On to Mainland China

This morning we got a tour of Hong Kong that included parts of the city where high finance has not yet taken over the land or the way of life. We learned about how development in the city was formed in part by the location of the water front at the time of development. They keep filling in parts of the harbor, so streets that were once at water's edge are now four streets back and hidden behind skyscrapers. Our guide told us one story about how an architect was hired by one bank to create a structure that would appear threatening to the nearby building of a competing bank. We also traveled a bit on the longest outdoor escalator in the world.

Most interesting on that morning tour was the appearance of little Manila. It was Sunday, and on Sundays all of the household help for the HKers have the day off. A vast multitude of them (150,000?) are filipinas, and they all meet in the public areas and just hang out, paint their nails, and gossip about their employers. This phenomenon was described in an Economist article called "The Filipina Sisterhood".

In the afternoon we began our journey to the Mainland. We used taxi, foot, minibus, ferry, and plane to get there. There were no immigration problems or questions at any time. The Shenzen airport reminded me of the former DDR. The buildings were all well maintained, but looked like they had been built a while ago and were not the most modern anymore. Also the cafes and the tables in them just seemed outdated. We had three waiters waiting on our table at the café where we ate dinner. The prices were still airport-high, relief from Hong Kong prices would have to wait until we got to Yangshuo.

Our flight was scheduled to leave at 8:30, but was delayed for two hours because of weather, but we called our minibus pickup and were able to get to our hotel in Yangshuo after midnight.