Bike Free in Hong Kong

We said our blog was finished, but so many people wrote and asked us to continue our travel tales, we decided to do an occasional entry.

After spending a month in Odessa, Ukraine resting, shipping our bikes back home, working out logistics for the next five months in China, and seeing how Ukrainians do things (wow!), we headed to Hong Kong to get our Chinese Visas. We've been here a week doing the visa dance (hopefully we're making headway), and really enjoying this bustling city-state.


 

Neon City Lights of Downtown Hong Kong



Hong Kong is truly an amazing place. It might be the most organized, best run, cleanest, most exciting, and diverse metropolitan place we've ever been. And all of its positive attributes are magnified ten fold with our having just come from Eastern Europe. We arrived here and were walking through the airport saying “wow, look how clean it all is.” And “wow, look at everyone smiling.” The sights and sounds and smells are simply amazing. Things like an entire island filled with modern high rise buildings that make Manhattan look downright provincial. A city with a seemingly brand new bus and subway system, all clean, all air conditioned, and all extremely efficient. Blocks and blocks of fancy designer shops that have a man in a suit at the entrance, only allowing a certain number of people in at a time, and a line outside waiting for permission to enter. This is juxtaposed with those same modern skyscrapers having scaffolding made out of bamboo. OK, bamboo might be strong, but it is built 75 stories into the air! And I wouldn't be worried about the bamboo, but the lashings that hold all these sticks together looks like its just twine!



Masses of people eating bowls of noodles

 

Five blocks away from the Guicci and Armani stores are the traditional markets. These are streets that have nearly every square inch crammed full of little booths selling everything from Chairman Mao little red books and traditional Chinese shirts and fans, to watches and cds and everything in between. A typical interaction at a stall would go as follows:

Amy: she picks up a bracelet to look at

Hawker: “Very beautiful on you, only $180” Hong Kong Dollar, about $30 US Dollar

Amy: “ok thanks”

Hawker: “ how much you pay?”

Amy: now leaving..”I was just looking”

Hawker: “for you, only $130”

Amy: now just walking away slowly

Hawker: “ok, ok, $50”

Amy: getting farther away, and almost out of sight

Hawker.” ok ok $7, you take $7”

It's hilarious. And fun. Yeah, we bought some stuff, feeling proud at how we were able to talk them down. And they're thinking “can you believe those Americans paid $20 for that painting?” Brian also got a pair of pants that were tailored on the spot with the hawker's portable sewing machine. It's a hoot. And claustrophobic. It is just a sea of Chinese people here. But they are so nice, polite, healthy looking, and slow. Really, really slow walkers. We're in a booming and bustling city, except without the bustle. If we're walking down the street, it feels like we're at a grandmother's convention. People in Fargo, North Dakota move quicker. Amy thinks it is because it is so hot (really, really hot and humid) that they walk slow enough that they don't break a sweat. It's as good a guess as any. We're on vacation, with no place to go and walking along (barely moving) and thinking “goodness gracious, how could anyone move this slow.” It's amusing, very nice, and quite idiosyncratic.



Where's Amy??

And of course, there is the food. It starts with the smells. There are so many little restaurants, all open to the outside with the huge variety of smells coming blasting out of each shop, all mixing together, and making a smell that is uniquely Hong Kong. Some cities smell like garbage or sewage, some smell like car exhaust, Hong Kong smells like Chinese food. The décor of the restaurants is as drab as the food is spectacular; homemade noodles and soups, and meats, some recognizable and some not. It's almost like “where do we start.” Every day we go to a new noodle shop, which is not hard with at least 15 per block. There are fresh buns filled with coconut or shredded pork. There are ducks, geese, pigeons, bbq spareribs, and intestines hanging in the windows, which are all steamy from the pots of brown bubbling liquid on the other side. There are people, heads bowed down, shoveling rice into their mouths with chopsticks. It is a sight to behold and is simply fantastic. And since this was a British colony until 1997, nearly everything is bilingual, so we don't have to get the pork livers in our big bowl of noodles if we don't want to. However, as much as we've liked the food, our bellies have had a little bit of an adjustment. It is gurgle city down there. Lets just say that the peanut butter sandwich we had today was a blessing. And, it's the first peanut butter we've been able to find since we arrived in Europe in April! Hong Kong has the most foreign tastes we have found, and yet the most access to western food when we want it.



Enjoying the first of many plates of noodles and milk tea



We're keeping our fingers crossed that we get our Chinese visas tomorrow, and are granted permission to enter mainland China. It's easy to enter as a tourist, not so easy to enter to work. We're already late for our school training, but as our boss said about the visa rigamarole “welcome to China.” We've been told from others that just came from mainland China that it is nothing like Hong Kong. We'll soon see. If you are ever flying to Australia or New Zealand and can make a stop over in Hong Kong, do it. A day or two spent here is definitely worth doing. (And that is coming from two country bumpkins who live in a town of 500 people!)



