Am I in New York?

This morning I departed from mainland China and headed towards Hong Kong. I didn’t think anything was going to be too special about Hong Kong; I mean, I was in the Hong Kong airport and I wasn’t “wow-ed” then. But holy cow! Hong Kong is awesome! There are multiple parts of the Hong Kong Island, and all of them have multiple towering skyscrapers. The streets are bustling with more activity than downtown Chicago, and most of the population has a general knowledge of the English language (ka-ching!).

Once I arrived at the hotel, the YWCA (Youth Womens’ Christian Association, crazy right?), I switched my sperry’s for tennis shoes, grabbed my backpack and camera and went out to the thick of the city. I went exploring, getting lost in the city ;)  On my way through the city I stumbled upon beautiful parks, botanical gardens, churches and cathedrals, and (of course) plenty of Starbucks. At the first park I visited, the Hong Kong Park, I went through their “aviation” sector where they have over 600 different kinds of birds. Before entering I was greeted with this warning:

I totally forgot bird flu existed.

From the park I went and stopped by St. John’s cathedral—here in Hong Kong there is religious freedom (at least, compared to mainland China) and I stopped on by to see a few people praying and a few other tourists like me taking pictures. 

From St. John’s I went on downtown and ventured into some of the huge skyscrapers. The bottom floors of the buildings were extremely nice and extremely crowded shopping stores: I felt much underdressed wearing my yellow Vanderbilt shirt and wearing my tennis shoes. After walking through two of the buildings, I grabbed a taxi to a different part of town, closer to the shore, to go to a restaurant that Neal had recommended to me: Tsui Wah.

Saw Olivia's Jewellery (note the spelling) on my exploration. I had to add this for you, Livvers!

When I got to the restaurant I told the desk clerk that it was just me eating lunch—the majority of the meals I will have from now on will be me eating solo—and they took me to a table with someone already sitting down. I asked my escort, “here?” I thought she had maybe pointed to the wrong table. She replied, “yes, there.” I was a little caught off guard, but then sat down. As I was shuffling through the menu, the man sitting at the table, Michael offered to help me find something I wanted. Michael was from Hong Kong and spoke English very well. We struck up a conversation and I learned that he was a dermatologist that studied over in England (one of the reasons why his English was good). He told me all about cafés and the differences between them and traditional Chinese food. He took a genuine interest into my travel experience and was a great listener. Soon enough his lunch hour was over and he had to go back to work, and I was left at the table alone.

I thought to myself, ‘that was really cool,’ and then said a prayer to God to put someone at my table again and that I could somehow glorify God through our conversation. Soon enough, a young lady wearing a medical-mask (something to cover her mouth, she was probably ill) sat down at my table. She had a nametag on with the title of “Beauty Consultant”, she worked at Chanel. She promptly pulled out a fashion magazine and started to read. I wasn’t able to start conversation until I received my check and asked her if I was supposed to go up front to pay or just wait at the table. From there we struck up a nice conversation where I learned that she, Quin, loves working at Chanel where she sells makeup. She has lived in Hong Kong for 24 years and is 29 years old. She was shocked when I told her that I was only 20. I asked her about fun things to do in Hong Kong and she listed a few things, one of them being a certain bar downtown. I then went on to tell her that I don’t drink and it has to do with a personal choice I made joining a Christian fraternity. Nothing spiritual was mentioned in our conversation, unless you count me telling her I was a Christian (and maybe that’s all that God wanted to do with that convo).

I asked Quin if it was common for people eating alone together (sounds weird…) to talk to one another, and her response shocked me: she said barely ever. She said that the only time she talks to someone at her lunch break is if they are a foreigner. So, let me outline this, just so we are all on the same page:

1.   If you want to eat alone, you will be placed at a table with other people who are eating alone: meaning you can’t eat alone
2. The people at these tables don’t even talk to each other: so it’s like they are eating alone

Kudos to whoever isn’t confused by that. And, isn’t that kind of sad? I can’t imagine just ignoring someone as you both eat while sitting at the same table.

(At Tsui Wah)

After saying goodbye and paying the check, I tried to find my way back to the hotel. Hong Kong is a city on a hill-y island, and my hotel is on the upper end of the hill; for lunch I was by the shore at the bottom of the hill. Luckily for me, and everyone that lives in Hong Kong, there is an escalator/elevated moving walkway system that takes you up the hill and drops you off at different streets. I would’ve been soaking in sweat if I had to walk up the hill (which in hindsight probably would’ve been some needed exercise, although I had been exploring all day (I’m making excuses to myself…yikes. And I used double-parenthesis)), but luckily all I had to do was hop on the uphill-angled moving walkway and then walk 6 blocks over to my hotel! I then put away my backpack and organized all my things in the hotel room. 

By now it had started to get dark. During my exploration of the city, I had seen a tram ride that takes you to the highest point at Hong Kong. I decided to walk to the station and take the tram up—the best decision of my day. The tallest point in Hong Kong was very foggy and I was basically in a cloud, but it had the BEST view of the city! If it had been a clearer night the pictures would’ve been much better, but I have no reason to complain…the city was completely lit-up, and I was in awe of what God had built.