I met Jason at a bus stop in Tin Shui Wai, which is an area of Hong Kong that is located in the northwestern part of the New Territories. You can see it here on the left side of the page where the purple and yellow lines are located. What's really fascinating is that Tin Shui Wai used to be a gei wai fish pond, but the land was reclaimed in the 1980s and Tin Shui Wai was created. A substantial amount of what we know Hong Kong to be now is actually reclaimed land.
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Jason rented a room with a lovely and sweet woman through Airbnb.com. I admire Jason's decision to embrace culture and look for a place in Hong Kong that was nowhere near where we are staying this summer so that he could see more of the city, as well as experience living with a local for a week. I can't say I would have made the same choice though, I probably would have erred on the side of easy and convenient and stayed close to where we are currently living. That being said, I ended up staying with Jason one night because it was $free.99 for me to do so, easy to not have to find a place on my own, and it allowed for fun times with my friend. It ended up being a great experience because I saw a part of the city I never would have seen, I got quite a bit of practice using the MTR (metro), bus, and light rail systems before starting work, AND Jason totally took the bull by the horns and acted as my tour guide for my first two days.
On Friday afternoon Jason and I took a trip to an area of Hong Kong where there is a tram that goes all the way up to the highest point of Hong Kong. It seems to be a big tourist deal, but when Jason and I got there and realized it was about US$20 to go up, we kind of thought it was lame and decided to return home. We both flew into the city on incredibly clear days and pretty much saw the same view from the air. We figured we still have time to do it later if we changed our minds. And as someone on TripAdvisor.com stated, "I'm not sure why so much excitement about this attraction - it is just basically a steep incline railway. The spectacular views are at the Peak itself, not from this tram."
On the way back to the MTR station we found a fun water fountain with kids playing. It was in a plaza near a shopping center and lots of people were sitting around and watching the kids play in the water. What was profound to me about this moment was the realization that peoples is peoples no matter where you are on this earth. Kids playing in fountains in Hong Kong are exactly like kids playing in fountains in the US.
On Friday afternoon Jason and I took a trip to an area of Hong Kong where there is a tram that goes all the way up to the highest point of Hong Kong. It seems to be a big tourist deal, but when Jason and I got there and realized it was about US$20 to go up, we kind of thought it was lame and decided to return home. We both flew into the city on incredibly clear days and pretty much saw the same view from the air. We figured we still have time to do it later if we changed our minds. And as someone on TripAdvisor.com stated, "I'm not sure why so much excitement about this attraction - it is just basically a steep incline railway. The spectacular views are at the Peak itself, not from this tram."
On the way back to the MTR station we found a fun water fountain with kids playing. It was in a plaza near a shopping center and lots of people were sitting around and watching the kids play in the water. What was profound to me about this moment was the realization that peoples is peoples no matter where you are on this earth. Kids playing in fountains in Hong Kong are exactly like kids playing in fountains in the US.
After we watched the kids for a bit, we indulged ourselves. The heat got to both of us. I can't remember exactly, but I'm pretty sure it was in the 90s, with humidity over 80% and that put the "real feel" into the triple digits. Running around like little kids in a public fountain was totally justified. I wish we talked to the people who were lined up on one side of the fountain taking pictures of the kids playing in the water. At one point when Jason and I were still considering getting wet, he misdirected some water and surprised me with a good soak. The photographers all laughed and some seemed to indicate that they got some good pictures of it. I would have been great to see if they could have emailed us a copy. Oh well. Maybe one day we'll be famous on Hong Kong postcards.
After we finished playing, Jason and I traveled back on the MTR to meet his friend for a family-style Chinese dinner. Jason's friend was a classmate at Syracuse University, but is originally from Hong Kong and returned after college. She took us to a neighborhood in Central (the central MTR stop area on Hong Kong island) and we shared very yummy pork chops, rice, and pork and bok choy dumplings. I also tried green apple juice. It was delicious food, an ok drink, and great company.
By this point I was pretty exhausted. I was proud of myself for staying awake on day one until almost 11:00 PM. I know I made it into bed and I know I slept incredibly well, but I don't remember much of anything from dinner until then. I remember bits and pieces of a rough bus ride where I was super thankful to be with Jason because I kept falling asleep on the bus. That was pretty much day one in a nutshell.
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