Vertical and Horizontal Layers of Place

I went with a friend on Saturday, to ride on the tram whose route extends most of the length of the Hong Kong Island, east to west, on the harbor side. It is the only double-decker tram in the world, so the publicity says. I had always wanted to do this and found out that this friend had wanted to do it also. Both of us had proposed such an outing to our respective family members with similar responses--"And why would I want to do this?" Alas, some people have no sense of adventure!

We made sure we were on the top level and had a great view of the urban streetscape as we slowly went along. It took more than an hour each way, and the slow pace allowed us to actually observe the changes in areas of the city as we went, building my mental map of this part of Hong Kong island. Up to this point my mental map was primarily of regions around individual subway stops--points rather than a line.

I was struck how Hong Kong is a city that is layered in both the horizontal and vertical directions. Horizontal lines--the underground subway, streets, walkways, and entrances to buildings at different elevations--form the horizontal lines of the city. Vertical lines--buildings of different heights--make up the vertical structures. Yet these vertical structures are horizontally layered as the base of buildings rise from different elevations. Often it is not enough to know the address of a building, or where it is. You also have to know how to approach the building--what level and from which direction, in order to find your way.

I share views of the streetscape and this horizontal and vertical layering along the tram route. The images are "typical" images of the street--Wellcome grocery stores, 7-11 stores, Chinese medicine shops, etc. What is missing? We saw very few gas stations.

Horizontal and Vertical layering

Wellcome has a monopoly on grocery store business

The layers of the city

Dispensary's are everywhere. I'm not sure what they dispense

The symbol for the MTR (the subway and train system--never far away

Gambling around horse-racing

Everywhere, clothes hang outside widows to dry

Cardboard recycling

Small household shops that are packed, leaving only a small isle

Bamboo structures for constructionMarkets

Chinese medicine shops

This looked like a sewing machine repair shop

Single purpose shops--this one was for mental doors and shades

Light buses go between points that are relatively close

Small local grocery stores

Small restaurants

A park crowded into the urban setting

7-11 is ubiquitous to Hong Kong--used to recharge your octopus card
for transportation, to pay bills, etc.

Sounds of construction--always

Church in a commercial space

Attempts at "green"

Watsons and Mannings are the pharmacies that are everywhere!

Occasional Green Space

The harbor side of HK Island backs onto mountains

Lady shoes?

Busy market streets in Wan Chai

Friday Night at a Dai Pai Dong

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Every Friday night a group of expats gather at a particular dai pai dong. What is a dai pai dong? People tell me it is "street food," thought Wikipedia says the actual phrase means "big license." They are part of Hong Kong's history. They are characterized by makeshift structure of canvas without air conditioning and with folding chairs and tables.

The one where this group meets is in Fo Tan in the old village now surrounded by high rise apartment buildings. It is a maze--you enter at any number of points, walking through something that resembles a kitchen, or by refrigerators, etc. To find this expat group you look like a westerner--they know where to point you to get through the maze to get to that particular tent area. Or you say gweilo (white ghost), the derogatory word for westerner--that works.

Life starts after 7 p.m. when everyone starts coming to eat dinner. The dai pai dong in Fo Tan is huge! You can walk on and on through the various "temporary" structures and kitchen-like walkways, that are all pieced together. By 8 p.m. it is full of people with only this one group of gweilo-type people on Friday night.

Cross-Cultural Mystery: Where do Bread Ends Go?

When you buy a loaf of bread in Hong Kong, its ends are missing. It has become a half-loaf. Where do the heels go? This is a great mystery. Is there a bread-ends dumping ground someplace? This is an American question.

When Hong Kong natives go to the United States and buy a chicken, they wonder...where do the feet go? Is there a chicken feet dumping ground someplace? This is a Hong Kong question.

Dragon Back--the best hike in all of Asia

Last week, when it was sunny, we went for a hike along the Dragon's Back trail. This is an incredible trail on Hong Kong Island and is said to be the best hike in Asia. It follows the mountain ridge so it is also a relatively easy hike--unlike many of the others I've described. You start by taking a double-decker bus up to the ridge from the subway station, where you can start the hike. Because it is on Hong Kong Island, it seems more Western--para-sailing along the way and it ends at a beach where people were surfing. These seem so "western" compared to other places we've hiked. And of course, many people along the route were Europeans or Americans who live in Hong Kong. It is always another world when we go to Hong Kong Island from Kowloon where we live.

When we ended the hike at the beach, we then had to figure out how to get back to a subway station. I knew I felt comfortable in Hong Kong, when there was a little bus sitting there--we just looked at each other and got on, saying to each other--it has to go someplace! Several times this has happened this time while I've been here. You are off some place and have no concern about getting home. A bus will take you someplace that is closer to where you need to be that where you are now. You figure out the next step when you get there.

Someone lost their sole.

Big Wave Beach

Down from Big Buddha or the Renactment of the Bataan Death March

Since taking the cable car up to the Big Buddha on Lantau Island, I had always wanted to take the hike down the mountain. We could see the hikers underneath us as we went up the cable car. So Saturday, a group of 6 of us decided to do it. We arrived at Big Buddha around noon. We ate at the Buddhist temple vegetarian restaurant and then after many fits and starts, found the path. By then it was 2 p.m. and the last person in the line of people who helped us find the path said: make sure you get down by dark. "Well of course," we thought! It is only 8 kilometers and it is downhill!