Stunning High-Rise Island of Hong Kong



The End of the Road (for us)

Well, it is the end of our bike tour for now. We went from San Diego, California to Washington D.C. in the United States, and from the southern tip of Portugal, across Europe to Odessa, Ukraine on the Black Sea. We cycled over 7,000 miles; we were on our bikes and in our tent for 170 days; we visited 11 states and 8 European countries.

Our next adventure is to go to China to teach English to teenagers for the next five months. We fly to China on August 12th and have a contract with a recruiting agency, so we don't know which small town in China we will be teaching in until the conclusion of our week long Chinese training and are fit with an appropriate school.  We had the most amazing experiences during the last six months, and yet cannot wait for this next part of our world journey to begin.

This is the end of our blog. Here is a little chronological collage of images that will stay with us most vividly from our bicycle journey.

Dusty California road side.

Gorgeous desert camping

Arizona canyonland

Single digit temperatures in New Mexico - riding in every piece of clothing we have.

Texas wide open spaces

Indulging in famous Texas BBQ

Louisiana Swampland

Eating Cajun crawfish boil with the locals

Officially the deep south over the Alabama state line

General stores like this Alabama one all over the South

Working at 100 year old Falls Mill in Tennessee

Crossing the Appalacians

Hilly Tennessee farmland

Even hillier Portugese terrain

Whitewashed Portugese village

Water fountain in Portugal = drinking water for cyclists

Tiny mud-brick Spanish village

Price fixed menus including a bottle of wine in Spain

Abundant fruit and veg stall



A shepherd with his flock

A bus stop nap to beat the heat in Spain

All time favorite camping spot - high up on the French side of the Pyrenees

French town in the Pyrenees

Abundance in the abundant French bakeries

Good hearty German grub

Riverside riding and the beautiful city of Regensburg Germany

Mini groceries in Czech Republic

Visiting Auchwitz in Poland

Women walking their cows in Ukraine

The prevalent use of horse and cart for transportation in Ukraine

The "roads" of Ukraine

The Ukraine

Day 170,  Mile 7,167


Typical Ukrainian road

 We are currently in Odessa, Ukraine on the Black Sea, taking a break, reflecting on our trip, and catching a much needed breath after almost six months of bicycle travel.  Our ride through the Ukrainian hinterlands was more on the "adventure" side of bicycle touring, and less on the "sit in a cafe and sip a coffee" side of bicycle touring.

Women driving cows in the rain

Entering Ukraine: Like previous border crossings, we were amazed at the difference of all aspects of life immediatley upon leaving Poland and crossing into Ukraine.  As a sidenote, it was quite satisfying when the border guards ordered us to the front of the line, past the 200 jabbing, pushing, and yelling Ukrainian women, arms full of boxes of sneakers they crossed the border into Poland to obtain.  We got some evil looks as we wheeled our bicycles past them, but it was a relief to not have to push an old lady to the ground to keep our space in line (she surely would have knocked us down!)  As soon as we crossed through the gates, a different world opened up.  The pouring rain was the same (our 30th day of rain out of the last 37 days!), but the whole atmosphere and feel of our world changed.  Poland is by no means a rich nation, but wow, we did not realize that Ukraine is a third world country.

Horse drawn carts were the norm in villages

Crumbling Infrastructure: As bicycle travelers, the first thing we noticed was the crumbling roads.  When we looked ahead, all we saw were water filled potholes.  The roads were all twice as wide as originally designed, because cars would just drive on the grass shoulders to avoid the immense density of holes.  They would weave in and out of holes, drive on the wrong side of the road, even drive on the wrong shoulder, barreling right at us at 70 miles an hour.  It was crazy, but we actually got used to it.  We'd be passed on the right, on the left, by horse and buggies coming one way, and a coal truck coming the other.  Downhills were even slower than the ups because we just had to grip our brakes as we descended, trying to control our speed lest we find ourselves being slammed into ruts and holes.  Wow, it was amazing and almost indescribable, but we certainly didn't fault the Ukrainians.  There is so little here, and certainly no extra funds for repairing roads.


This was once a cement bus stop bench


The crumbling continued with all of the concrete.  It seems that everything was once made of concrete, but it has not been maintained since the Soviets left 20 years ago.  Whether it's buildings, curbs, bus stop shelters, benches, or stores, they are literally crumbling before the Ukrainian's eyes.  It looks like things used to be better, but there has just been no maintinence. We tried to take pictures of it, but without seeing the full surroundings, the buildings and parks and towns don't look too bad. They're in sad shape. Trust me.

Stikingly common Lenin statue

A Land of Contrasts: Despite the nearly universal crumbling infrastructure,  the statues of Lenin are still standing tall and clean.  We were sure that these would have all been removed by now, but alas, they are not.  Also, standing tall over the houses are the freshly painted and gold or silver topped churches.  These onion  dome topped houses of worship were absolutely amazing. Bright blue buildings with gold tops sparkling in the sun. Maybe the Catholic church could help with some other parts of people's lives?? 

