Okay, not to get to philosophical, but it is interesting how sometimes things happen for a reason even though it may not be apparent at first. When I was in LA applying for my Chinese visa, I was frustrated by the fact that the embassy refused to give me the 93 days I required for my fellowship here but instead would only issue me a 60 day visa because that was what was typical. However when they gave me a multiple entry visa even when I didn’t ask for it, I found out the door had been opened for me to, at no additional visa expense, exit the country and return to get a new 60 days I could stay in China. So I began thinking about taking a trip to Hong Kong. Then I found out that one of my good buddies from high school, Elvin Chiang, would be in Hong Kong visiting his sister at about the halfway point of my stay in China, right when I would need to head south to extend my visa. So in the end because I got a visa I didn’t want I had the ability and necessity to see a good friend halfway around the world. Funny how things work out sometimes, huh?
So next thing, for those astute readers who are saying “Wait a minute—the British returned Hong Kong to China in 1999, so how is it ‘out of the country’?” you are right, and wrong. I had the same confusion when I learned that Hong Kong could help me renew my visa—how could an official part of China be considered another country? Well the answer is that Hong Kong is a “Special Administrative Region.” When ownership transferred back to China, rather than integrate it fully into the country, since it already had its own currency, government, and economic structure that worked to draw in foreign businesses by the handful, the Chinese government felt it easier to leave Hong Kong as it was. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) in Hong Kong where capitalism is king, this mean that they couldn’t be a part of the tightly regulated economy that makes China unique. This means that to retain the drawing power for international firms and workers, Hong Kong had to be left alone but couldn’t be part of China and subject to Chinese regulations. So the Chinese government chose to set up a structure where they would gain revenue from the SAR but keep it very separate so its own citizens would be discouraged from participating fully in the Hong Kong model lest it creep across the border to the mainland. Or at least that’s my take on the history. Whatever other reasons they had, the government’s decision 11 years ago worked in my favor this week when I was able to leave China, add another stamp to my passport, and enter Hong Kong to extend my stay in China.
One of the things I have come to love after only a few trips here in China is the rail system. It is fast, affordable, convenient, and for me fun and exhilarating. I boarded an intercity through train in Shanghai after going through customs in the station (I arrived 90 minutes early as suggested by a website which is when they open customs but was through in 20 minutes and waiting until boarding began about 40 minutes before departure; as a warning, customs closes 15 minutes before the train departs), did a bit of work, fell asleep, did a bit more work, and as I watched the green hills and forests whir by, soon found myself in Shenzhen. Less than 5 minutes later, a fellow traveler from Hong Kong with whom I had become acquainted unceremoniously announced that we had crossed from Shenzhen into Hong Kong. Watching out the window I was confused—the town had never stopped and restarted. The two cities reach right to the border making it hard to tell where one ends and the other begins from the train, though there definitely is a distinction (more on that later).
Soon I found myself in the station at Hung Hom, excited to see my friend once more. After a quick embrace and chat, I tried to get my return ticket to Shanghai only to learn that I had overlooked the important fact that with the Mid-Autumn Festival upcoming and my departure scheduled for the day after, businesses were closed and people were fleeing en masse to spend time in parts unknown so no tickets were available. In fact the earliest I could leave was October 1—not good enough when I had to be in Tianjin by September 26 after stopping through Shanghai. Dismayed, I wanted to find a solution and Elvin thought his sister, a Hong Kong resident, could be of some help, so we headed back to her apartment, chatting and catching up on the way.
The next few days were spent mostly hiding from the rain while popping out to grab food when needed, putting together some IKEA furniture as payment for the free room from Elvin’s sister, Ann, a few meetings for me, and running out to see the sights at times when the rain finally let up for a bit. Oh yeah, and the last full day I was there was the Mid-Autumn Festival, which had its own events and excitement. Rather than a play by play, I’ll hit the highlights in a couple of topics.
