Today, November 30th, is my father’s birthday. He is 85 years old today. Happy Birthday Dad.
On to the boring Blog.
This past Sunday I went to Hong Kong. I took an overnight train 793 kilometers to Shenzen, China. It had 17 cars, 13 of the cars have a seating capacity of 118 people. The other cars were sleepers or “soft seat” cars. Those had a capacity of 50 to 100 people. The train was full.
The only thing worse than an airplane bathroom 9 hours into a 12 hour flight is a Chinese train 4 hours into a 12 hour trip. It was, the only word that is appropriate, horrid.
First thng that happened was that I was accosted by a 7 year old beggar, he could have been 10 or 12 (Chinese people are small). He was filthy and acted as if he was deaf and mute. He was filthy and kept touching my arm and leg trying to pester me into giving him money. Of course, he got no money from me. After he left me I went to wash my hands to rid myself of every germ, bacteria or infectious disease he probably has, then I went for a walk.
When I came back from my walk, I saw the young beggar talking with another child and counting his money. People/beggars are the same everywhere.
As I was boarding the train, a young western appearing woman tried to push past me. I have learned Chinese custom and she did not get past me. However, when I got to my seat she was right behind me, her seat was in the same row as mine. I had the window seat. In Chinese, she tried to convince me that the window seat was hers. You know what happened. Later, during the train ride she started to complain to the other passengers in our area about me taking her seat. I explained to her, with hand signs, the seating configuration and showed her and the group my ticket number. She swore and sat down and began mumbling to herself. I looked and pointed at her and made baby crying noises. Everyone laughed at her and she switched aisle seats with another passenger.
On the train, I had a dinner plate. The food was ok however; I immediately noticed that it was not spicy. The food in Nanchang and Jiangxi Province is known for its spice. They use lots of hot peppers in this region.
To cut this short: At 1:00 a.m. I left my seat and found one in another car where I could stretch out and sleep. I did not sleep.
The train arrived in Shenzen at 6:30, over half an hour late. As I was walking along the platform, I saw another westerner and asked if he could tell me how to get to customs and the cabstand. He asked where I was going and told me the route supplied to me was stupid. He led me to customs and the mass transit system. At customs, the agent actually looked at my passport picture and me several times. To a stranger, I no longer look exactly like my picture.
The subway system in Hong Kong is GREAT. It is clean, fast and efficient. It is also expensive. I was able to take the system to within two blocks of the immigration office. I got lost a couple of times because I tried to follow
the directions the office here gave me: I finally did what the westerner said to do.
I have always thought Chicago’s skyline was beautiful. Hong Kong’s rivals it. That city is huge. So many people and, for the most part they are officed and housed vertically.
I arrived at the immigration building 35 minutes after it opened. There were about 50 people in line in front of me. An Australian told me I would be there all day. I was worried I would have to spend extra days in Hong Kong. When I got to the front of the line, an American walked out of the building and handed me his number, I was wearing a Chicago Bears shirt, it was #43. When I got upstairs I was given number 113, the queue was on number 29, I got lucky. All went well with dropping off my papers and passport so I gave my number 113 to a person with number 170.
I spent the next 6 hours wondering around Hong Kong. That place is huge, busy and very cosmopolitan. I was not stared at once, I rather missed the extra attention.
The pictures I posted in this Blog are of Hong Kong. I have also posted the menu from our Thanksgiving Day dinner.
Hope all is well.
Dad, I hope your Birthday is a good one.
Love Terry
