Can You Hear Me Now

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.

Marcel Proust

On March 28, 1998, I flew from Minneapolis to Hong Kong. As with my recently published trip to Ireland, I kept a travel journal that somehow survived the years. As with Ireland, I was there to teach a class on a product I can no longer recall. That says as much about the passing of time and the degradation of my brain cells as it does about yet another Northern Telecom technology that came and went too quickly. Given the year, this may have been for some contact center agent software I helped develop, but that’s only a guess.

Sadly, I do not appear to have taken a camera on the trip, so there are no photographs to spice up the travelogue. I wish I knew why that was the case. Perhaps it was the choice between a camera bag and my cheap guitar. In hindsight, a camera would have been the smarter choice.

I know there is a photograph of my travel companion, Lee, and me standing atop Victoria Peak. It’s somewhere in my house, but I have been unable to find it — yet another reason why I need to do some serious decluttering.

In lieu of photographs, I do have a few postcards I brought back with me. I will scan and scatter among the text. That will not be the Hong Kong I experienced firsthand, but it’s the best I can do.

The following journal has been lightly edited for grammar and spelling errors. Unlike 2026, 1998 did not have technology that did that for me. Other than those few changes, these are my impressions as they came to me all those years ago.

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Saturday

Hong Kong: the Fragrant Harbor.

Here I am again. It will take a while before I truly appreciate the length of this flight (which, by the way, has been extended by at least an hour because of an unscheduled fuel stop in Anchorage — strong head winds are predicted — so much for a nonstop flight). Still, I am not going to complain. Not one bit. There is nothing I can do about it, so I might as well settle back and enjoy all 16 and one-half hours of being stuck on an airplane. Anyway, I’ve always wanted to go to Alaska and I think I will get a few more frequent flier miles. Small favors.

It was not easy saying goodbye this morning. Spring has finally sprung here in the frozen north and I am looking forward to getting out of the house. I want to get out and throw a baseball back and forth with the boys. I want to go on long walks down the streets of Saint Paul. I have a wonderful porch off the back of the house that we shut down for the winter. I am looking forward to opening it up and having dinner out there again.

Oh well, I know it will all be there when I return, but it’s too bad that I have to miss the first week of nice weather.

My seatmate is an interesting guy. He works for a ceramics company and flies to China for buying trips.

We are now somewhere in Northwestern Canada. On these really long flights there is a TV channel (in business class we get our own private 10+ channel TVs) that shows a map of the world with a little plane representing our position. It helps to periodically see where we are and how far we’ve gone.

Right now I am waiting for a movie to start. Not a lot of good stuff on this flight today — two shoot-em-ups and a documentary on Ireland. The Irish thing sounds good, but I will wait until the Anchorage to Hong Kong leg of the flight to watch it. Something called “Peacemaker” is starting now. Never heard of it, but I will give it a few minutes to see what it’s like. Oh great! The credits aren’t even over and someone was just shot and killed. And we wonder why those two boys in Arkansas did what they did. Who are we kidding when we pretend how shocked we are?

I brought a guitar with me on this trip. My cheap guitar. The one I bought for $25 from a deaf man in Tempe. I wonder what American blues (played by this here white boy) sounds like from a Hong Kong hotel room?

I am so tired, but I can’t decide if it’s best to stay awake or get a little sleep. By my calculations, I will be arriving in Hong Kong around 5:00 a.m. Minnesota time (7:00 p.m. Hong Kong time). By the time I get to the hotel it will probably be around 8:30 – 9:00. Since I woke up at 6:00 a.m. that means I will be awake for more than 24 hours. Hmmm. Maybe sleep would be a good idea .

Sunday

I am in my hotel room now. I was too tired to write anything from Anchorage onward. With the stop for refueling my trip took nearly 19 hours! Consequently, I am beat. It’s about 11:00 p.m. Sunday night here in Hong Kong. I hope to wake up adjusted to the 14-hour time difference and ready to face the world.

