This past weekend, I spent the anniversary of the birth of the U.S. in Hong Kong. This was my first time here, and I figured this would be a better way to spend the July 4th weekend than sitting at home. Another foreign teacher also said he was going, and it happened to be the first time for both of us. We went together and decided to take the bus from the local traffic center. I had heard other teachers talking about how they just go into Guangzhou and take the train directly into Hong Kong, but neither John nor I had bought train tickets yet. John had taken the bus to Shenzhen before and figured this would be just as good (and cheaper). After having taken the bus there and the train back to Guangzhou, I actually think I prefer the bus. Both methods seemed to take similar amounts of time (between going through customs and transferring to different places), with the bus being cheaper.

While here, I learned how long a walk it sometimes is between certain metro stops. I thought some of the stations in Shanghai were a long walk, but they pale in comparison to the ones in Hong Kong. Also, for a city that is constantly labeled as “fast-paced,” I found that quite a number of people seemed to walk rather slowly. Maybe I’m biased because I was usually in a hurry to get somewhere, and everyone else seemed to be walking too slowly. I’d prefer to say that there is a little from column A and a little from column B.

I really enjoyed the views of the city and harbor. Hong Kong is unique because of its landscape and area. You can often enjoy a view of the city, harbor, and nearby mountains, all in one shot. I also loved seeing the clouds caressing the mountain tops; it seemed like a stereotypical image of China (I guess I should say an image of Hong Kong since the people of Hong Kong do not identify as being Chinese and will let you know it!).

I also enjoyed the beautiful nighttime views along the promenade and harbor. I’m wondering if China got the idea to light up its major cities with colorful lights from Hong Kong. In the evening, I went on what was called the “Symphony of Lights Harbor Cruise.” It was a double-decker boat (though I only saw people on the upper deck) that went along the harbor for an hour, stopping occasionally to pick up people at several other piers. However, the way that it was advertised, it seemed like there would be thirty to forty odd buildings with bright, shiny moving lights—you know, like an actual show. However, I soon realized that there were only a handful of buildings that had bright moving animated lights, and there didn’t appear to be any kind of show, just buildings acting as normal. This was a letdown, but at least I enjoyed the sea air and the nighttime views. The boat kept bobbing up and down, and this made it very difficult to take decent photos that weren’t blurry. I also had issues trying to take videos of the night skyline.

The other issue I had was with my hotel room. The room itself was very “snug,” but I didn’t mind this. What I did mind was the fact that the A/C didn’t seem to be cooling the room much, even after I turned it down to the lowest setting (17 °C). After leaving it all day and returning after having dim sum, I found the room to not be any cooler than when I had left (it was still only down to 25 °C). You would think that for a room this tiny, that temperature would be effective, but it wasn’t. I thought that if I tossed the pillows and blanket on the floor underneath the vent, that might help me feel cool. It did not.

Finally, at 1 a.m., I had to call the front desk and let them know about the problem. She sent up the maintenance person, who only seemed to try to push the same buttons that I did, not having any luck. After a few minutes, he took my card and left. I called down again and told the front desk that the problem was still ongoing. After the woman arrived, she thought that perhaps if I just let it run for another 15 minutes, then it might get cooler. I had to remind her that it was like this all day long. She said she would look into seeing if I could move to another room, but that I needed to wait another 20 minutes or so. I did, and finally she called me back to have me move to the room next door (the single “deluxe” room, which literally meant only a few more square feet in the bathroom and “hallway.” At 2 a.m., I was able to move into that room, and luckily the A/C was much more effective. Too bad I didn’t have a chance to sleep until 2 a.m., especially after already running on very little sleep the previous few days and having rushed around the city earlier. One thing I did like though was that in the lobby there were two computers for people to use as well as a rotating rack of small tourist info cards for different places to see and things to do. This helped us get to Victoria Peak.

Over all, I enjoyed my stay and I would like to return.

(A view from Victoria Peak)…

(And a view at night)…