“I see my path, but I don’t know where it leads. Not knowing where I’m going is what inspires me to travel it”
~Rosalia de Castro
We arrived to a chilly, but beautiful view of the Hong Kong harbor. It was really a breathtaking sight, and it is unbelievable the way they packed so many buildings into an area that size. Our mission was to find The Giant Buddha. We started in what we thought was the right direction, took a ferry to what we thought was the right island, and ended up getting very lost. It ended up working out perfectly, though. We grabbed some lunch in a little restaurant and walked around the town a little bit. We really had no idea where we were going, so we had a good time wandering around. We were all so mesmerized by the hustle and bustle of the city. We finally found out where the bus station we needed to be at was, and after a few attempts, figured out how the system worked. To get on these mini-busses you wait in a line down an alley and get on as more busses come. We made our way over to Stanley Market, which is a not so little outdoor market with tons of clothes, knock-off designer bags, and everything else you could imagine. After an afternoon of bargaining and resisting urges (so much harder than it sounds in markets like that), we decided to try to find our way to The Peak, where we could look out at the whole city. We jumped on a bus and made our way downtown. After another nice little stroll around the town, we got on the tram and had a very steep ride up to the top of the Peak. There was a big (expensive) mall at the top with plenty of areas to view the spectacular view of the city. There was supposed to be a lightshow that night. Hong Kong has lightshows that are listed as the brightest lightshows in the world in the Guiness Book of World Records. Unfortunately they took a night off that night so we didn’t get to see the show, but the view was still incredible. It was absolutely freezing up there, but it was well worth it! The buildings in Hong Kong are so cool and colorful! That night we needed to find a hotel for the following night. We got very lucky and found a cheap hotel near the airport, and booked it right away. Of course we were a little bit nervous because it just sounded too good to be true, but it was just for one night so we figured we could make it through.
The next day we decided to try round two on our search for the big Buddha. The ship was leaving that night for Shanghai, but we weren’t joining it, so we packed some bags and hit the town again. Megan, Erica, Jill and I decided that this time we would take the MRT (Subway) to the right island, and got off to find a gondola that was going to take us to Buddha. The gondola ride was very long, and we went way back into the mountains and up a peak. We walked through a cute (and very touristy) little village and finally made it to the Po Lin Monestary. After climbing a long staircase we were right at the feet of the Giant Buddha. It was spectacular! He was so massive, and being back in the mountains was so tranquil. We sat there with our mouths hanging open for quite a while before we returned to the gondolas to meet some other friends. We made our way over to the hotel we had booked the night before. When the bus came up on a quiet little beach town and we saw the sign for our hotel, we couldn’t believe our luck! The hotel was nice for the price we were paying and it was right on the beach. We checked in and explored the small town for some dinner. We wandered into a cute little outdoor Chinese restaurant and had a surprisingly delicious meal. We woke up early and walked around the beach a little bit before we had to go to the airport to catch a flight to Beijing. We were doing a trip to the Great Wall of China with a tour company called the China Guide, so we had to get to Beijing to meet them. Erica and Megan were on an earlier flight than Jill and I, so after they left we walked around the mall that was near the airport. We found an outrageous clothing store, it was like a carnival walking around and looking at all the clothes. Its hard to explain the things we saw, but I can assure you we were pretty much doubled over laughing the whole time. We even had a bathroom dancing party….believe me, Jill and I can manage to have a great time no matter where we are. =)
After a three hour flight we arrived in Beijing and met our tour company. Its strange, but even though Hong Kong is still technically a part of China, they have different governments, different currencies, and different languages, so it was like arriving in a whole new country. There were a lot of other SAS students that were on this trip with us, of course we got stuck with the ones that felt the need to pack their portable speakers and blast techno music all the way to the hotel, at the hotel (all night), and…well actually not so much in the morning because they were all so incredibly hung-over they couldn’t even remember their belongings when we left. I’m not kidding, one of the guys actually walked up to the front of the bus and said “I don’t think I have my passport, in fact I think I left my whole bag. I’m not sure I can’t remember much about this morning”…this was as we were on our way out of Beijing and to the Great Wall (apparently monkeys are people too).