Monday Morning

It was a restless night. I was too tired to mention this yesterday, but I met a coworker in the Hong Kong airport and before settling into my room we went for a quick dinner. I would just have soon gone to bed, but he seemed to really want to do this. Rui, who will act as my host here in Hong Kong, flew in from California. Anyway, I didn’t crawl into bed and turn off the light until midnight. What with being buzzed from the long flight and the fact that it was 10:00 in the morning Minnesota time, I tossed and turned all night long. In fact, it’s only 5:45 a.m. now — I gave up trying to pretend to sleep.

I haven’t seen much of Hong Kong yet, but from the ride from the airport to the hotel I had a little taste. Lots of big buildings. Lots and lots of neon lights.

This is a city that exists on three levels. There are tunnels under the ground. There are surface roads. There are elevated roads and walkways that rise above the ground. This being an island, there isn’t that much space to work with. Every square inch appears to be precious.

They drive on the left side of the road (all that British influence, I suppose). Driving in Ireland was complicated enough. There is no way I will attempt to drive here! People weave in and out of traffic like a plate of spaghetti!

I went to the restroom at the restaurant. They have people who work in them handing you towels and such. What a job. I did not have any Hong Kong money so I couldn’t tip the man. I tried to explain that to him, but I don’t think he spoke much English.

Speaking of English, it’s everywhere. Other than the occasional restroom man, I don’t think I will have a problem communicating around here.

I am going to try and get a few more minutes of rest. I don’t expect to sleep, but I need to pretend that my body is completely adjusted to the time zone. I expect that tomorrow will be just fine. Already, this is better than when I was in Australia.

Monday Afternoon

I did a little exploring this morning and on into the afternoon. I began my journey with a stroll through Victoria Park. It’s a lovely park filled with bamboo, exotic birds, turtle ponds and lots of older people doing their Tai Chi exercises.

There are lots of rules here in Hong Kong. I saw signs that said “No Sitting,” “No Kites” and my favorite, “No Spitting.” At the first few intersections I stopped and watched what the locals did about red lights. I read how in Singapore you can get arrested for jaywalking so I didn’t want to take any chances until I figured out what was what. Well, I’ll tell you, it’s jaywalk city around here! You go with the flow or risk getting run down.

I was armed with a map of the area, but I still had trouble finding my way around. There is no such thing as a straight road around here. They twist and turn like a crazy modern dance. My time in Ireland taught me to look on the sides of buildings and forget about ever trying to find a street sign. That helped a lot, but still I managed to get confused more than once. I did stop to ask a policeman where I was on my map, but even he wasn’t sure!

I stopped in a Buddhist temple (I forget the name). It was beautiful. Lots of dragons. Lots of red silk. Lots and lots and lots of burning incense. In fact, they had coils of incense that would have been at least ten feet long if you could unroll them. I have no idea as to how old it was, but it appeared to be ancient.

The smell of Hong Kong is something else. It’s a combination of the smell of a shipping town mingled with the ever-present scents of food. There are little food vendors everywhere. There isn’t a nook or cranny on any street that isn’t too small to open up a shop and sell everything from noodle bowls to things I couldn’t begin to describe. I have seen more unidentifiable animal body parts hanging from ceilings than I ever expected to see. It appears that the bird flu scare is a thing of the past, as there certainly isn’t a shortage of chickens around here.

I am in need of a nap. Last night’s lack of sleep is wearing heavily on me. A couple of hours of shuteye will do me a world of good.

Several hours later…

I’m still not there, yet. I feel as if I have enough energy to get me through the rest of the day and wake up on Hong Kong time. I am so happy that I don’t have to do this on a regular basis. That would be murder.

Here’s a little bit of Chinese weirdness for you. I stopped into a Tower Records this morning to look at the CD’s. With one big exception, the pop and rock section is exactly how you might find one anywhere in the U.S. That exception is a big one, though. In America we would file John Lennon in the L’s and Judy Collins in the C’s. Here in Hong Kong they are both in the J section. Instead of filing by last name, they file by first. Strange.

