Dear Family and Friends,
It is some time since I had time to sit down and gather my thoughts. The changes we have to make on a daily basis, not to mention the culture shocks when we arrive in each country make it difficult to either find time or to sift through one's impressions in a coherent way.
I know that Jonathan has sent out a lengthy missive on our last days in India, and then our brief, but delightful, stay in Thailand, so I won't bore you with much of that, except to say that I loved Thailand, particularly Northern Thailand, Chiang Mai. Our lovely B&B, a traditional Chinese house, surrounding a courtyard, with lush foliage, cool interiors and charming host, made for a very relaxed atmosphere. We were just outside the center of the city, where all the business of tourism holds sway, and our little neighborhood was very much to our liking with the perfect little coffee/tea house a few steps away. Jonathan has mentioned the orchids, tigers and elephants, so I won't pursue that. I found the really ancient temples very interesting, more so than the highly decorated later ones, which are so over the top with decoration, no surface left bare, that it was like overeating a sumptous meal, with the consequent indigestion. But nonetheless, fascinating and colorful.
We arrived in Hong Kong late in the evening, after dark, and at once I felt overwhelmed, not only by the modernity, but by the density of the highrises I found myself encircled by. I felt like an ant in a forest of anthills, totally intimidated. We are in the New Territories, where the building boom continues nonstop. Imagine groups of sixteen to twenty high rises all identical, slender and extremely close together, rising up 30-40 stories. You turn you head a fraction, and there is another group, perhaps a different design, and then another group, and another. Hundreds and hundreds of them, as far as the eye can see on the flat lands surrounding the waters of the many islands that make up HK. It seemed at first that human beings had been reduced to automatons in a distopic world, but gradually, I have become accustomed to my environment and life here, which, I should say, is extremely sophisticated and easy. I have come to realize that everyone, all 8 million HK people have a roof over their heads, water, sanitation, care, and all those things that make a civilized life, and they all look happy and healthy, with a splendid infrastructure of roads, walkways, parks, metro museums, libraries etc., not to mention the water surrounding everything. The views we have from our apartment are fantastic. We overlook Tolo Bay, with quintessential Chinese mountains in the distance, with the inevitable haze of both moisture and pollution, I suspect. But the result is breathtaking(no pun intended). What is so remarkable is that, despite all the buildings and suburbs that cover vast tracts, there are also even more vast tracts of untouched, wooded hills and valleys. Sitting in the metro you often feel you are in the countryside, with dense forests of deep, rich foliage surrounding you, only to be jolted by the appearance of another concrete cityscape.
In some ways HK makes the US look like a 3rd world country! Everything works so efficiently. The traffic moves smoothly. There are splendid bus and metro systems. It is spanking clean, with horrendous fines for spitting, let alone dropping a candy wrapper. Everyone is extremely helpful, and even with little english, or chinese, in our case, we find them charming, cheerful and friendly. Every little detail has been thoughtfully worked out to make life easy and streamlined.
I could easily come and live here, if only for the winter months, when the climate is nigh well perfect, with daytime temperatures around 72F and night time 60F. The sun is slow to burn through the early morning haze, but then shines all day, with light breezes.
We are all discovering HK in different ways. The students dash downtown to the crush of young folk and the allure of clubs, dancing and excitement.
Others have investigated the multitude of malls, and shopped for bargains, while others have visited some of the markets, the goldfish street market, the flower market, the bird market, and so forth. I chose to go to a Wetland park today. There, with my binoculars and bird book was able to observe some rare birds for several hours, and enjoy the quiet of the very well run park.
I think that everyone will have visited the Peak before we depart for the mainland. I went up there on my first weekend with a HK friend, who was eager to show me everything. The view from Victoria Peak is truly spectacular. There is no way that photos can describe the panorama of Hong Kong and Kowloon as well as doing it for yourself. No wonder the British wanted to hold on to HK and its harbour, port, and access to the East and West.
Our lectures are extremely good. It is a real joy to have such experts talking to us on so many different aspects of Chinese Art. We feel very fortunate that in addition to the lectures, we then visit wonderful museums etc., and see the artifacts themselves, guided round by the lecturer or similar guide.
Well, I think I should stop there, and give Jonathan a chance to send out something more lyrical and creative!
I hope that you fare well.