Anyways, we left the hotel that morning and went to the Forbidden City. It was the living place for the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties, which were the last two to reign in China’s history. It was called the forbidden city because it was forbidden for commoners to enter it. It was absolutely massive. Every time you thought “this has to be the biggest building here” you would walk through that building and find another one even bigger. We saw the gardens, the business buildings, and the living quarters. It took about 45 minutes to walk through the whole thing. The architecture was beautiful and it was fun hearing about the reasons why certain buildings were built the way they were, the symbolism of the statues, and the changes different emperors made during their time there. We then walked right across the street to Tiananmen square, one of the largest public squares in the world. It has a lot of museums as well as Mao’s tomb where his body is preserved. We did not go see Mao, but we had a good time walking around and looking at all the statues and monuments. We had some lunch before we went to the Silk Market. It was absolute insanity! There were floors upon floors of clothes, shoes, electronics, cosmetics, ski gear….basically anything you could imagine was there and it was cheap! That was probably the biggest exhibition of self-control I could have by not buying every last thing I saw. I’ll admit it, I did buy a few (probably knock-off) designer things, but it was fun bargaining our way through that entire market. Definitely an overwhelming experience. We started off again, with a much more crowded bus with everyone’s purchases, and went to the Olympic grounds. We got to see the bird’s nest and the water cube (from the outside). Finally, bursting with anticipation, we got on the bus to start our 3 hour drive to The Great Wall. It was dark when we arrived, and very, very cold. We ate dinner and went to pick up our sleeping bags, mats, and flashlights. It was about a 45 minute hike up to the actual wall, and it was along way up a lot of steep and unpredictable stairs. When we arrived we walked a little ways, past some groups that had already arrived (and started drinking) and made it to our tower where we would be sleeping. We had beers and snacks available and everyone was having an amazing time. We went to meet some of the other groups, listened to music, danced….it was basically a big party on the Great Wall. Eventually Erica, Jill, and I wandered off and sat and told ghost stories with a group of people farther down the wall. The next part of the story I will not tell in great detail out of respect for my friend, so here are the main points:
Some really drunk girls ran up to us asking for a phone, and told us that Gaby, one of my close friends on the ship, fell and was hurt. I ran over to where she was with one of our guides, and found her, very injured. She had fallen down the steps (and just to clarify, she had not been drinking). There were already a lot of people there trying to help her, two of which were medically trained. We pulled one of the doors off of the wall and used it as a stretcher. We had to carry her all the way down those stairs I mentioned earlier. When we finally made it to the bottom there was a van waiting for us. You can imagine our frustration when we were expecting an ambulance at the very least. We finally managed to get her into the van, and 3 students went with her to the hospital, 3 hours away in Beijing. It was very very frustrating because the driver did not understand that it was an emergency and kept trying to adjust Gaby’s stretcher when we just needed him to leave, and I could only imagine what they were about to face at the hospital. The first news I received the next morning was that she was in ICU and in a coma, and her mom was trying to fly out to be with her. It was terrifying to say the least. It is hard enough seeing a good friend in such a state, and hearing that news was even worse. Most of us were very shaken up and scared, but unfortunately some others were only worried about the fact that it bummed out one of the kid’s 21st birthdays. I was honestly disturbed by the way that some of those people were reacting, both that night and the next morning. It is a horrifying thought thinking about what would’ve happened if she didn't have medically trained (and sober) peers ready to help her as fast as possible. Eric and Laura were absolute heroes, and I honestly believe that things would have turned out much different if they hadn’t been there along with the rest of us who were sober and ready to do whatever we could. Eric was one that went with her to the hospital, and he worked miracles in getting her taken care of and making the decisions that needed to be made. The latest news I have on Gaby is that she is now awake, breathing on her own, moving her legs, and even talking…my two favorite things she has said: “My name is Gaby, not Gabriella”, and “when can I go back to the MV Explorer?”. When I read those emails with the good news I couldn't help but cry tears of pure joy (unfortunately it was in the middle of Global Studies…oops). I can’t explain how thankful I am that she is recovering, slowly but surely, and that she started improving so quickly. She is an absolutely incredible human being. We always joked about how we were soul mates, and now I’m even more convinced than ever that we absolutely are ;)
Despite our worries, we knew that there was nothing more we could do at the time, so we continued with our trip, and woke up early the next morning for a gorgeous sunrise over the great wall and packed up our stuff for a hike. The hike was very hard, we were constantly going up and down and up and down on these massive stairs (you will see in the pictures). But still, it was an unbelievable sight. The wall goes on forever. I couldn't believe how far into the distance you could look and still see watchtowers poking up! There were parts that were definitely untouched by renovations and were just crumbling bricks on a steep slant. 15 towers and an hour and a half later, we reached the end of the hike and our bus. It was 3 hours back into Beijing, and to our [sort of] dismay, we stopped at another market. Lucky for us this one wasn’t nearly as good, and we were so exhausted, both mentally and physically, that we did very little, and ended up getting a neck massage and reflecting. We ate dinner at an amazing little dumpling restaurant, and went to the train station. Our guide, Serena, said goodbye (she was probably so happy), and we got onto our sleeper trains. Erica, Jill, and I got into a compartment with one of the more mellow girls, Ally. Ally is hilarious, and I found out she is from Woodbury (where I lived for a few years in Minnesota). The sleeper trains were so cool! There were 4 beds per compartment and little TVs, and even a snack cart (I felt like I was in Harry Potter)! We woke up in Shanghai and finally made it back to the ship.