It always disturbs me to see how many Asians smoke cigarettes. I first encountered that in Hawaii where practically every Japanese tourist smoked. It’s pretty bad here, too. Young and old, men and women, they all seem to light up. They have the same sort of warning signs that we have (“Smoking causes cancer”), but not many seem to care.

There don’t seem to be many signs that the communists now control Hong Kong. Capitalism rules everywhere you go. I am told that very little has changed since the British left. You won’t see any Chinese flags on the island. I did hear that the newspapers are more controlled, though, but that’s not something a tourist would notice. I was also told that it is harder to get from the mainland to Hong Kong than it is to get from the United States to here. They are supposedly very selective about the Chinese people they allow into the city.

The view out my hotel window is a real study in the Hong Kong landscape. Straight out I see three high-rise slum buildings. They are a very dirty gray and many have clothes hanging out the windows. Rising above the slums is a mountain dotted with luxury homes. To the left are new, modern, high-rise businesses. To the right are Causeway Bay and the Royal Yacht Club.

Here’s another strange sight. There are many clothing stores near my hotel, but I have yet to see anything but Caucasian mannequins and advertisements in the windows. A non-Asian face on the street is a rarity, yet all of their symbols of fashion and glamor are white westerners.

On the streets it is not uncommon to see girls and young women holding hands with each other. A couple of times I saw young boys doing it, but it is much more rare. Rui tells me that in his Shanghai homeland it is just as common with the boys as it is with the girls.

Tuesday

Today was a very full day. I met with Rui and Lee (from our Texas office) for breakfast early in the morning and the day went till 10:00 at night. Considering that Monday night’s sleep was quite restless, I managed pretty well. I began to fall apart around 8:30 in the evening, but all in all I was pleased with how I handled things.

After work I went with Rui and Lee on a little sightseeing journey. We began our adventure in the lobby of Rui’s hotel. The view across the harbor is spectacular. Most impressive was the Hong Kong Convention Center. The center is situated right on the shore and has a look very similar to that of the Sydney Opera House. I was told it was originally built to house the events surrounding the passage of Hong Kong from British control back to the Chinese.

We took a taxi to the base of Victoria Peak and from there rode a cable car to the top of a mountain that overlooks Hong Kong and the mainland. The view from atop is simply spectacular. We were up there for a few hours exploring three sides of the mountaintop. To the west was the South China Sea. Although it was misty across the ocean we could see several of the islands that lie off the coast of Hong Kong Island. To the north and east were the Kowloon Peninsula and Hong Kong Bay.

The daytime view was incredible, but the nighttime view takes the breath away. To see the lights of this magnificent city is to really see Hong Kong. It’s like Christmas and the 4th of July all spread across miles of rugged volcanic shoreline. The juxtaposition of this modern city intermingled with the water and mountains is the sight of Hong Kong. I have been in many big cities before, but none have the grandeur of this landscape.

Long after the sun had set Rui took us on another Hong Kong “must do” — a double-decker bus. We, of course, rode on the top level (or saloon as they say around here) with the windows wide open. We rode the bus down the winding road from the top of the peak to the center of town. All in all it was about a 20 minute ride. I had a grand time.

We were on our way to dinner when I began to lose it. The day had gone on a few minutes too long and my head was beginning to fog and all I wanted to find was the nearest bed. Lee was feeling it too, so Rui pointed us in the direction of the nearest subway, armed us with enough knowledge to not get too terribly lost and we took the underground passage back to our hotel.

Food —

So, you think you know Chinese food? Do you think of bowls of steamed white rice and fortune cookies? Do images of stir-fry wok dishes come to mind? Think again, my friend. What you know is American Chinese food. You would be shocked to learn what “real” Chinese food is like.

My Chinese hosts have treated me to several meals. Each time I have been amazed by my ignorance. Here is a smattering of some of the items that have shown up on our table these past several days.

