Shaoxing: Hong Kong, Coco & Fiona, New Blood, and Road Difficulties

Hong Kong

Two weekends ago, Sara Beth and I travelled to Hong Kong for a visa run.  Our Chinese visas are 90-day reentry, which means that every three months we have to leave the country.

Hong Kong was a disappointment, but to be fair, I had high expectations.

SB was sick that weekend, so our energy was very limited.  The weather was beautiful and sunny, but too hot to stay out for long.  Those factors, while contributing, weren't the main cause of my dashed hopes.  Hong Kong was too crowded to enjoy.

Wikipedia says that Hong Kong has the second largest population density in the world, right behind Singapore.  Hong Kong's population density is over 17,000 people per square mile (compare that to Madison's 1,700/sq. mi.), not including tourists.  The crowds were inescapable and suffocating!

Our first evening in Hong Kong, we tried to go up Victoria Peak via bus.  We heard from friends that the ferry and tram were too crowded and the bus was a more convenient method of ascent.  It wasn't.

Two buses passed us with people crammed in the seats, aisles, and against the windows.  We couldn't have pushed our way on.

Victoria Peak Tram, no doubt packed

The metro system, too, was impossible to use without pushing, weaving, and navigating through throngs of annoyed passengers.  The calmest, most convenient transportation of our whole weekend was the train ride to and from the airport.  It was quiet and clean, except for when I got SB stuck in the closing doors.

The weekend wasn't an entire bust, however.  While SB napped one afternoon, I walked up Victoria Peak through the city's narrow streets, the zoo, and finally a path surrounded by jungle.

The weather was hot and the climb steep!  I encountered very few people on the walk up.  The path was quiet and peaceful, despite the cardio exercise.  The ascent took less than two hours, and I was drenched with sweat by the time I reached the top.

Mid-Climb Selfie Break

"The Peak" itself wasn't spectacular and made me glad we didn't try to push our way on the bus the day before, especially in SB's miserable condition.  The top contained all the worst parts of a tourist trap: people selling schlock, crappy American fast food restaurants, tacky gift shops, and lines, lines, lines.

You can find prettier pictures the Hong Kong skyline in Google Images

I planned to take the tram down the peak, but a sign said it was at least a two hour wait.  I bought a bottle of water and started the clomp down.

The least congested line at the peak, still a two hour wait

On my way down, I saw about a dozen people struggling with the steep hike, like I did.  All were drenched in sweat, but most were people exercising.  They were better equipped than I was, wearing workout clothes or going shirtless.  They had multiple bottles of water and walking sticks.  One guy looked like a marathon runner, lean with no body fat, and he too struggled with the hill.

If you must go up Victoria Peak, which isn't worth the hassle, wait for the tram or bus, unless you want a workout.

Hong Kong should not be considered Asia's World City.  It's one of my least favorite Asian cosmopolitans.  I'd happily nominate Singapore or Bangkok for that honor.

Coco & Fiona

Returning from Hong Kong made me appreciate our home, the Holiday Inn Shaoxing, even more.

With the exception of a few kids groups that occupy, it can be a peaceful place.  The staff does a lot to make it so.

My favorite is a housekeeper named Coco.  She gets me.  She doesn't speak any English, but she is very patient with my terrible Mandarin and encourages me to continue speaking with smiles and laughter in a way that doesn't feel patronizing.

At times, she reminds me of Wan Wan from Zhangpu - caring with an infectious sense of humor and light-hearted air.  Coco, on the other hand, doesn't treat us like laowai novelties or anomalies, which Wan Wan did at times.

On an impersonal level, she's great at her job!  We've stayed in few Chinese hotels that vacuum at all, but whenever she cleans, the floor is always vacuumed.  In addition, she always makes sure we have enough water and drinks.  The other housekeepers are really stingy when it comes to these amenities. Coco is the best housekeeper we've encountered so far.

Coco is a very important part of our lives here.  Her being exceptional at her job makes living in a hotel easier and more comfortable.  When she has days off or doesn't clean our room, we notice.  The quality drops off.

Fiona also does a lot to make our lives at the Holiday Inn comfortable.  She works the lounge, where we spend a lot of time enjoying happy hour when the crew gets home from work.

Like Coco, Fiona teaches us Mandarin.  Her English is great, so she isn't shy to correct our pronunciations or teach us new phrases.  I can politely order Heineken beers, all thanks to her.

She's Superwoman.  She is responsible for happy hour guests, dinner guests, room service, large groups, the wait staff, and the hostesses.  Those are just the responsibilities that I've noticed.  I'm sure she has many more in the hotel.

Unfortunately, there are people that add to her burden.  One asshole foreigner living in our hotel yelled at her in front us, because he didn't get his complimentary orange juice immediately.  (The bar was out because it just finished serving a large group of kids staying at the hotel for a sports tournament, and one waitresses was going into cold storage to get more bottles for him.)

He swore at her, telling her that she shouldn't be a manager and sucks at her job.  It was ugly.  He was ugly.  He eventually apologized to her and tried to back pedal out of his ugliness, but the damage was done.  She looked heartbroken, and I have to resist slapping that asshole every time I see him in the lobby.

There are a handful of other people at this hotel whose exceptional work make this place feel comfortable, like a home for us.  They are all partially responsible for us not getting China'd Out yet, and I'll try to spotlight them in future posts.

New Blood

Another weapon in the battle of site fatigue is new blood.  We've had a revolving door of people coming to site that helps break up the homesickness of missing Midwestern summer fun.

In addition to the two friends we had visit early in the project, Sara Beth figured that we've had eight different visitors on this assignment.

The two newest additions are James and Pat.

James is a contractor from Ireland who came to site with his wife and son.  They are a UOP road family.  His wife travelled with him for nearly twenty years before he became a contractor.  Their son was even born on the road in Memphis, Tennessee.  His family travels with him while their son is on summer vacation, and they stopped by Shaoxing after spending the summer in Korea.

James has since gone back to Ireland, but he'll return in a couple weeks, unfortunately, without his family.

Pat got here yesterday.  He is SB's second trainee, and ironically, Xiao Tom and he trained on a unit together in the U.S. before coming to China.

New blood always makes it exciting, and it starts by simply cooking for four instead of three.

Road Difficulties

Road life is awesome, but it comes with a price.  The highest price at the moment is being away from family and friends.  That cost increases exponentially when loved ones are hurt, sick, or unhappy.  We feel powerless, unable to help or offer aid.  Our thoughts and hopes from across an ocean don't feel like they accomplish enough.

We wish, in these tough moments, that the distance and time between us could condense to a blink.  While it can with Skype and messenger apps, there's something to be said about the power of presence - being able to hug, the therapeutic resonance of a familiar voice, or simply being able to run ground support.

I hope that our distance physically doesn't imply there's a distance spiritually or emotionally.  Whether you're hurt, sick, or unhappy, we're there with you and you're here with us, in our thoughts and hearts.  We're only a message away, and sadly that's the best we can do for now.