The Sights
Hong Kong is known primarily for one thing—its magnificent skyline. Though it has other more natural attractions which thanks to inclement weather I didn’t get a chance to visit (I guess that just means a return trip is necessary), the key attraction remains the manmade which is accented nightly with the world’s largest continuously operating light show. Featuring spotlights and building highlights on both sides of the bay, the show is set to three movements and is impressive though not as exciting as I’d hoped. However I still think it’s a must for visitors to do once. The skyline in itself though is breathtaking—the number of buildings and people crammed into the small level areas and shallower hills leading up to the mountains is incredible. Viewed both from Avenue of the Stars (which in and of itself is fun to walk and see the names of all of Hong Kong’s movie stars) and the top of Victoria Peak it is mind-blowing to consider how 7 million people are squished into such a small amount of space.
This crammed atmosphere gives rise, however, to more to explore including narrow streets and alleyways, the more major ones with skinny double-decker streetcars that look as though a wind will topple them. It also creates the iconic alleys with overhanging neon lighted signs in both English and Chinese drawing consumers into various restaurants and shops and creating scenes unique to this city. It also creates images of historic English buildings painted in front of modern towers including the IFC buildings designed by Italian Cesar Pelli or the I.M. Pei designed Bank of China building.
On the streets, it is inevitable that in this ever-growing city you will see a sight that excited the engineer in me and brought us to a stop to admire for a while. I’m talking here about the famed bamboo scaffolding that is used on every building be it a high-rise or single-storey commercial space as that shown below. The people who scale these seemingly unstable structures appear as daredevils to us who are afraid of the wobbling reeds lending what appears to be tenuous support to massive concrete structures. In actuality, the scaffolds are quite safe and perhaps more sustainable than their more common steel counterparts as the materials are grown quickly and locally and reused many times before safely being discarded to biodegrade.
One last sight worth a mention is the Chungking Mansions. I also stopped through here on my way out to the train and found it to be as seedy and grimy as billed. Here is a collection of shops and cheap hotels that feature a very international and questionably legitimate clientele. It is said that over half of the cell phones in Africa passed through this location, and indeed when I was there, two African businessmen were completely at least one deal with a cell phone salesman. Various aromas wafted from shops on both floors calling the stomach to enjoy Indian, Pakistani, Chinese, or other cuisine, likely for cheaper prices than the restaurants in the Mid-Levels where I spent most of my time. The Mansions are worth a visit, but I’ve heard that you should never stay there unless you absolutely have to or really want a dingy, sketchy experience.
Mid-Autumn Festival
Rather than make this a part of the “sights” section, I wanted to give it its due as the Festival is the reason for the title of this post. For those who are as unfamiliar with Mid-Autumn Festival as I was when I arrived, the holiday is a 3,000 harvest festival celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese calendar. Also known as Moon Festival or Lantern Festival, it is celebrated by burning incense, eating mooncakes in the moonlight, carrying lanterns or lighting floating sky lanterns, and often by fire dragons. The link above gives a bit of history as well on the various versions of the legend that gave rise to the holiday, or you can read one version of the legend of Chang’e (sometimes Chang-O) and Hou Yi here.
For those more interested in the celebration and wondering what moon cakes, lanterns, and fire dragons are, I was lucky enough to get to experience all of them during my holiday in Hong Kong. So let’s start with moon cakes. These delicious little treats are pastries filled with lotus seed paste which is not so sweet but has a dense, filling quality that surrounds a yolk from a salted duck egg. Though that may sound like a weird combination, they are very tasty and a nice combination of sweet and salty. One version, sold at Café 85C in Taiwan and Shanghai is shown in the image below.
Get it? “Moon” Cakes? Clever, and sadly sold out during my visit.
