qWT2K9--the quasi World Tour 2009: Week 5: Chongqing, Guilin, and Hong Kong

Week 5: Chongqing, Guilin and Hong Kong

This was our final week in China as we move southwest to Vietnam. We got off of the train from Tibet in Chongqing, a city of about 20 million people. After a less than exciting time in Lanzhou, we thought this massive city would be similar, so Chels and I booked our flight out the same day we arrived. Our cab ride through the city revealed that this place was much more interesting that we had originally thought. The city is built on the hills fall into the Yangtze River, much unlike Lanzhou. We had several hours to walk around in the city and found ourselves on a very busy commercial street that seemed to be the most everyday street life that we had seen since arriving in China. The street food looked amazing: potatoes, fried ANYTHING, dumplings and a variety of cakes. (I was too chicken to try, many of you know of my experience with food sickness in Egypt, I don’t ever want to relive that). We made our way to the airport which had wi-fi and at this point I realized I had skype on my computer and called everyone whose number I could remember (which sadly is only my parents, grandpa, sister, and random extensions at work) and then boarded our 2 hour delayed plane to Guilin.

Guilin has a population similar to Indianapolis, but like everywhere here has a higher density. Running through the center of Guilin is the Li River. From Guilin we were able to take a raft down the river. The raft was made of pvc tubes and tires with a wood platform on it with bamboo benches. It was high enough to stay buoyant but low enough that any big boat’s wake would flood the floor. The scenery was like nothing I have seen before. The mountains in this region are quite unique due to erosion from carbonic acid, created when carbon dioxide in the air reacts with rainwater. We rode down the river for about 3 hours seeing people cart various crops up and down the river, water buffalo in the river and huge boats of tourists who sprung for the fancier river cruise. We got off at an offshoot where we boarded a 3 row golf cart which took us down a very bumpy dirt road past fields of pummelos, persimmon trees, and cattle to get to a bus to take us back to civilization. Our golf cart was packed and the bumps in the road made for quite an experience as we bounced from side to side trying to stay on!

We left Guilin and flew to Guangzhou which is the cheapest airport in Hong Kong’s “vicinity” (it ended up being a little farther than I had remembered, about 100 miles away). We made our way through the flashy neon of the 20 million people metropolis to the train station where we were to board the train to Hong Kong. While there I realized that I had Winnie’s address in English, but I didn’t know if that would work with a cab driver when we got to Hong Kong. While waiting for our train, I was able to walk around with my laptop and find wireless, use skype to call Winnie, and then use Wikipedia to find the Chinese characters for Blue Pool Road and Happy Valley. It worked like a charm and at the stroke of midnight we found ourselves in the ultra luxury apartment of Winnie Cheng. Technology truly is amazing!

Although it would have made more sense to visit Hong Kong first to not backtrack as much, it was a nice break 5 weeks in to stay with Winnie in an apartment with laundry, the best shower I’ve ever used, and a kitchen stocked full of food. Hong Kong, like Chongqing is a metropolis built into a mountain side, but much more dramatic. Seeing a New York skyline with a mountain behind it creates quite a beautiful contrast between nature and the built environment. Winnie was an incredible hostess and took us all over Hong Kong and Kowloon: we had champagne at the top floor of a hotel overlooking Victoria Harbor at night, dinner at the top of the Peak another night overlooking the harbor from the other side, wandered through markets, had traditional Hong Kong dim sum, visited a temple and museum and toured her office as well. I even got a suit made thanks to Winnie’s boyfriend who sent me to his tailor!

We left Hong Kong again for Guangzhou and took off for Hanoi. We got to Vietnam last night and are here for the next 8 or 9 days. I’ll post about it next week!