the sheets here all smell like sandalwood. a familiar smell but not one associated with western sheets. a good metaphor for hong kong. its neither overwhelmingly asian, as i first expected, nor completely westernized, but rather somewhere in between. since the city is about to celebrate its 10th anniversary as part of china, it makes sense that centuries of english rule would have this affect on the country.
they drive on the opposite side of the road from the us (thanks jenny!) but unlike the metropolitan of london, they careen up a curving, one-way in each direction cliff side road cut into the mountain. all signs are written in both english and Cantonese. although most people are chinese, there are a fair amount of americans, british and europeans, but perhaps that is because we've been hitting fairly common tourist sights so far.
i had a moment or so of panic when my plane arrived way before tara and todd latini (affectionately know as "TL squared" or "TL2") expected, and once passing through customs i kinda wandered around the arrival area, wondering what exactly i should do. i had gotten confused about my arrival times, what if they had read the schedule wrong? without a cell phone, i needed to try and call her on a pay phone, but i didn't' have any local currency. so i visited a atm, only to receive $500 bills, hong kong dollars. so now i needed to find a way to transform these into a phone card or change. after talking to three visitor stations i was firmly directed to the correct place, and thankfully ran into tara and todd on the way. but felt better that if i had to, i probably could have gotten myself into hong kong proper solo, and had them meet me there.
the hong kong express from the airport takes you past chinese diseyland (i forget there was one here!) and some of the former outposts for the Beijing olympics, and into central hong kong in under twenty minutes. i was only in central hong kong for a few minutes as we zipped up the mountain to "the peak" where TL2, and most transplants, live. cabs are super cheap here, in fact, after london, everything seems super cheap here. the latini household, however, looks expensive. the wood floors are so shiny they could be mirrors, and about every window of their huge three bedroom (plus live-in maid quarters!) has spectacular views of the water. their main balcony overlooks the central part of central town, and its such a off putting feeling to be looking down on towering skyscrapers. manhattan looks tiny compared to this place. the international finance center (see "tomb raider 2") towers over everything else, which are all auspicious in daylight but kind of whimsical at night, where they seem to compete for the "silliest light show on the side of a building" award.
after dropping off my stuff and changing into attire appropriate for 85 degrees F and humid, tara and i head off to stanley, a shopping area located on the water half way across the island, near repulse bay. it stands to mention, that stanley was named after the prodigious lord stanley, yes THAT one, who would have been happy to hear of ottowa's victory last night. again, the cab raced around the precipitous curves of the mountains, wrong side of the road, which is not only a bit frightening but also Nassau inducing. a 25 minute cab ride there, it should be noted, cost about US$8. i shopped like an award winner, and managing to only spend about US$140. i loved looking at the money in my bank account at the atm here, since it gives your balance in HK$ and looks like much more then it actually is!
this could be very dangerous.
today i'm going to visit the biggest outdoor buddha in the world. ommmmm....
xx
Sunday, May 13, 2007
what a bunch of monarchy - vacation notes two
this wing of heathrow is a ghost town. gates 39-56 in the new terminal take 15 minutes to walk to from security. and now i sit waiting in front of gate 52, a mere hour before my scheduled hong kong boarding time and i'm completely, utterly alone. like, "night of the comet", "28 days later," alone. this is a beautiful change from the rest of heathrow which gives off the ambiance and sordidness of las vegas, only with more disorganization, more children and no gambling. at least, that i am aware of, in this airport, i wouldn't be too surprised if there were a back room poker den. high end shopping and liquor are everywhere, lights and noise, SO much noise. even through my ipod i can hear it.
then, right past the 1970's high-design corduroy walls of gate 38, the old terminal gives way to the new, wall open up to 24' high banks of windows on both sides, a monument of modern glass and steel. crystal cantilevered walkways shuttle out arrivals overhead as not to disturb those waiting to leave the country below. except for right now, there is no one to disturb but me. alone in the neat rows of eames inspired chairs, watching airplanes pull up and disappear through puffy clouds...
today i was able to visit kensington castle and eat at pizza express before i headed to the airport. the castle was permanent resident for some of the royals, and summer residence to most for awhile. before london spread to kensington, it was in the country and king george the first resided there for some time. much of the castle is off limits (apparently some crusty old monarchs still live ther!) but many of the ornate, ostentatious rooms are available for public viewing. the "tour" walks you through the process of gaining audience with the king, and although it seems like much nonsense in modern times, surrounded by such marble and gilt, the mind naturally turns to donald trump.
is he not the monarch of the united states, for all intents and purposes? he's got a lot of money, everyone knows him, his lavish, showy tastes are well documented, and he has no real power (over the economy or anything else, "apprentice" castmates aside) in the country, but still commands unwarranted respect and gentle mocking? quite frightening.
also in the castle were the last photographs taken of princess diana prior to her death by mario testino. these also juxtapose the difference between the formality of the throne and us commoners, as the relaxed, carefree pictures of diana laughing and grinning, slumped next to a couch on the floor, hands on hips, were said to represent her final transformation after her separation. although some originally appeared in vanity fair, many were new to the world. i was surprised how much i was impressed by then, i'd never really been one to follow her career path, but my sister and i discussed how vivid the memory was of being woken up by my mother at age seven or such, to watch the royal wedding on television. so perhaps, subconsciously, she has always had some importance in my life.
as i finish typing this a swarm of filipinos have taken over the area surrounding gate 52 and interrupted my quiet moment. probably for the better, no use rhapsodizing about the royals any further. amazingly enough, they seem to all be destined for hong kong, and it looks like i might be the only american on this plane. hmm. another first for me...
xx
then, right past the 1970's high-design corduroy walls of gate 38, the old terminal gives way to the new, wall open up to 24' high banks of windows on both sides, a monument of modern glass and steel. crystal cantilevered walkways shuttle out arrivals overhead as not to disturb those waiting to leave the country below. except for right now, there is no one to disturb but me. alone in the neat rows of eames inspired chairs, watching airplanes pull up and disappear through puffy clouds...
today i was able to visit kensington castle and eat at pizza express before i headed to the airport. the castle was permanent resident for some of the royals, and summer residence to most for awhile. before london spread to kensington, it was in the country and king george the first resided there for some time. much of the castle is off limits (apparently some crusty old monarchs still live ther!) but many of the ornate, ostentatious rooms are available for public viewing. the "tour" walks you through the process of gaining audience with the king, and although it seems like much nonsense in modern times, surrounded by such marble and gilt, the mind naturally turns to donald trump.
is he not the monarch of the united states, for all intents and purposes? he's got a lot of money, everyone knows him, his lavish, showy tastes are well documented, and he has no real power (over the economy or anything else, "apprentice" castmates aside) in the country, but still commands unwarranted respect and gentle mocking? quite frightening.
also in the castle were the last photographs taken of princess diana prior to her death by mario testino. these also juxtapose the difference between the formality of the throne and us commoners, as the relaxed, carefree pictures of diana laughing and grinning, slumped next to a couch on the floor, hands on hips, were said to represent her final transformation after her separation. although some originally appeared in vanity fair, many were new to the world. i was surprised how much i was impressed by then, i'd never really been one to follow her career path, but my sister and i discussed how vivid the memory was of being woken up by my mother at age seven or such, to watch the royal wedding on television. so perhaps, subconsciously, she has always had some importance in my life.
as i finish typing this a swarm of filipinos have taken over the area surrounding gate 52 and interrupted my quiet moment. probably for the better, no use rhapsodizing about the royals any further. amazingly enough, they seem to all be destined for hong kong, and it looks like i might be the only american on this plane. hmm. another first for me...
xx
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