Yet eating these delicious treats with friends, family, and loved ones is just a part of the festival. Elvin and I decided to experience the full glory of Mid-Autumn by trudging down to the famous Tai Hang Fire Dragon. Fighting our way through crowds, what we saw was a 100+ meter long dragon made entirely of incense floating down the street on poles supported by young men, trailing sweet-smelling smoke. Accompanied by live drum and bell music and commentary that I could not understand (though Hong Kong speaks a lot of English this tradition was in Chinese), the dragon bounced its way through this older district of the city, at times chasing its tail, at times boldly charging down new alleys and boulevards, all in a choreographed story that ended with confetti blasts and the dragon rearing its mighty head. I wish I knew more about the importance and meaning of this festival—any insights would be appreciated! Please just share in the comments below. It was pretty cool to watch though, and the pictures don’t quite do it justice.
Ok, so my impression needs some work, but it was still a fun atmosphere. I enjoyed seeing all of the families from grandparents to infants lined up, sharing treats, laughing, smiling, and enjoying time together on this special day. It was a more human side of China’s crowds than I see on a day-to-day basis and provided a nice, relaxing way to enjoy my last night with an old friend, at least for a while.
Food
I think one of the best parts of this trip has been the food. Even when I’m being cost conscious, I end up eating well by finding a hole in the wall restaurant, identifying the few characters I’ve learned for pork or beef and either rice or noodles, or using pictures to guide my choice, and then waiting for my steaming plate to arrive. Almost inevitably it is delicious, typically well-cooked and filling as though catering to men having done laborious work all day. Thanks to Elvin, a foodie, our eats were as good or better than my Shanghai adventures (except of course the first night when due to rain, exhaustion from walking that afternoon, and laziness we ordered McDonald’s—the deliver in China and HK!). Some highlights are below.
1. Though I’m told it’s good anytime it’s cold outside, for breakfast especially tasty was congee. Though it sounds simple—essentially it is rice porridge—when you throw an egg in there along with a little pork and corresponding pork juice (for lack of a better descriptor) the taste is quite not bland but rather quite flavorful and leaves you warm inside. Mop it up with some fried dough wrapped in rice noodles with some cinnamon and spices (think doughnut but not as sweet with a slimy outside) and you’re set for the day.
2. For dinner one night, we decided to explore the culinary creations from farther east and popped into a Japanese noodle restaurant. The noodles were delicious and came with pork and a sort of mayonnaise-like dipping sauce on the side. Cooked to tenderness and breaded, the meat was excellent and well complemented by the slightly salty soup for the noodles with its vegetables.
3. Ann and her friends took us out one night to a Sichuan restaurant. Here Sichuan means spicy and that is what we got. A combination of fried rice, pork, vegetables, and fish all with a good amount of peppers and spices made for a delicious dinner that made you sweat. After all of the flavor, though, the rice cakes with squid, pork, and fish which we ordered for those who weren’t such a fan of spicy food seemed bland. Any other day and I’m sure alone it would have been excellent, but after the explosion (somewhat literally) of flavor, it seemed relatively flavorless.
4. Though Elvin wasn’t a huge fan, the last night we stopped at a barbecue place in the district of Causeway Bay where I was served up a nice chicken dish over rice with a peach and honey sauce that was a perfect blend of sweet and salty in the meat, in my opinion. The sauce was so good that I saved rice to mop it up ad savor every last drop of the honey sweetened with juice from the peaches. I haven’t had peaches since arriving here, so the treat was exquisite. However I think my favorite part of the meal was simply the fact that when we sat down, Elvin and I were given different utensils. Guess which side he (the Chinese-American) sat on and which one I (the white boy) sat on.
5. The first day I was there we dined with Ann’s work friends for lunch at a small shop in the Mid-Levels which served up egg noodles with succulent, tender braised pork. A bit of a hole-in-the-wall, the tables were packed such that different parties were seated side by side to fill the restaurant and accommodate as many as possible. Quick service also didn’t diminish the taste of the succulent pork chunks in a broth seasoned with chives, cilantro, salt, oil, and other spices. Delicious, filling lunch option.
