'Good luck for you'

HONG KONG
Tired of having waited so long in Denpasar, not yet a Lonely Planet or Hong Kong Dollar in my possession, no idea where to sleep; thus I arrived late at night in Hong Kong.
I was barely in the arrival hall or an American came to me and offered me his still valid train-ticket to the city-center; he didn’t need it anymore. While reading my just bought Lonelyplanet I had an unhealthy meal at the King of B.
When I took the train to Kowloon (island), an inhabitant of HK told me the first “must knows” of Hong Kong. From Kowloon station I took a taxi to the low-budget-area. There, an Indian boy already took my backpack out of the boot before I could get out of the car. Too tired to look by myself, I followed him into an old and crowded building named: 'Chunking Mansion' to a single room on the 17th floor. It was a very small one: wherever I was, in bed or on the toilet, I was able to watch TV, but all this for a nice price in expensive Hong Kong. Here I stayed for 4 days to prepare my last trip: to China.
Chuncking Mansion, a place where most shops downstairs and most rooms upstairs are run by Indian people and my encounter with Wasi (who gave me everyday something new to taste), made it more a stay in India than in Hong Kong.


CHINA
Good luck for you the policeman said to me when I arrived in Beijing after a journey of 24 hours by train from Hong Kong.
When they travel by train Chinese people look right away for company in the nearest compartment to talk to during the journey. They also carry a small pan to prepare their instant noodle for all meals, by tapping hot water next to the toilet or to refill their thermos with green tea leafs.
Trains are quite modern and clean but sleeping in the upper bed was less comfortable: if I needed to go to the bathroom during the night, getting out of my bunk so close to the ceiling (and me being rather stiff ) was almost a mission impossible.
Once in Beijing the party started right away: everything was written in Chinese characters I couldn’t understand at all. A teenager offered me a map of the subway saying the only English words she knew: 'I gib you'. I thanked her for the gift, although I couldn’t use it at all (only Chinese characters again!!). I asked some people how to get to the nearest subway station. They all said only one word in English: 'bus' instead of giving me a direction to take. After repeating my question several times I finally got an answer in English: 'It is (so) far away'. Although Asian people use this sentence very often and not always rightly, this time I took it to be true. I decided to ask a policeman who was able to answer me in English and with his best wishes I took a taxi to the youth hostel.

Beijing gave me surprise after surprise.
-So long distances to get anywhere (here you need at least 36 hours to visit in a relaxed way)
-So many friendly security officers in public area's (you will never feel in danger)
-Such good coordination during events (it is impossible to get lost)
-So many people (now, I can better understand the 'just one child' policy of China) (and 2 kids in the countryside)
-So many public toilets (clean and for free!). I never needed to look for it.
-Chinese people use ONE card (Octopus) to pay all kinds of public transports (and they also use it in shops), while it still sucks in The Netherlands.... (OV-Kaart)
-Going to a chinese hospital (I accompanied one of my mates in Beijing) is a huge perfume experience: all the chinese medical herbs make a stay almost agreable.
-Western media portray the chinese as people who can't express their opinion in public for fear of trouble with authorities. Barely having passed the immigration officers I started to doubt this as I was asked to express my opinion on the servicelevel of their passport control.


Chinese people won’t give that much attention to foreigners as they do in southeast Asia, although they asked me more often if they could have their picture taken together with me. Their were always willing to help me, with the same patience and hospitable smile as in south east Asia, but in a more discrete way. Until they become your friend they will show their feelings like we do in Europe:quarrels between couples, expressions of affection or of big sadness, I saw it all at least once every day in the subway where life freezes for a moment waiting for transport or to arrive at destination.

In the youth hostel, I had 3 Chinese girls as roommates who introduced me to Beijing. I went to sights like The Forbidden city or The Great Wall, impressive history, although every time I was happy to be back because of the bustle: tourists in China are for 90% from China itself. The Summer palace or Temple of Heaven were the best sights to experience something opposite: to get lost in spaciousness and silence in these parks (but still depending of the place and moment of the day)

If I didn’t join one of the roommates for an excursion I met a Chinese family with whom I spend the day visiting the same sights we were both interested in or I had a drink and later dinner with local people in one of the historical 'Hutongs' in Beijing. (old parts - real life- of the Capital).


Back to HONG KONG
While traveling back to Hong Kong by the same train and Typhoon Morakot ravaging the coast nearby, I had nice compartment mates to talk to and to eat with. The perfect night’s sleep afterwards as if it was in my own bed, made me almost decide to buy a ticket back to Beijing to extend my stay in the train.
Back in Hong Kong, Wasi waited for me in front of Chuncking Mansion to bring me to my -this time more spacious- room (so watching TV from the toilet wasn’t possible anymore).
In Hong Kong I spend a day with one of my train mates - who studied in Hong Kong- by shopping and further exploring of HK. The difference in pronunciation between Mandarin and Cantonese made it sometimes as if we were both foreigners, although she is Chinese and she also started talking in English to ask for the way. The second day, another train mate (called grandma) invited us to join her for lunch; an opportunity to meet the real Chinese kitchen again. After the real Beijing roasted duck (in Beijing), this time they served me pieces of meat we in Europe usually will leave for the bin, like chicken feet. at the end of the week I spent visiting Island 'Lantau' for the biggest Buddha. The very last day I went back to Victoria Peak for a second and last view over Hong Kong before I went late at night to the airport.

Het was mooi en voor nu, is het mooi geweest.

P.S. When I am home, the last pictures!