Thus began the adventure. Surprisingly, the first third of the trail was up! At the highest point we were probably at around 500 meters. At that elevation it was just grasses growing. When were were just starting to contemplate turning around, we went up one last long set of steps. Well, actually two scouts went up the set of steps first. It appeared that we would be going after this high point, so we committed. The challenge was that this was all in the fog--it was a dripping, foggy day. As we started down, we would come upon a cable car tower, only we couldn't see it until we were right next to it. We had to read our surroundings through our ears--we could finally hear the airplanes so we knew we were on the north slope--correct for going down. And we had to read the plants and temperature--we went from grasses to forest and it began to get warmer.

Most of this way was on hard, rock and cement-paved trail and much of it was steps. Then we came to a little gate that warned of a steep trail going down ahead. We looked over the edge and it was a wooden step structure that went straight down into the cloud. After getting down we walked on wooden raised walkway with no handrails and it sloped toward the drop-off to shed water. Of course it also had algae growing on it. Then we came to another little gate. This one warned of a VERY steep trail going down--more wooden steps going down. We were worried that we would next come to the EXTREMELY steep trail going down next.

We did make it down. It took 3 hours which wasn't too bad. At the bottom we learned that this particular path was the rescue trail--straight up and down with no switchbacks. We found leather beaters that you were supposed to borrow to put out fires with instructions to be sure and return them after you used them. Then there was the mile-long walk to the subway that first passed through a mangrove swamp and a large housing estate--but it was flat. And then a stop at Starbucks before starting home.

All in all--it was great! One person had a pedometer on and told us we had walked 16,000 steps and it felt like a re-enactment of the Bataan death march--I think the part about the 16,000 steps should be taken literally. Who built those 16,000 steps?

Messages from fellow-travellers

Every day fire beaters--please put them back when done.

Finally, the end is in sight but still some distance off.

In the mangrove swamp

Yes, it was a rescue trail!

Texture to my drinks

One of the unusual experiences of coming to Asia is the one of drinking juice or some other liquid and finding texture to it--yes, texture. Juice will have bits of aloe or pear. It is added to the juice so it is different than orange juice with pulp!

I've asked some locals about this. One theory is that it is a snack and you want to have some substance to a snack. My other theory is that in Chinese cooking, anyway, there is an emphasis on all the senses--color, texture, flavor, smell, etc. Maybe this reflects this aesthetic sense?

The end result is that I chew my juice each morning. Then there is bubble tea--tea with tapioca balls, or there is the tea with red beans...

Why did I not see this, or understand this, or find this the last time?

Last night a friend took me to the equivalent of Hong Kong's Target. It was one subway stop away, right outside the subway escalator. Why did I not know about this before? I lived here for 5 months before and never found it!

Always, the challenge is to be able to explain what you need and have them understand it and then point you in the right direction. This time I was looking for an electric heating pad--translation is an electric blanket, but for your back. And I was looking for a bath mat. One friend directed me to a store in the mall next to our apartment--they had the electric "blankets" but they were way too expensive and complicated. They were more like massage blankets. I looked for a bath mat in everyplace I could think of near by.

Finally last night a friend asked me if I had tried a Japanese department store. A what? Why had I not heard about these?? We took off after dinner at 8:15 p.m. What a discovery! It was like a huge Target in a mall. I could get vitamins there. I could get pens and paper there. I could get a spatula there...I got a bath mat and a desk lamp for a good price. I gave up on the electric heating pad. They don't have the basic, cheap, version.

A couple of observations have arisen out of this experience--I see and understand things this time that I never did grasp last time I lived in Hong Kong. For example, someone showed me the wet market (market with fresh food) just a block away. Last time I literally walked by it multiple times a week without ever noticing. I figures out quickly how the subways work to enable you to just walk across the platform to catch a different subway line. In the US we have to go up the escalator and off to a different platform. In Hong Kong each exchange overlaps at two stops. At the first crossing spot you get off if you are going to go one direction on the other line. At the second crossing spot you get off if you are going the other direction on the other line. Either way you just exit the subway car and walk across the platform to the other side.

Finally, someone showed me the way to the park that I knew was JUST around the corner. It was huge but I couldn't find it before because, as is typical in HK, it is on a hillside and you have to figure out the right level and place to access it. Otherwise it appears hidden.

I've concluded that three factors are at work in my new discoveries. First, distance and then return makes you see things that were too close before--you need distance to focus. Secondly, I have added some new people to my social network this time and their experiences are added to mine. The combination of our local knowledge has helped all of us! Thirdly, having lived here before and acclimated much more quickly, I am not overwhelmed when getting instructions. When my friend said the Japanese department store was at Lok Fu--I knew where that was and how close it was.

Having said all this...there is a pattern of avoidance that comes with living someplace where you don't know the language or culture. You live with what you have because it is too difficult to explain what you want! I have a broken refrigerator shelf but don't want to try to explain this to the main office. I could take it in with me, but I'm not sure they will recognize where it comes from.

I just put it in my cupboard and am living without it. Pick your battles of explanation.

And then there are the milk tea shops. They are everywhere but I never saw them before! They must be new...