Category — Hong Kong

There is not much for me to add to Pierrick’s account of our long journey between Hong Kong and Hanoi other than to say that I made the trip after having been ravaged by killer mosquitoes in Hong Kong. Each of my legs had a good 20 to 30 bites the size of 2 euro coins and with the texture of orange peel and half of my chin inflamed and disfigured to the point that it could frighten small children. My legs cramped and burning, bag wedged tightly in between, I did all I could to resist the urge to scratch everything and ignore the kaleidoscope of kung-fu colours visible through my closed eyelids coming from the television 30 cms from my face. It was definitely one of those moments in which you think that things couldn’t possible get any worse…In the end we made it to Hanoi in one way or another and I am forced to admit that perhaps I was being a little over-dramatic. It really wasn’t that bad and it probably can get worse.

It’s refreshing to be in a new city with a different personality and pace of life. Hanoi is dynamic, colourful and vibrant. In a way, it is more how I expected Asia would be than anywhere in China ever was. The unfortunate reality of a lot of Chinese cities (like Datong and Guangzhou etc.) is that all the personality and history has been stripped away to make way for factories and row after row of identical tenements covered in a crumbling facade of white bathroom tile. Any city accidentally untouched by this ‘progress’ has been turned into a tourist circus (like Pingyao, Lijiang or Dali) and you are left to imagine how it must of once been.

I still don’t have a very concrete vision of Vietnam. I am still trying to decipher how things work and what makes the people tick.

Walking around Hanoi is a challenging activity in itself; at all times dodging the constant and chaotic onslaught of motorcycles that outnumber cars and people 50 to 1. Pierrick patiently instructed me on street-crossing technique, explaining that waiting for a break in the traffic is pointless and that it is better to slowly but surely cross the road without making any sudden changes in direction or tempo. This apparently helps the motorists to appropriately swerve and to avoid collision. I am happy to report that for the most part (I have suffered the occational clipped elbow) it seems to work.

I’ve decided I need to spend less time thinking about blogging and more time actually blogging ;o)

We’ve been in Hong Kong for a good week now and are having trouble leaving. Originally we were only going to be here for 4 days - enough time to get our Vietnamese visa and maybe do a little shopping on the side. The poor lady that runs the guest house in which we are staying has given up asking when we will be leaving and comes to our room to collect the rubbish and the invariable extra nights rent.

I can’t tell you exactly what it is that is keeping us here. When we first arrived (tired from 26 hours on a train and bored to death of instant noodles), our eyes had a hard time adjusting to all the different things surrounding us that we could actually buy. I nearly fell over myself in excitement at the sight of Yakult and I don’t even drink the stuff! Everywhere you look there are many wondrous products vying for your attention and begging for you to take them home… and for the first 4 days or so – that’s exactly what we did.

I have never been the kind of girl that spends her spare time shopping – especially clothes shopping. In fact, I usually avoid it unless I really have to (weddings, job interviews etc) and the thought of having to buy a pair of pants is usually enough to induce profuse sweating, clammy hands and a headache. But it is somehow different here. Mainland China is a wonderful and interesting place – but after a while the repetitive nature of 30 shops in a row all selling exactly the same 5 things gets a little tiring.

I had no idea I was such a consumer.

Depuis quelques jours nous sommes a Hong Kong. Nous avons litteralement ete happes par les boutiques, comme pris dans un tourbillon. A chaque fois que nous sommes partis nous promener, nous nous sommes immanquablement retrouves dans un centre commercial.

Ce matin la flamme olympique est passee en bas de notre immeuble. Vers 10 heures nous nous sommes installes contre les barrieres le long de nathan road. Le comite des habitants de notre immeuble avait bien prepare l’evenement. La veille une note affichee dans l’ascenceur invitait les habitants a venir retirer drapeaux, t-shirts, stickers et sifflets vers 8 heures. A 10 heures ils etaient chauffes a blanc.

Nous avons vu deux bus tourner au coin de la rue. C’etait une sorte de caravane publicitaire composee d’un bus coca cola et d’un camion samsung. Les flics ont ressere leur dispositif, nous avons vu des motos, puis les fameux gardes de la flamme et enfin un type au milieu qui portait une sorte de grand “cornet rouge”. C’etait la fameuse flamme. La foule criait joyeusement.

Le coureur s’est arrete devant nous pour transmettre la flamme a un autre coureur tout neuf qui venait juste de sortir d’un bus. Le type est parti au milieu de son cortege ultra securise. La flamme s’est eloignee, et voila, c’etait fini.

Nous sommes partis nous promener en tentant d’eviter les shopping centers magiques. Pendant ce temps la flamme continuait son periple dans Hong Kong. En milieu d’apres midi nous l’avons croisee de nouveau. Ce coup-ci il y avait quelques manifestants pro-Tibet. Ils ont rapidement ete encercles par la police qui les a protege de la foule hostile. Ils ont pu tenir une sorte de petite conference de presse improvisee devant les journalistes sous les huees des “supporters” chinois.