The first area I headed for in Hong Kong was Sheung Wan on the far north-western side of Hong Kong Island. It attracted my eye as being one the last remaining vestiges of “old Hong Kong” retaining a much older and chaotic character than the gleaming central district which neighbours it to the east.
Along with expensive antique shops the area also boasts many traditional retailers and three small temples, one dating back to the 18th Century (Man Mo Temple). Probably the most interesting shops can be found on Des Voeux Rd West which is lined with dried seafood outlets piled high with all sorts of strange smelling goods.
The area is best explored by foot although there are plenty of trams and buses along the main street. It took me a little over two hours to explore the area, following a suggested walking route in my guide book (Lonely Planet City Guide). For lunch I grabbed a simple meal at a small restaurant, I don’t remember the name but was cheap and delicious! One of the most convenient things about HK is that most people speak fairly good English and menu’s will often have duel languages.
Even though change is an inevitable fact in China hopefully Sheung Wan will survive a bit longer to continue life as a living museum and a thoroughly facinating place to enjoy.
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I just got back from a great weekend in Hong Kong. This was the breathtaking view I enjoyed from Victoria Peak last night looking out over the skyscrapers on Hong Kong Island and Victoria Harbour beyond. I’ll post more in the next couple of days about where I went etc but sufficed to say I loved it! Even though it’s just an hour from Shenzhen, Hong Kong is a world away from China and the British influence is clearly still in evidence.
I’ve only just scratched the surface of what HK has to offer but I’m sure it will become my haven for times when I get fed up of China!!
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Image via Wikipedia
Last year I talked about using Tor to bypass the internet censorship in China but the problem is that it’s painfully slow, almost to the point of being unusable. There are other options such as anonymous proxy servers (again slow) and corporate private networks but for most individuals these are not an option and fiddly to configure.
I have however discovered another alternative which provides both security, stability and speed - it’s not free but certainly isn’t expensive either. Enter Witopia personalVPN - costing $39.99 per year this basically creates an encrypted tunnel out to Witopia’s secure internet gateway giving you unlimited access to the internet without any blocks or restrictions. Set up is simply a matter of installing a simple piece of software which is sent to you pre-configured by email (there are clients for Windows, Mac & Linux).
Establishing a connection takes a matter of seconds and then you’re good to go. No messing around with any computer or internet settings as you would with the other solutions. What makes this even better is that the speed is fast, in fact I’d swear its faster surfing international sites using the VPN connection than without it normally making me extremely happy!
This of course will work world-wide once you’ve subscribed and can be useful in other situations where you want to ensure your connection is secure. Although I’ve only been using it a short while I’d thoroughly recommend it, especially if you’re in China.
N.b. as a side note if you use Mac OS X I’d recommend using the Viscosity OpenVPN client, rather than the included Tunnelblick application as it has a much better interface. It will import the connection settings automatically the first time you run it.
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During the National holiday last week I took a brief trip out of Shenzhen for a couple of days to the small city of Shaoguan, a 4.5 hour journey inland, to visit a friend at the university there. On the way out I took the train which was a first for me in China. Despite all the dire warnings people had given me about trains in China (dirty, unsafe, crowded…) the one I was on was actually quite pleasant, albeit a bit slow. The family I sat next to was even kind enough to give me some of their food for lunch - not something you would ever find in the UK (although it might have had something to do with me practicing English with their child!).
Shaoguan itself is an unremarkable city that frankly I found dirty and chaotic; not particularly pleasant. One of the students there remarked to me that it was the same as thousands of small cities across China which I found a rather depressing prospect, if not for me, but for their inhabitants. That said, there were a few bright spots and I really enjoyed visiting Namhua Monastery there. As it was the holidays it was crawling with curious devotees and was clearly a good day for the Monk’s finances!
Along with the usual burning and praying there was a man who was methodically going around the entire site and flinging himself to the floor in some sort of ritual every couple of steps. He looked a bit manic and I couldn’t quite work out if he was a Monk or not.
Aside from this there isn’t much more to report about the city. I ate in manly very small and very local restaurants of varying in quality (and probably cleanliness). What I wont forget about the food is probably the most spicy noodle soup I’ve ever tasted - I was quite literally crying from the intensity of the heat and had to give up about half way through. Turns out my friend had asked them to make it extra spicy!!
My lasting memory will be getting locked in a shower with the door jammed and nobody outside to help - I ended up cutting my hand trying to get it open and then in my white rage kicked the door in. It was probably actually a good thing nobody was around to see that and no doubt returning students will wonder why there is blood splattered over the wall!
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Apologies for being offline the past few days - I moved into my new apartment but had an unexpected delay in setting up the connection (China Telecom failed to deliver on their 24 hour installation promise but at least the installation good) as well as taking a short trip outside of Shenzhen (more on this in the next post).
Aside from this hiccup the new place is pretty nice. It’s the first time I’ve truly had my own apartment, not sharing with anyone else, and it feels good! Located on the 9th floor of an apartment complex in the up-and-coming “Coastal City” area of Nanshan it has 2 bedrooms, large living room, balcony, kitchen and bathroom. Plenty of space for me to get lost in! The communal garden below even has a swimming pool and tennis court for the eventuality that I ever decide to improve my fitness 
I’m still exploring the local area but there are plenty of shops and restaurants with just about anything you want available around the clock (for some reason there seem to be many Korean restaurants nearby also). I’m still finding it hard to believe just how much my life has changed in the past couple of weeks but hopefully its a change for the better and an experience to remember in the future.
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