Roast pigeon (with the heads still attached)
Goose with strips of octopus
Bird’s nest soup (made from the saliva of a form of Chinese sparrow)
Duck baked in with mashed taro (a root vegetable similar to a potato)
Lotus root soup
A hot broth made with toad gelatin (believe it or not, this was a dessert)
Watermelon juice
Fluorescent green spinach soup

And those are only the dishes I could get them to translate. There were a couple that did not have an English description. Either that or they were afraid to tell me what it was.

I have always prided myself on being open-minded about food. Here in China, I feel awkward and slightly embarrassed. I have been very polite about each meal and have thanked my hosts profusely for sharing their culture with me, but I always leave the table hungry. I honestly don’t like the taste of most of what is placed before me. It’s different — very different. They use spices my American palate is unaccustomed to. They prepare foods I hope to never become accustomed to. I could not bring myself to eat the toad dessert and pigeon is definitely an acquired taste.

Eating is always “family style.” Everyone eats from the same dishes. And I don’t simply mean that we serve ourselves from the same bowls and platters. We literally take our chopsticks and eat from the same plates that everyone else at the table is eating from. There are no serving spoons like you would see in an American Chinese restaurant.

Also, there is no soy sauce. I asked why and they looked at me with a “what is that” look. After I described what it is, only one person at the table knew what I was talking about as she spent some time in Canada.

By the way, they tell me that fortune cookies are strictly American and I have yet to have a bowl of white rice.

Yes, they do drink tea. Lots of it. This is not the Lipton stuff. This is the real thing. Strong, bitter Chinese tea served in tiny white porcelain cups.

Thursday

Note: It appears that I did not write anything on Wednesday.

Last night they decided to take it easy on me. We had, of all things, Mexican food. The place was packed. I suppose even the Chinese people get tired of toad broth and pigeon heads.

The nights here in Hong Kong are something to see. The businesses are all lit up with neon lights and there are thousands upon thousands of people on the streets. This is a nightlife city. This is the time when people socialize on the streets and in the little shops. Many stay open till 1:00 and 2:00 in the morning. I haven’t stayed up late enough to see it, yet, but I am told that around 12:00 is when the street vendors come out. These are the guys who sell the $5 Rolex watches. Illegal by day, but ignored late at night, it’s a bargain hunter’s paradise. Tonight, no matter what, I intend to stay up and see it for myself.

I learned that the dirty, gray buildings outside my hotel are not slums after all. The rooms inside are often quite luxurious. In America, a townhouse association maintains the outside of a building while the owners maintain the inside. Here in Hong Kong they have no such associations and consequently no one cares for the outside appearance of these huge structures. What might look like a slum to me is more accurately very expensive, inner city housing.

Friday

I actually slept till the alarm went off this morning. It shocked me. After a week of being up hours beforehand, it was odd to wake up to the buzz.

I still haven’t done that much tourist shopping yet. I bought tee shirts for the boys, but little else. This part of Hong Kong is not a tourist area. People live and work here. The tourists are on the other half of the island or across the bay in Kowloon. That’s good and bad. Good in that it feels more “real” and bad in that I haven’t found any trinkets to shower the folks back home with.

Okay, time to prepare for my final day. I have a morning’s worth of teaching and then I’m free. I enjoy a place best when I can wander freely. I hope today is that day. Monday doesn’t count. I wasn’t wandering, I was stumbling around in a fog.

Later…

Lunch was the first Chinese meal I really enjoyed. We had Dim Sum (“light snacks”) — plate after plate of food. I liked most everything. Well, not exactly everything. I passed on the jellyfish.

Class ended early so Lee, Vimal (a Nortel trainer from Singapore), and I took a taxi to the other side of Hong Kong island for an afternoon of exploration. We began our adventure in a place called Stanley Market. Definitely a tourist trap, Stanley Market is row after row of tiny shops selling everything from silk underwear to pornographic figurines. I am not one for buying this stuff, but I must admit that I love to look at it. I did manage to find a small turtle for Connie.

From Stanley Market we took a bus to Repulse Bay. Named for the British navy repulsing of the pirates who once dominated the area (or so I am told), Repulse Bay is a beautiful stretch of beach along the South China Sea. The Chinese name for Repulse Bay is Tsin Shui Bay. There are two meanings — Shallow water and Bay of a Thousand Years.