Nightlife
Hong Kong is a young worker’s paradise for a number of reasons. Great international cuisine, walkability, and good nightlife combine here to make a truly international city that embraces all with open arms. So given that the nightlife is billed as a highlight of the city, Elvin and I ventured out on our last night together to reminisce over a couple drinks and experience one of Hong Kong’s biggest draws for the young crowd. Heading down to Lan Kwai Fong, we found a night scene vastly different from that of Shanghai. As one of my first roommates in Shanghai, Dario, pointed out I neglected the nightlife there in my Shades of Shanghai posts so I will mention it here by way of comparison.
In Shanghai, the night begins late, as it does in Hong Kong (nobody goes out before 11 pm—it’s just not cool to head out early) but when you do go out, in Shanghai it was straight to the club. For Dario’s birthday, we hit up Muse 2 where our own private table awaited us with a 4 L bottle of Chivas and endless green tea for a mixer (by the way, try the mix—it is surprisingly good). Between about 20 of us, after several hours of talking, laughing, dancing, and playing a dice game that if anyone wants to learn I am happy to teach, the bottle was empty and we were all in high spirits. One of the nicest aspects here is that if you leave your table to dance, the waiters hold it for you so you can freely enjoy the floor and then return to the comfort of a table when tired.
In Hong Kong though, Elvin and I arrived at LKF to find two full streets of bars blasting everything from jazz to hip hop, classic rock to alternative with people pouring out of each into the streets. The alcohol flowed in various forms and tiny dance floors packed in the back of each bar were crowded and not worth the effort. Instead, we fought for seats at the bars or tables on the patios (nothing was held) and yelled our conversation as we freely wandered the streets with open bottles, admiring the crowds about us. The open air atmosphere and easy open container policy made for a relaxing, fun atmosphere and a great place to unwind from a long day or week of work. I can see now why this is a draw for younger employees here in Hong Kong.
So which do I prefer? Hard to say—different atmospheres for different nights. I’m not a fan of clubbing in the US, but in Shanghai I could get used to it if not for the expense. It is a great way to have high-energy fun with a group of friends whereas in Hong Kong, a more relaxed yet still loud atmosphere provides a nice venue for winding down a week with old friends or venturing out to meet new ones. Take your pick—personally if I could have both I would.
All Play and No Work?
For those afraid that during this adventure in Hong Kong I was derelict in my fellowship work, never fear—I not only had two productive meetings but also learned the importance of the lesson that every day is an opportunity to learn, to experience, and to advance my understanding of the local culture and how it affects my project. I personally think that this last part is the most important lesson learned from my time in Hong Kong, and so rather than discuss my meeting results, I’d rather talk a bit about the implications of Hong Kong for sustainable development in China and perhaps around the world.
Wandering through the streets of Hong Kong, I was struck immediately by one thing—the density. No matter whether you are in the central business district or the mid-levels, or even across the bay high0rises abound, dwarfing the city. Yet in all of this the pedestrian scale is not lost. Lively street scenes are the norm whether you are about in the morning, afternoon, or evening. Such activity keeps the streets safer as more watchful eyes abound but also makes you feel comfortable and at home wherever you are. The city becomes walkable, and when supplemented by escalators uphill and buses and the MTR, little need of personal cars is present in the city. Such density is the antithesis of cities like Los Angeles where a lack of walkability in the suburbs due to spread out homes creates an inherently high-carbon society and therefore an unsustainable model for the future of our cities. So in some ways the Hong Kong model, born out of necessity of packing as many people at the base of the foothills as possible, is more sustainable, though it lies on the higher end of the density spectrum. For this reason Peter Head of Arup in his recent lecture series does not advise copying the Hong Kong model citing that it creates some challenges for efficient centralized transport, utility, and infrastructural systems.
Despite this, I believe that Hong Kong still has much to teach China and the world about human-scale development and creating spaces that simultaneously banish cars by the nature of their design and promote walking by weaving small shops among business centers and restaurants catering to all budgets and food preferences. In fact, Ann said that on many days they don’t leave their building from the time they arrive until the time they depart for home simply because enough restaurants abound in otherwise commercial buildings (to the point where you have to know where to go and which floor to head up to just to find the places) that they can head down from the office and have a multitude of choices without setting foot outside.
