year less a day: Days 247 to 249 - Tues July 7 to Thurs July 9

I like Hong Kong, but I don't love Hong Kong. No, it's not the worst city I've ever been, and yes, it has an impressive public transportation system, but the city really hasn't grown on me. Every time we go back we figure out a few more tricks - such as where to eat or the quickest/cheapest way from A to B and so on - so it gets easier and easier. And still - no love. Pierre loves the place, and can’t understand why I don’t as well. Vive la (in)difference…

In spite of my general indifference, I'm extremely grateful for Hong Kong because it's been key in helping us get several visas that we've needed to get over the past 6 months. The other options (provincial capitals, Beijing) are either so far away or supposedly bogged down with red tape (rumour or fact?) that they don't sound very useful. Hong Kong is a short two hours away from Huizhou via the usual mix of metros and buses, and every embassy or consulate the average traveler could need are easily located within the city.

This time round we need a Russian visa for our last two months of travelling (August and September). Getting ready for the visa turns out to be a bit of work. Any visa other than a transit visa requires an invitation letter from a Russian company (which they’re happy to do for 90$ as well as shipping, since the Hong Kong embassy requires originals.)

Tourist visas to Russia are only good for a month of travel and cannot be extended from inside Russia. Instead, we decide to go for a business visa which is good for 3 months of travel but which requires a bit more preparation. In the end, we apply as being self-employed travelers who are going to Russia for the sake of photography and writing – and we use the blog as our reference. This, along with the visa fee (ex$pen$ive), the letter of invitation and our proof that we have enough funds to pay for our trip gets us a 93-day business visa.

We decide to stretch out our time in Hong Kong to check out a few of our favourite places (restaurants, bookstores) and do a little sightseeing.

We arrive late on Day 247 and a series of transportation delays (some our fault, others not) we arrive at Victoria Peak towards the end of the afternoon which means it is too late for the light conditions that Pierre prefers. Regardless, the skyline is beautiful at dusk

…we get to enjoy the sun setting behind the hills to the west:

…and enjoy the nighttime skyline before we head out.

On Day 248 we do a random mix of touristy things. Hong Kong island is extremely hilly in places and has found various solutions to moving people up and down these hills as efficiently as possible. One of the solutions includes the world’s longest escalator that runs 800 metres long and takes 20 minutes to ascend. We only ride up about 250 metres because (a) there’s no escalator downwards, only stairs, and (b) I want to check out the Hong Kong Medical Museum.

I have a soft spot for medical museums and love to visit them whenever I have a chance. Pierre’s new to them and a little more skeptical – our visit to the forensic medical museum in Bangkok is still pretty fresh in his mind. (His parting remark that day was, I believe: “Well, that was a downer.”) The Hong Kong Medical Museum has a few sections under renovation, so it ends up being a short tour. Besides the exhibit comparing between Chinese traditional medicine and Western medicine, the majority of the exhibition seems devoted to epidemics. One storyboard outlines the history of epidemics in Hong Kong from the plague in the 1800s, to the Spanish Influenza in 1918, all the way to the viruses of the past few decades including SARS and Bird Flu. They will most likely be adding a new board soon to document this year’s Swine Flu.

The most memorable detail for both of us is a set of images depicting scenes from a slum during the time of the plague in the late 1800s. The city hadn’t been prepared for the influx of people and so the only accommodations available were poorly constructed, poorly ventilated and extremely small. One image depicts a typical one room dwelling shared by all members of an extended family as well as their livestock, including pigs.

The second image depicts a scene typical at the time, that of the British soldiers going door to door within the slum to locate and collect for cremation the bodies of those who had died of the plague. The plaque explains that the families in the slums did not wish to give up their dead (I assume that it went against their burial customs). The plaque goes on to explain that this particular drawing shows how one family set up their table for a game of Mahjong. They propped up the corpse at the table (with its back to the door) so as to appear alive when the soldiers took a look in.

We think this is pretty ingenious, though I imagine the smell gave them away eventually.

Towards mid-afternoon, we catch a bus to the Tian Tan Buddha statue, which is “the world’s largest outdoor seated bronze Buddha statue” according to our guidebook. The specificity of description makes me think that it’s possible to get a record by simply picking the right qualities. Somewhere perhaps there’s the world’s largest outdoor reclining bronze Buddha statue, and elsewhere maybe the world’s largest outdoor seated bronze winking Buddha statue. Everybody gets to play, everybody gets to win.

Regardless, it’s a great chance to see Lantau Island which is just south of Hong Kong Island with only a fraction of the population. The island is so large and there’s so much green space that we hardly even register that it’s also the home of both the Hong Kong International Airport and Disneyland.

To reach the Buddha, we take the metro and then a local bus (about 3$ CAN each) rather than the cool but high-priced cable car (45$ CAN each). We join the other tourists for a short walk up the 260 stairs…

…to the main area around the base of the Buddha: