1st 60 Days

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Last week was the end of my first allotted visa stay of 60days. If I want to stay for a prolonged period without the hassle of going to the border every 60 I need to consider some other options. Nonetheless this time I didn't and decided to pursue my next quickest and cheapest option and take the train to Hong Kong, which is "technically" not a part of mainland PRC. I had been to Hong Kong once before and knew if I wasn't careful I'd never make it out alive or with any cash at all.

On the train down I was very excited when 2 cute 20 &22 yr old girls were sleeping on the two bunks above and above/across from me- less excited that their round overly gruff father was directly across from me. I totally did my best to keep my eyes on my book and my mouth shut- but after dinner when the dad busted out the bai jiu and insisted I have a drink with him- I knew right there this was going to get weird. It turns out that one of the daughters goes to school at the University of Michigan & the other goes to university in France somewhere. The father is adverse to flying and came up to Shanghai to pick his daughters up at the airport and take them home on the train as they were visiting for spring break. It also turns out there are 5 daughters in their family all of whom went to or are currently in a foreign university except their youngest daughter who will also surely have some amazing opportunities. The father does not speak much English or Mandarin- but sitting across from him with his hott daughters on either side; him asking a question in Cantonese; one daughter translating it to me; my response; and the other daughter translating it back to him; one could really feel the robust vigor of what’s "really" going on in China. We covered quite an array of topics and I kept the father laughing & informed with my well-placed yet insightful questions and responses. One of the daughters was definitely giving me the soft eye too. Yet as dad's face got redder and redder it became harder and harder of a conversation to gracefully step out of. After politely refusing and him not recognizing my refusal- I finally told him that I thought my mother would disapprove of my drinking so much alcohol- thank god he bought it- truthfully it wasn’t because I was becoming drunk but because with each additional sip the foul paint thinner like stuff was really getting to me. As we all readied for bed the father had one of his daughters ask me which one of them I would most prefer to sleep with. I bowed and said that they were both of course very beautiful girls- the father said no really which one- and I stuck to my story that they were both very good looking girls. Then as if he were agreeing with me he had his daughters tell me that he thought I would much prefer his youngest daughter because at 16 she is the firmest and he thinks her boobs are going to be the biggest. All of this out of her older sisters mouth with out even batting an eye. Then the dad pulled the cover up and went to bed and both the daughters obediently did the same. I just awkwardly lay there for a minute giving my head a quick de-briefing. We arrived to Hong Kong later the next afternoon, last night seemed to be forgotten and I pleasantly talked a bit with the two girls before arriving. At the train station we all went through customs and when I came out the man and his two daughters were flagging me over; his wife had met them at the train station and had brought a bottle of bai jiu to give to my mother- in an awkward disbelief I accepted the gift said good bye and walked into Hong Kong-

I first quickly ditched the bai jiu


About a week before my arrival I had exhausted all my options on Couchsurfing - strange not even one person responded to me :(
In the end I had found this article from a blog linked to the Australian Women’s Health Magazine- HERE
and decided that was my best lead and that I would use it as my rough plan
It is truly amazing that outside one of the most densely populated places on the planet there are never ending hiking trails and an abundance of untouched wilderness.

I was probably a little green in the face when we arrived at the pier swerving through the back hills of HK @ 100+KM/hr. In retrospect I could have written down where I thought I was going once I got to the pier but I hadn’t and I just hired a Cantonese fisher woman to just drive out there for a bit & see where it took us-

When I saw an island with some decent looking beach fronts I "point and shooted" us over there. 100HKD didn't seem bad at all to be dropped off in the middle of nowhere. Stepping onto the pier it again was immediately apparent that just like in Sesame Street one of these things was not like the other, it was me. It was apparent I did not belong here. The little fishing village probably had less than 100 people living on it with their sparse huts and boats. Nonetheless I walked right up bought some noodles some beer and kept on going. It only took me about another hour and I had hiked to the complete other side of the island. Within 4 hours of arriving in HK I was now completely alone on Max's Beach; I got a little wet; cracked a beer; cracked my book, and read till sunset. Sunset = :) A little after dinner I got a phone call from Chase in Europe, which was really great to talk to a familiar voice for a bit, and he told me of some contacts I should probably follow through with in the next couple of days back in HK. After dark I noticed the bioluminescents in the water, as the gentle waves were breaking in neon blue. I started throwing stones into the water and gave my self a little light show, and ultimately threw out my arm trying to give my self a bigger and bigger light show :) then I pulled my jacket over my head and went to bed, it was probably still shy of 9 o'clock. The next morning I woke up and my jacket was nowhere to be found, which I thought was slightly odd as there had not even been a breeze- all of my things were safe though, as I learned from the last time I crashed out on a beach in Thai, I had buried everything a few hundred meters away from my sleep spot. I laugh a bit thinking about some fisher-dude quietly checking-up on me in the middle of the night & now rocking my fake Armani overcoat. I did a little reading; took another dip; tried to stretch; and walked back to the other side of the island. On my way I was walking next to all kinds of cows who seemed annoyed but not angry I was there- then I heard a funny sound- I made a sound back as not to spook the cows when I came out of the jungle onto them- it made a funnier sound and I became a little nervous- then I crouched as to gain an animals point of view- straight up- looking me down was some sort of wild boar thing- it was a mini tank is what it was, not nice looking with some big tusk/teeth thingies. He made another angry sound at me and I thought I was going to have my soft pink flesh scattered around Hong Kong island- I clanked my beer bottles together and threw one at him and retreated; thankful he did not advance again. My heart was beating faster than a businessman’s after reading The Economist. I happily strolled back into the "town center" and was watched the whole way- first person I asked to take me back to the main pier happily obliged I asked how much he wanted, he scratched his head and said "ummm 8HKD?" I took him up on his offer.

Back in downtown Hong Kong I got on the subway and headed for Shenzhen, there was no way I was going to let the glitz and glam of HK snag any of my money. Shenzhen has a really interesting story, as it was Deng Xiaoping's pet project and China's first Special Economic Zone. Deng Xiaoping is the father of China's modern socialist market economy and is mainly responsible for China kicking so much ass in the last 40years. I got off at the last subway stop on the line and walked across the border back into China. Shenzhen I think is cool- the average age is 27, and 20 percent of China's PhD's work in Shenzhen. I bought some dress clothes and went looking for Chases' contacts. After a good briefing; and being welcomed into their home for the night, and shown around HK some more the following day, I boarded my train back to Shanghai with some needed R&R provided by nature and a few good topic seeds to heavily contemplate.

Other than the that- everyday seems to be filled with smiley Chinese people and the stories they tell me and the topics we blunder through are amazing and just too much to transcribe into any type of post that would have any underlying meaning or story behind it.

I bought a camera the other day after realizing my missed opportunity in HK and I hope to be better documenting my countless stories with it soon.

I hunj% had fun/learned/and grew from my 48hr visa jaunt to HK-

MAX