Safe in Hong Kong

The good news is that we’ve made it to China, and here I am, updating the blog. The (potentially) bad news is that we’re not yet sure whether the blog has the thumbs-up. Hong Kong is only partially integrated with China, and the part that includes internet censorship is on the non-integrated side. So, at the very least, we’ve had our cord-cutting put off by a few days.

I began our Japan experience with some general comparisons between Japanese society and that of the U.S. (well, technically I started with Dunce-Cap Cyclops, but I haven’t seen anything analogous in Hong Kong as of yet). The next logical step is to compare Japan and Hong Kong, which is simple to do because they’re very, very different. Let’s review; kindly click here for a handy comparison chart (folds to fit in your pocket!).

Yes, we walked through a plastic garden. It looks quite authentic, until you touch something. They also pump mist through it, I suppose to make it look extra not-plastic. For your reference, here’s a nifty guide I pulled together so that you can see which elements are plastic and which are not.

We also accidentally climbed a mountain. How does one accidentally climb a mountain, you ask? Well, you get half-way up looking for a garden that’s closed for rebuilding, but you keep looking for the garden anyway until you end up nearly at the top, at which point, what the hell. Apparently no one climbs Victoria Peak, because the unmarked path to the summit abruptly ended at a power station, where we were alone. So we sat and were treated to this view. Smoggy.

The temples we’ve been to thus far have been far less beautiful, creaky and huge than those in Japan, but they’re real and auspicious in their own way. The air inside is fragrant and heavy from the incense sticks and lanterns that are constantly burning. They feel more alive than Japan’s relics; less a slice of history than insight into the ways things are and have always been.

There’s more, of course, but I’m tired. We’re off to mainland China tomorrow, beginning in Guangzhou, where I intend to eat Cantonese food until I’m hungry again an hour later. I hope we can continue, but the warning in the previous post still applies.

Cheers, all.