office he smiled and asked, “Well, did I do ok? Did I pass?” I gave him a hug and kiss answer. I had been afraid that he’d find this whole “if we’re going to have a relationship together we have to be able to travel together” test thing offensive, but the first thing he said was “If this is what it takes. Besides, I’ve always wanted stamps on a passport.”

In the evening we took the Star Ferry across the bay to the Wan Chai district, gazing at the fabulous buildings. I really liked the Bond building, all knobby blue-grey glass, and Hamish favoured the Bank of Hong Kong, something out of a futuristic movie with its insides on the outside, the world’s most expensive building. A funicular goes up the Peak at steep angles and from the top we saw another paradox of Hong Kong, luxury apartment buildings across the street from overgrown vacant lots. Sitting on a ledge we could look down on the city below as dusk descended, grey mist swirling. Like watching a play. Or a poem. Planes landed and boats converged in a ballet of avoidance. Neon began to blaze. Birds and butterflies that flitted here and there in the softening light seemed surreal against the urban scape backdrop below. As darkness settled we left our ledge and rejoined the swarm.