Where is she now? 4 - My Newfound Love For China Is Being Sorely Tested
Dalian.
The last leg:
Guangzhou to Hong Kong, two hours, day. Train. 220 yuan. Guangdong province, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Hong Kong back to Guangzhou, day, HKD190. Hong Kong, Guangdong.
Guangzhou to Dalian, three or four hours, day. Plane. 1160 yuan. Probably Guangdong, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu, Shandong, Liaoning provinces.
Hong Kong: The outstanding friends went to Macau to look at casinos while I went to Hong Kong to pad around in my black cotton shoes, revelling. After six months of the People's Republic, Hong Kong is the weirdest thing possible. It's a bit China but largely the outside world. No-one stares, because it's a multi-effnic world city. Everyone looks deliberately good, because they're crammed together in a vertical environment made of glass panes. There was an entire school between the YMCA lobby and my room on the 9th floor. The students all looked like pop stars and their uniforms were practically city business suits and cheongsams compared to the pyjamas that mainlanders have to wear. The first thing you see as you leave Kowloon train station is a banner saying "[Fåå*Lüün Dåå*Fåå] Is Good." When I rang my friend from the station I mentioned this, and he laughed and said, "well, you know, we have freedom of speech..."
I didn't have time for much, but I explored the tube system a bit, walked through Victoria Park and rode up to the Peak at night to look at the city. Wandering made my eyes start to burn, so at Times Square I rested in the "People's Recreation Community" coffee and book shop (人民公社), which I recommend a LOT because they're friendly and quiet and rich in Mao kitsch (the menu is a modified Little Red Book), and they accept RMB. I sat there and had the weird experience of reading a hip local free magazine in English that was... sharp?... savvy? These words are so foreign. The next morning I ogled all the things in the Museum of Art - gold and jade gorgeousness from every age since neolithic times and the Shang and Zhou, and upstairs some seriously wonderful stuff in ink and colour by Wucius Wong. Then my friend and I had a sandwich on the waterfront, and it was time to catch the train back to, well, China.
Dalian's cold, it's clear and bright but at night we gots snowstorms and fireworks - going out means braving street warfare and an Ice Age all at once. It's okay though, because after travelling constantly for six weeks I'm happy to be bone idle for a few days. I bought a tax free iPod shuffle in Hong Kong which I'm hoping I don't accidentally swallow, and have filled it with new music, 王菲 and 老狼。Other than that, flatmate Kyoko and I are having fun working out which combination of electrical appliances doesn't comically blow the main fuse.
So why is my newfound love of China being sorely tested? Because the baleful po-faced engineers in charge of the whole gig, may they live forever, have just blocked Livejournal in China indefinitely. It can only be accessed illegitemately through certain invisibility services which we can whisper about in the comments section. Kids! I was just in the middle of raving about my undying love for this great land - you numpties.
A few measly pictures will start to appear on the four "Where is she now?" posts soon, with luck. LKQ x
The last leg:
Guangzhou to Hong Kong, two hours, day. Train. 220 yuan. Guangdong province, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Hong Kong back to Guangzhou, day, HKD190. Hong Kong, Guangdong.
Guangzhou to Dalian, three or four hours, day. Plane. 1160 yuan. Probably Guangdong, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu, Shandong, Liaoning provinces.
Hong Kong: The outstanding friends went to Macau to look at casinos while I went to Hong Kong to pad around in my black cotton shoes, revelling. After six months of the People's Republic, Hong Kong is the weirdest thing possible. It's a bit China but largely the outside world. No-one stares, because it's a multi-effnic world city. Everyone looks deliberately good, because they're crammed together in a vertical environment made of glass panes. There was an entire school between the YMCA lobby and my room on the 9th floor. The students all looked like pop stars and their uniforms were practically city business suits and cheongsams compared to the pyjamas that mainlanders have to wear. The first thing you see as you leave Kowloon train station is a banner saying "[Fåå*Lüün Dåå*Fåå] Is Good." When I rang my friend from the station I mentioned this, and he laughed and said, "well, you know, we have freedom of speech..."
I didn't have time for much, but I explored the tube system a bit, walked through Victoria Park and rode up to the Peak at night to look at the city. Wandering made my eyes start to burn, so at Times Square I rested in the "People's Recreation Community" coffee and book shop (人民公社), which I recommend a LOT because they're friendly and quiet and rich in Mao kitsch (the menu is a modified Little Red Book), and they accept RMB. I sat there and had the weird experience of reading a hip local free magazine in English that was... sharp?... savvy? These words are so foreign. The next morning I ogled all the things in the Museum of Art - gold and jade gorgeousness from every age since neolithic times and the Shang and Zhou, and upstairs some seriously wonderful stuff in ink and colour by Wucius Wong. Then my friend and I had a sandwich on the waterfront, and it was time to catch the train back to, well, China.
Dalian's cold, it's clear and bright but at night we gots snowstorms and fireworks - going out means braving street warfare and an Ice Age all at once. It's okay though, because after travelling constantly for six weeks I'm happy to be bone idle for a few days. I bought a tax free iPod shuffle in Hong Kong which I'm hoping I don't accidentally swallow, and have filled it with new music, 王菲 and 老狼。Other than that, flatmate Kyoko and I are having fun working out which combination of electrical appliances doesn't comically blow the main fuse.
So why is my newfound love of China being sorely tested? Because the baleful po-faced engineers in charge of the whole gig, may they live forever, have just blocked Livejournal in China indefinitely. It can only be accessed illegitemately through certain invisibility services which we can whisper about in the comments section. Kids! I was just in the middle of raving about my undying love for this great land - you numpties.
A few measly pictures will start to appear on the four "Where is she now?" posts soon, with luck. LKQ x