Yes I do go to China a lot, on average at least once a year. For some reason I always try to go to other places but end up back in the motherland, not that I mind it. China is a chaotic mess, but its the chaos that draws me in. For me it feels like being in the wild wild west, where anything is possible and all roads are open, not to mention the good food and interesting things happening daily.

CHANGCHUN 长春

My journey started in the city of Changchun, the name translates to long spring. It is a beautiful city with lots of greenery and sits in the north east of China in what was historically known as Manchuria. My cousin Jun was getting married! Its a big occasion for the family. Thus the trip.

I spent the first week helping him with various tasks and also visiting my grandparents.

As I was part of the wedding party, I didn’t really get a chance to take photos of the wedding. My cousin hired a pretty good crew though, can’t wait to see the photos.

After the festivities, and as people started to return home. I started the next leg of my journey.

HONG KONG 香港

As I left Changchun and said goodbye to my family, I boarded a flight taking me south to the city of Hong Kong. The plane was delayed by a few hours and landed just before midnight. Hong Kong is a city that never sleeps but at the airport I was met with a quiet dreariness and humid air. The taxi dropped me off in the heart of Tsim Sha Tsui at the bottom of the building that housed my stay.

The next day I took the MTR to go visit the Tian Tan Buddha on Lantau Island. To get there required a 1 hour ride on the MTR and a short walk from the station to the bottom of the Ngong Ping gondola. I elected to take the crystal cabin (glass floor) up. On the way up I shared the cabin with a Singaporean family.  With feigned ignorance or maybe simple indifference, I blocked out the kids complaints about fear of heights and simply stared out of the window. The view was incredible.

As we reached the top of the mountain, we became engulfed in fog. The gondola wavered precariously on ropes that stretched into a white mist. When we finally landed and had a collective sigh of relief we found ourselves in a faux mountain village. A quick read of the road sign led me out and to the foot of many flights of stairs that led to the Buddha.

I didn’t stay too long at the top. I simply circled around and came back down. There was still plenty of time left so another quick read of the road signs led me on the Wisdom Path.

The path winds through a dense forest and leads through an old village. There was a dirt trail that split to the right. I saw an old abandoned structure and it peaked my interest, so I took the muddy dirt path and off the main trail. The trail led me to a clearing and some more abandoned houses, and eventually led back onto the main trail.

Eventually I came upon the wisdom path. Its an area with 38 wooden posts with sutra inscribed in them. My chinese is bad so I just walked around it and took the path behind it to another trail. I walked until I rounded a corner and came upon a pretty good view. At this point the trail would lead all the way down to the ocean. I thought about taking the hike, but it was getting a little late in the afternoon and I would have wasted my gondola ticket down. So I played it safe and headed back the way I came.

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By the time I got off the gondola ride it was late afternoon, I boarded the MTR and decided to explore the city a little more. So I got off at Mong Kok station and headed to the Ladies Market.

Having been here before, I can’t say it changed much. Last time I was here was at night and it was much more crowded, however during day time this is still a pretty busy place. I left the market and walked down Nathan road, ultimately deciding to take one of the back alley that runs alongside the main road to see if I can find something more interesting and unique.

As the sun sets the city truly comes to life. With thousands of neon signs lighting up every street and alley. I was getting really tired at this point so ventured to Mody rd and found a quiet bar to have a drink. The next day I had an early start and decided to take the ferry across the bay to central.

Once I got to central, I stopped by one of the large heavily air conditioned shopping malls for a break, some free WiFi, and some coffee, and it gave me some time to figure out where I want to go next. Conveniently there was a bus terminal right down stairs and I boarded a double decker bus towards The Peak.

Sitting on the top of a double decker bus while it was speeding up a narrow mountain road is definitely an experience. One should not have the fear of heights, as sitting on the left side offers a view of a sharp 300 feet drop off with only a 3 ft tall stone wall separating the bus and certain death. Every bump and sway the bus made on its way up feels more and more precarious. Also on the way up, it became increasingly clear that I would not get a clear view of the city from the top of The Peak. This was confirmed when the bus finally reached its destination and I found myself surrounded by dense fog. I didn’t want to go back the way I had just came, so another quick look at my phone with free WiFi compliments of a McDonald’s inside The Peak Galleria (there are malls literally everywhere in HK), I found out that walking from The Peak to the suburb of Aberdeen would only take about an hour. I figured why not. Thus started my impromptu hike.

At first I found myself on the side of the road with no sidewalk, with cars speeding out of the fog, suprising both the driver and I. Eventually the navigation directed me to turn down a smaller side street and the fog parted. The street ended and a leaf strewn trail lay before me. Gingerly I walked down this path and into what seemed like a jungle.

Eventually I came out of the jungle and happened upon a reservoir. Passing the reservoir the path evened out and got wider, and there was a tall concrete wall to the left side. I looked up and saw markers for graves over the wall. I climbed to the top and saw a massive cemetery sprawling out over the hill, and beyond it, Aberdeen.

I walked through the cemetery and past a high school. It was 3:00 pm and school was just getting out. I followed the trail of students in their blue uniforms until I came upon a sign that directed me to the harbor. Aberdeen is still pretty dense compared to a lot of US cities, but it was noticeably more quiet than walking around in Kowloon. Walking around gave me a sense of a quiet peaceful seaside town. Its hard to imagine that a long long time ago, this used to be a pirate’s cove.

After walking around for a while, I decided to find a way back to the main part of HK. The shortest path would have been taxi and the cheapest would have been the bus but I wanted something a little more scenic. There is no direct ferry back to Central from Aberdeen, but one can take a ferry to Lamma Island, and from Lamma, board another ferry that would take you back to Central.

The ferry dropped me off on the dock, and I was welcomed by a row of seafood restaurants. Since it was a week day and off season, it was very quiet. I ventured outside the town since I had an hour to wait for the next ferry. There was a trail leading into the mountains, and I saw some backpackers and hikers walking around, I would have liked to explore more but that’s another adventure, for another time. I went back to the docks and waited for the Central ferry to arrive.

I ended the night in at a movie theater in Tsim Sha Tsui. I desperately needed to sit and do nothing so I bought myself a ticket for Mad Max: Fury Road. By LA standards the theater was a little cramped and the seating not very comfy. The heads of the people from the row in front blocked the bottom of the screen. However it was still a welcomed rest and a great action packed movie. The next morning I packed my things and got into a cab for the ferry to Macau.

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