I, of course, walked to the water and ran my hand through it. I cannot come this far without touching the ocean at least once.

The most outstanding attraction is a large collection of monuments to Buddha and other Chinese gods and goddesses. I borrowed a pen from Vimal and took the following notes from the English inscriptions on the marble plaques that accompanied the statues.

Kuan Yin was one of two immense statues. She is considered the goddess of mercy.

Tin Hau was the second of the two immense statues. Tin Hau had two explanations. She is both the queen of heaven and the goddess of lifesaving.

Kun Hei Fat Choi — the god of wealth. It is customary to run your hands along this statue, touch your purse or wallet and pray for money. Lee and Vimal were not interested, but not being one to pass up a free ride through life, I did it twice.

Tai Ping Shan — the tiger dragon.

The old man of the moon. Lovers come to this statue to tie crimson strings around his legs. These strings ensure a long and happy marriage. I brought neither string nor someone to tie one on with.

Dragon Emperor — the ocean monarch. This dragon had five and not four talons.

There are hundreds of sticks of burning incense here. People bring it as an offering.

I bought a collection of six smiling Buddhas. I can now rub Buddha’s belly anytime I desire.

By following the stairs up one level we came upon the meeting hall of the International Rescue Society. This was a fascinating collection of photographs and plaques from the Society. It was truly an odd place for such a meeting hall, but I found it enjoyable, nonetheless. There were pictures of the Queen Mum, Prince Charles, Lord Admiral Mountbatten and scores of other famous members of the society.

We took the bus back to the nearest subway station and found our way back to the hotel for a brief rest before the night’s entertainment.

A few words about the subway system are in order. This is mass transit at its best. It’s clean, efficient and cheap. I was able to get all over the city for less than a dollar U.S. In a city where few own cars, the plentiful, cheap taxis (we were able to drive completely across the island for about $10 U.S.), buses and subway make cars unnecessary.

Of all of my nights in Hong Kong, Friday night was my favorite. We began the evening with a trolley ride through the heart of the city. You need to see these trolleys to truly appreciate them. About half the width of a city bus, they ride thin rails back and forth across the city. We, of course, rode in the upper saloon.

It’s important to keep your hands inside as you travel down the road. The trolley coming the opposite direction passes so close you could reach out and touch it if you dared.

To see the lights of a Hong Kong night from one of these ancient pieces of public transportation is a Hong Kong must do! From my second story window seat I saw more neon lights in one hundred feet than I’ve seen in the past five years. They are everywhere — on the buildings and overhanging the street itself. This Christmas light loving boy was in electric heaven.

We finished the evening with a pleasant dinner, many laughs, a stroll down to the subway and an underground ride back to the hotel.

As with any journey, I am always happy to be on my way home. I feel blessed that I was able to see this part of the world. Not many Americans will ever have this opportunity.

I take back with me the memories of a vibrant city and friendly hospitality. I thank Rui for making things go so smoothly and taking time to show me the city. I thank Pamela, Cordelia and Christina for sharing so much of the Chinese way of life with me. My trip would not have been nearly as special without these wonderful people.

Safely see me home again.

Epilogue

I am thankful I took the time to write these travelogues and even more thankful that two survived. I have memories of my work trips to Australia, France, and Hawaii, and the two trips back to Ireland, but most of the details have faded with time. My Hong Kong and Ireland journals are gifts from a younger Andrew to this much older incarnation, and rereading them takes me back to Galway and the top of Victoria Peak. Despite the messes I made during my nearly 70 years (or because of them), I have led a blessed life.

Who knows if and when I will travel outside the United States again, but if I do, I hope I have enough sense to take notes. And if I do, I expect that they will wind up here in Can You Hear Me Now.

Thank you for reading!

The sun shines through the curtains
making a strip of light across the room
your side
my side

Like the two halves of a coin
we are separate
yet forever joined