Hong Kong also does a nice job in my opinion of peppering parks and public spaces in the city to break up the monotony. By lucky virtue of its location, nature is drawn into the environment with a glance out a window where mountains back the man-made wonder that is the skyline—a contrast to Shanghai where the scenery is buildings, buildings, and more buildings. And as I mentioned previously, escape is just a stroll through the park in Hong Kong. Rather than these being the dangerous voids and inherently transient spaces of Jane Jacobs’ New York, the Chinese philosophy of harmony in nature and resulting interaction with parks draws families, business, and the elderly out to enjoy the fresh air and natural environment.
One thing that surprised me though on arrival was that the buildings here are visibly no more sustainable on the whole than in mainland China. Despite the years of British influence and the presence of an ever-growing number of high-end apartments, much of the city is still composed of decaying, dilapidated concrete structures that must leach heat in the winter and cold in the summer making them more energy intensive than they need be. In both of my meetings, this issue arose with the conclusion being that the biggest issue facing China and Hong Kong is these buildings and finding an effective way to retrofit them or improve their energy performance. However the toughest challenge in this arena is not the technology—it is financing. Some precedents exist here in the Netherlands where energy efficiency retrofits have been ongoing for decades, however a good financial model for China has yet to be developed.
The question is difficult to answer simply because there is a disconnect in residential space between who puts up the initial capital (the owner) and who accrues the benefits (the tenant). While there is no answer to this question for China yet, some suggestions include government incentives that could help reduce the cost for developers and fixed pricing structures for utilities for tenants that will also help the investor recoup his up-front investment without the tenant seeing a change in monthly payments. The ESCo, or Energy Service Company, also referred to as Energy Performance Contracting or EPC model, could also work here. In this arena, a third-party finances the retrofits and then uses monitoring to identify the cost savings, splits this with the user (in this case tenant) and thereby recovers their investment while the tenant also sees some cost-saving. This could excerpt the manager of the building from the process save for the approval to overhaul the building systems. However the challenges with this model lie in financing—in China, these methods are not yet proven enough to garner low interest rates and the small size of ESCo companies means they have trouble financing large or numerous projects on their limited collateral. Finally, they are not seen as high payback investments and so are given lower priority than other loan opportunities.
A final way to potentially address this issue was advanced by Julian Bott of Cundall, one of the gentlemen with whom I met in Hong Kong. Julian suggested that by creating standards with appropriate monitoring and then using a display and rating system for energy performance requiring building owners to display how much energy their apartments are, a spirit of competition could drive efficiency retrofits. If owners were able to see added pride, higher rents, or quicker turnover in apartments due to their better energy score, then competition could drive the baseline to a lower overall equilibrium. It is not the first time I’ve heard competition mentioned here as a potential driver, so perhaps Julian is on to something. Now if only there were the regulation to back it up…
Conclusion
Well, for those who have made it through what I’m pretty sure is now my longest post yet and are wondering if I made it out of Hong Kong and up to Tianjin in time for the conference, never fear—my resourcefulness as well as devoted internet searching helped me escape Hong Kong just in time. After Ann suggested trying China Travel Service which apparently only sells the overnight tickets on the train operated by MTR (the sold out railway on which I arrived), I was directed by the internet to return to the Hung Hom station and seek out the outlet for CRH (China Railway High-Speed) where I was able to purchase a ticket from Shenzhen to China. Shenzhen is just a 45 minute ride on the MTR away from downtown Hong Kong, so on the appointed morning I boarded the subway for Lo Wu and in no time was standing in line at customs in Hong Kong. With a quick exit paper and stamp in the passport, I was officially in no-man’s land. Now on the way here the transition appeared seamless, but this time, that could not be further from the truth. From Hong Kong to China you stroll across an enclosed glass-walled tunnel that overlooks what I can only describe as a prison moat between the two countries. On both sides high chain-link fences topped by barbed wire make the border look more like a war-zone or Alcatraz than two areas under the same central government. A wide, deep channel cuts between the sides, making it even more prison-like in appearance. Thanks to my multiple-entry visa into China (which I’m not sure why I was granted, and neither did the immigration officer when I listed my reason of entry as “Leisure/Tourism”) I did not have to obtain additional visas or permits to reenter and got a whole new 60 days in the Middle Kingdom. However, I did have an entertainingly tough time getting through immigration. The Chinese “efficiency” meant that while I was standing at the counter having my passport inspected, when the clock struck switching time, the woman logged out in the middle of processing my passport, left her post, and a new gentleman took her place only to start the process over. Though he stamped me in, he was perplexed at my clean-shaven photo which does not accurately depict my appearance anymore and handed the passport to a supervisor to double-check that it was actually me. After a chuckle from him, I was handed my documents and strolled into the economic engine of Shenzhen to wait for my train. While this is not the first time I’ve given visa officers pause (I was told on exit from Kenya that I looked like a bush man from their country), it was the most difficult check I’ve endured, though I had to walk away laughing.
