Hongkong, 8-9 November 2007

This is actually a traceback of my previous trip to Hongkong in 2005. Funny enough, when I planned to stopover in Hongkong on the way home from Chengdu, my original idea was just to revisit places that I dropped by in 2005. In particular, I wanted to go to Avenue of Stars in the evening, as well as The Peak. And it turned out that my stay was purposeful in the context of souvenir shopping since I could not find good items in Chengdu. So the Ladies Market at Mong Kok came into my list.

Hongkong has not changed much since my last visit. The skyscrapers, the food, the crowd, the markets... However, new buildings have been added into The Peak complex. One of the building has a special terrace, making it convenient for viewing Hongkong from the top of the hill. As more and more people go to The Peak, it is very crowded, especially in the evening. It took me almost 30 minutes to get into the Peak Tram. On the way back, I lost my patience and took a cab to go back to my hotel, since the queue was probably more than 100m long (and lost my HK$ 33 return ticket...)

The Tsim Sha Tsui area where all types of souvernirs are sold was still like 2 years ago: vibrant, busy, and demand high skills in bargaining. Unfortunately I don't have the latter, making my task seemed very difficult. Shopping for souvenirs is the most difficult task whenever I go. If not for some people that I love, I would not do this job... Well, I finally completed this daunting obligation, but I was not really sure I bought correct items for everyone. What I was sure was that I paid too much for every thing I bought :)

Anyway, I was very pleased with my two-day stopover in Hongkong. I could realize my expectation, I could see and admire beautiful views of this city, and I managed to make good pictures (at least better than those I made 2 years ago). The only thing I missed was someone very special to me... I wished I could sit beside her while enjoying the glamorous lights of Hongkong in the promenade... Next time, my dear...

Photo collection is at Google's Picasa web album.

Chengdu, China (5 - 7 November 2007)

After a tiring trip, including 4.5 hours transit in Hongkong, I finally arrived at Chengdu. I was surprised since the airport is very big, too big for a provincial capital. But later I found out that this capital of Sichuan province is a major hub for the western part of China. Even people who want to go to Europe now fly from Chengdu, instead of Beijing. Like other big city in China (Chengdu is the 7^th biggest city in China), it has enormous population – more than 10 million people. The 1,200 sq km city (probably a bit smaller than Jakarta) is located in a basin, so it enjoys a mild 4-season weather. Not much rain, not much sunshine, not too cold, nor too hot.

The hotel where I stayed, Shangri-la, is a landmark of the city. The newly-built 35-floor building erects proudly just beside the Jianjin river that runs through the heart of the city. When I entered my room, I was amazed - this is the most luxurious hotel I have ever stayed in. My room, a standard one, is about 42 m2. Very spacious. Everything is high-quality and made of first-class materials. This is the hotel where I have ever stayed which has a wall-mounted 32-inch LCD (but I could not enjoy it because most programs are in Chinese). In short, I was treated like a king ! The hotel surely represents its name: an earthly paradise.

What I expected the most in my first trip to China was its food. Yes, I am a fan of Chinese food. And the organizer of the China-ASEAN USO Forum perfectly filled my expectation, especially during the dinner in the first day of the seminar. The banquet was conducted in a big hall. The course consists of more than 10 (yes, ten!) dishes, each was served one after another. The good thing is that Moslem participants get special halal foods which were a bit different from the main course. There are new dishes (some of them are strange food!) that I have never tried before. My favourite was roasted duck and lamb. The taste...ummm...yummy... obviously different from Chinese food in Indonesia. The hotel also provides a broad varieties of cuisine, from Chinese to western. They even serve salty fish and salty eggs. But somehow I felt that Sichuan foods are not very good for health, since most of them are hot 'n spicy, oily, and salty. Well, I don't stay forever in Sichuan, so that's fine with me...

Another nice thing about Chengdu is that it is easy to find good-looking girls. Pretty face, slim and slender, and white skin. They are everywhere: at parks, on the pedestrians, and of course in the hotel... No wonder our local tour guide boasted these flowers of the city by saying, "If you go to Chengdu now, you'll be sorry for marrying too early"... The bad thing (or was it a good thing – for me especially ?) was that most of these Chinese people (even who work in an international hotel) do not speak English fluently.

During the event we were also taken to a Sichuan opera show. It was actually a variety show; there were a number of different performances. Each performance has its own beauty, but what brought my interest was the face-changing show. Several dancers wore a colourful mask, and during their performance, they kept changing their mask, just by a sudden movement. They did not even touch the mask. I don't know whether it was purely speed or any other things. It is said that this skill is unique to Sichuan people. They did not even allow Andy Lau to learn it -- even though he is a Chinese man.

On the third day, during our field visit, we were taken to a tourist destination in the Dujiangyan city. The location is actually a water irrigation management system built by an engineer named Li Bing in the 2nd century. The system controls the flow of a river that runs through Sichuan basin, and serves two purposes. First is to prevent floods coming to Chengdu, and the second is to provide water for irrigation in the dry season. The unique thing about this system is that it is based on precise calculations of the river bed's physical condition, and the flow control is purely carried out using natural means, with minimal man-made intervention (such as dams, etc).

Okay, enough talks about Chengdu... Next: Hongkong...