The view of Shanghai from the Harbor was so beautiful! The architecture there is unreal! We took our much needed showers and went to explore the city. When Jill, Erica and I are together everything is very relaxed. We really work well together, and end up just wandering until we find something good. Exploring without plans is the best way to explore. We saw a ferry about to leave so we jumped on. It ended up taking us across the harbor and to what seemed to be the business district. We had a great time just walking around and seeing what Shanghai was all about. We walked around and found ourselves in a very cute little park, where we relaxed for a while. We were still so exhausted from the Great Wall trip, so we went back to the ship and rested before we went out for the night. Once we got ready and ate dinner we decided to go out with some of our friends, Drew, Levi, and Allison. Unfortunately they were so stressed out just about finding a McDonalds (don’t ask me why, I don’t get it). So Jill, Erica and I said goodbye, jumped in a cab, and said “bar”. The cab driver definitely delivered. He took us to a street that was filled with bars. We found some other people from the boat and wandered into something that we thought might look interesting, with the intentions of only staying for a short while. Little did we know we were walking into the coolest bar we had ever seen! The décor, lighting and music was perfect! We were sitting there sipping on some drinks, when the floor behind the bar started rising, revealing some dancers. They sang and danced an entire Lady Gaga song, and we were just so surprised we didn't even know what to do. That act was followed by more singers, and a great Chinese rapper. This happened periodically throughout the night. We even tried out Mahjong…which none of us had any idea how to play. All in all it was a really great night, and it was so cool to see what Shanghai nightlife was all about. The next morning we went out to look for masks for the end of the voyage Masquerade Ball. Our intentions were to go to Old Shanghai where we had heard we could find some cool stuff. On our way some people about our age asked Erica to take a picture of them, which turned into a conversation, and the next thing we knew we were walking with them. They were from Xian, so they didn’t know much about Shanghai either, but we learned more than we ever could’ve hoped about China and culture. We were walking and they just steered us right into a little building. We sat down and they explained that this was a tea demonstration they had heard about. A waitress came in and started presenting us with different types of tea to try. She explained each tea, and taught us the rituals when drinking tea. This was all in Chinese, but luckily our new friends spoke at least some English, so we got a translation. Honestly it had all happened so fast and so unexpectedly that we were just in a trance. They were so funny and so excited to be spending time with us, as were we. The first cup of tea is for the Tea god, so it was poured onto his statue. You had to finish your cup of tea in three sips out of respect and for good fortune. We tried about 6 different kinds of tea, all the while learning so much from our new friends. Fashion, history, poetry, you name it, they were eager to share about it. It was so cool that this had happened out of no where and we were having such a good time! They even bought us some souvenirs! As we were leaving they asked if they could buy us lunch, so that we could try real Chinese food. Of course we accepted, and we went to a small restaurant, where they ordered some of the best Chinese food I have ever tasted. Everyone says that American Chinese food is nothing like real Chinese food, but actually most of the stuff we ate was very similar to things I have had in the States (only much, much better). They brought us to Old Shanghai and we exchanged information and said goodbye. They were so nice and I am so happy we met them! We found out after we returned to the ship that a lot of people got scammed exactly the same way we met these people. Someone would ask you to take a picture of them, start chatting you up, invite you to a tea demonstration, and then leave you with a $700 bill. Apparently we got really lucky and these people not only paid for their portion, but they bought us souvenirs and lunch! We were on a major high from that wonderful afternoon, so we were practically skipping through Old Shanghai. It was really beautiful with all of its old architecture, and it had a big lake in the middle with massive Koi fish. We walked around, explored the shops, and eventually made our way back to the ship. It was really an amazing day, probably because everything was so unexpected.
I remember when we jumped on the ferry the first day in Shanghai, Jill said something that really stuck with us: After sitting on the ferry for a little while, not talking, just watching, she looked over at Erica and I and said: “Hey guys, where do you think we’re going?” At the time it was hilarious and silly, but I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. Its really been the best way to describe this whole trip, and I hope the rest of my life. We had no idea where we were going to end up, but we were having fun getting there, and enjoying everything along the way. No stress, no asking other people for directions, just one foot in front of the other, laughing and absorbing the whole way. I don’t particularly know where the rest of my life is going, but I’m confident that I’m going to end up right where I’m meant to be, and I’ll enjoy the journey. Every now and then a map will come in handy, definitely some recommendations from those who know the area, but in the end its just about the adventure. Its about the random encounters that turn into more-than-memorable afternoons. Its about the times your laugh so hard your doubled over in the middle of the Olympic Gardens. Its about being so scared you just want to hide, but you rip that door off and march your friend down the Great Wall, because that's what needs to be done. It won’t always be pleasant, it won’t always be happy, but it will be worth it. Always learning, always changing, and always exploring, that’s how I want my life to be. So to my friends, family, professors, and mentors I would like to say:
“Hey guys, where do you think we’re going?”
I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure I want to know. =)
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