With love,
Barbara.
It is some time since I had time to sit down and gather my thoughts. The changes we have to make on a daily basis, not to mention the culture shocks when we arrive in each country make it difficult to either find time or to sift through one's impressions in a coherent way.
I know that Jonathan has sent out a lengthy missive on our last days in India, and then our brief, but delightful, stay in Thailand, so I won't bore you with much of that, except to say that I loved Thailand, particularly Northern Thailand, Chiang Mai. Our lovely B&B, a traditional Chinese house, surrounding a courtyard, with lush foliage, cool interiors and charming host, made for a very relaxed atmosphere. We were just outside the center of the city, where all the business of tourism holds sway, and our little neighborhood was very much to our liking with the perfect little coffee/tea house a few steps away. Jonathan has mentioned the orchids, tigers and elephants, so I won't pursue that. I found the really ancient temples very interesting, more so than the highly decorated later ones, which are so over the top with decoration, no surface left bare, that it was like overeating a sumptous meal, with the consequent indigestion. But nonetheless, fascinating and colorful.
We arrived in Hong Kong late in the evening, after dark, and at once I felt overwhelmed, not only by the modernity, but by the density of the highrises I found myself encircled by. I felt like an ant in a forest of anthills, totally intimidated. We are in the New Territories, where the building boom continues nonstop. Imagine groups of sixteen to twenty high rises all identical, slender and extremely close together, rising up 30-40 stories. You turn you head a fraction, and there is another group, perhaps a different design, and then another group, and another. Hundreds and hundreds of them, as far as the eye can see on the flat lands surrounding the waters of the many islands that make up HK. It seemed at first that human beings had been reduced to automatons in a distopic world, but gradually, I have become accustomed to my environment and life here, which, I should say, is extremely sophisticated and easy. I have come to realize that everyone, all 8 million HK people have a roof over their heads, water, sanitation, care, and all those things that make a civilized life, and they all look happy and healthy, with a splendid infrastructure of roads, walkways, parks, metro museums, libraries etc., not to mention the water surrounding everything. The views we have from our apartment are fantastic. We overlook Tolo Bay, with quintessential Chinese mountains in the distance, with the inevitable haze of both moisture and pollution, I suspect. But the result is breathtaking(no pun intended). What is so remarkable is that, despite all the buildings and suburbs that cover vast tracts, there are also even more vast tracts of untouched, wooded hills and valleys. Sitting in the metro you often feel you are in the countryside, with dense forests of deep, rich foliage surrounding you, only to be jolted by the appearance of another concrete cityscape.
In some ways HK makes the US look like a 3rd world country! Everything works so efficiently. The traffic moves smoothly. There are splendid bus and metro systems. It is spanking clean, with horrendous fines for spitting, let alone dropping a candy wrapper. Everyone is extremely helpful, and even with little english, or chinese, in our case, we find them charming, cheerful and friendly. Every little detail has been thoughtfully worked out to make life easy and streamlined.
I could easily come and live here, if only for the winter months, when the climate is nigh well perfect, with daytime temperatures around 72F and night time 60F. The sun is slow to burn through the early morning haze, but then shines all day, with light breezes.
We are all discovering HK in different ways. The students dash downtown to the crush of young folk and the allure of clubs, dancing and excitement.
Others have investigated the multitude of malls, and shopped for bargains, while others have visited some of the markets, the goldfish street market, the flower market, the bird market, and so forth. I chose to go to a Wetland park today. There, with my binoculars and bird book was able to observe some rare birds for several hours, and enjoy the quiet of the very well run park.
I think that everyone will have visited the Peak before we depart for the mainland. I went up there on my first weekend with a HK friend, who was eager to show me everything. The view from Victoria Peak is truly spectacular. There is no way that photos can describe the panorama of Hong Kong and Kowloon as well as doing it for yourself. No wonder the British wanted to hold on to HK and its harbour, port, and access to the East and West.
Our lectures are extremely good. It is a real joy to have such experts talking to us on so many different aspects of Chinese Art. We feel very fortunate that in addition to the lectures, we then visit wonderful museums etc., and see the artifacts themselves, guided round by the lecturer or similar guide.
Well, I think I should stop there, and give Jonathan a chance to send out something more lyrical and creative!
I hope that you fare well.
With love,
Barbara.