Travel Info
Ok, for those interested in the travel info between China and Hong Kong, as promised, here it is:
Options for traveling to Hong Kong: Train T99 from Shanghai is operated by MTR and runs every other day (check the website for details as it changes monthly which day it runs on, odd or even). You cannot yet buy tickets online, but they are sold at the Shanghai Railway Station (get there by Lines 1, 3, or 4 of the Shanghai Metro). A hard sleeper top berth was 399 RMB. Remember that flights to Hong Kong are considered international, so a trip can easily be 500-600 USD round trip. Your other option is to take an overnight train to Shenzhen, for which a hard sleeper is around 350 RMB. You then have to take the MTR from Lo Wu to Hung Hom for 36.5 HKD (RMB not accepted) or to wherever else your destination is. Flights to Shenzhen also run close to 100 USD, so while it is faster and cheaper than flying into HK, it is still pricier than the train.
Options from Hong Kong to Shanghai: Train T100 is the MTR operated train back to Shanghai (the counterpart of T99). It operates on days that T99 does not (again, check the schedule). Tickets can be bought at Hung Hom or at CTS outlets throughout the city. You can also do the reverse Hung Hom-Lo Wu-Shenzhen-Shanghai and can buy the ticket at the CRH outlet in the Hung Hom station (across from the CTS outlet and down the shopping arcade a bit) but you will be charged a 100 HKD convenience fee. MTR also operates a number of trains from Hung Hom to Guangzhou from where you can also go to Shanghai, but check the schedules and plan early if you try to do this as the CRH outlet in Hung Hom was not readily willing to sell me a ticket from Guangzhou to Shanghai for some reason.
Advice: Buy your tickets early. Tickets for the trains start selling 60 days in advance so don’t wait until the last minute. These trains are surprisingly popular.
Customs: On the Shanghai side at the train station, customs took about 20 minutes. They start letting you through 90 minutes before the train leaves and stop checking you in 15 minutes before it departs. Boarding begins about 40 minutes before departure. If you remember to bring the yellow departure card you received on arrival to China and fill it out in advance it expedites the process. In Hong Kong, the total time was about 15 minutes.
Immigration and Visas: While it seems strange, Hong Kong and China are basically two separate countries for all intents and purposes relating to visas. US Citizens do not need an advance visa for Hong Kong—you just fill out an arrival card and get a stamp. To China, if you have a multiple entry visa, it is valid for the number of days on the visa each time you enter the country. So that means you can stay say for 60 days, pop down to HK, and then come back across and get a whole new 60 days as long as you are still within the overall period of visa validity (typically 6 or 12 months). If you only have a single entry visa, you will need to take care of getting an additional visa in HK. CTS can handle this as well, and I’ve heard it only takes a day or two. Other visa services exist too, so ask around for the best prices.
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