Beautiful churches were in every town

The other odd contrast in this crumbling country is the amazing outfits people are wearing.  Picture going through a town, chickens are running around, there's cow poop all through the streets, mud puddles everywhere, and all the young women are walking around in mini skirts and high heels.  Or in the city, from a tenament apartment building that you would think would just cave in on itself, out walks a young lady looking like she's living in Las Vegas.  She walks down the street, avoiding the blowing garbage, and gets on a bus that was built 50 years ago, and heads to a job somewhere.





They don't have running water, but the villagers all had wells,
which were our regular source of water 



And, of course there is horse & buggy and Mercedes dichotomy.  Here we'd be, riding our bikes along through a village that hasn't changed in fifty years.  They're getting water from a well with a metal pail, and a woman and man are driving their horse and buggy to the field to pick potatoes, she's in a smock, he in wool pants, moving at 5 miles an hour.  Then racing by in the opposite direction would be a Mercedes, with a cell phone talking driver going sixty miles an hour.  It literally looks like landlords and serfs of a hundred years ago.



Seemingly lawless city driving

They may not have much, but they do have time: The amazing poverty that was on full display in both the countryside and small cities we traveled through was hard to see, but living in the countryside actually looked less desperate than in the larger towns.  Everyone had HUGE gardens.  I mean no square inch of land that they own is unplanted.  Potatoes, beets, cabbages, and other hearty storeable vegetables took up most of the space.  We were told that most Ukrainians in the countryside live on $100 per month. 

The Cryllic alphabet added another element to navigation

What we witnessed was like going back in time.  People would literally wake up at 6AM, walk their cows to some distant field, stay with the cows all day, and walk them home again around 9PM.  This is not one or two people doing this,  but rather nearly every household had a cow watcher.  Little old ladies would be walking behind their cows with a switch in their hand, or sitting under a tree watching them eat.  ALL DAY!  I guess they're like shepherds, but with cows.  We'd see the milk from the cows the next morning.  There would be big jugs sitting on the road waiting to be picked up and dumped into the milk truck. (Did I mention it was 90 degrees?)  And then other people in the house would be sitting on the benches that are in front of each of their homes, watching whatever passed them on road.  We'd go through a village, and there lining the streets would be two dozen people, just watching us go by.  We'd see little old women sitting on the side of the road selling jars of raspberries.  They, too, would be out all day.  If they sold all their jars, they'd bring in about $5.  The Ukrainians don't have much, but they do have time.  I guess five dollars is five dollars, no matter how long it takes to get it.

The plains of Ukraine planted with wheat

The Countryside: The riding through the countryside was quite beautiful, if not easy.  It was great to see the land open back up again, after densly populated Poland.  We rode through the vast Ukrainian plains, which looked remarkably like the American West.  They're flat on top, we but found out the hard way that they are also regularly bisected with deep river valleys.  Up and down we went, but the skies were blue, the heat was on, and the views were grand in scale. 

Our lovely little Odessa studio apartment

Odessa, it's a different world here: And now we're in Odessa.  We actually took a train the last 200 miles to this city.  It's our first public transport since our plane to Portugal.  Ukraine was tough, but we did not just set out to see the French cafes of the world.  We wanted to see all that lay in our path from West to East as we traversed North America, and Europe.  Odessa is not technically the end of Europe, but on all the maps of Europe we've seen, it is the last city.  And what a city! It is stunning.  It is absolutely mind boggling that this city is in the same country (or on the same continent) as the rest of Ukraine.  It is beautiful, the buildings are spectacular, there are tourists walking around, grocery stores, and restaurants, none of which we saw at all in the hundreds of kilometeres we peddaled across the country.  There is certainly poverty here, but there are also people making it and thriving.  It is clear that tourism certainly has its benefits to the locals. We have rented an apartment here for a month and will stay to rest up, enjoy the city and its food vendors and sea-side beaches, and plan what we are going to do next.  We'd love to hear from you.  Drop us a line and let us know what is happening in your world.

Across Poland

Day 160, Mile: 6,784



Mini groceries - no self-service here

 We ended our last update with the warm welcome we got when we entered Poland.  The hospitality of the Polish people has continued to impress us all across the country.  It is really something else to traverse a country and to come away with general impressions.  Concerning the Polish, they are warm and welcoming and insist on being gracious and giving presents.  Really, they insist.  If we ask someone who is standing in their driveway for water, they will also give us food, or an extra bottle of water.  When we try to communicate that we have no room for another 2 liter bottle of bubbly water, they simply won't take it back.  So we strap it on the back of our racks and ride away. 



Traditional haystacks



We realized after we recieved presents from the Librarians we met upon entering the country, that they actually went out and purchased bread, vodka, and a basket of nectarines for us.  Likewise when we left our evening host's house, she went out in the morning and purchased more food items than I could ever list here.  Even our current internet use came from Polish hospitalisty.  The library was closed, but they opened it up for us!  The Polish are delightful, end of story. 





Russian style church



 That being said, the actual bike touring was absolutely dreadful.  The section of Poland that we traversed was full of industry (think raw materials) and speeding cars and coal trucks.  As hard as we tried, we just couldn't shake them.  It really was too dangerous to be riding these roads.  As cars would come barreling upon us (from either direction), I would either say "careful," for Amy to hold on, or "get off!," to jump off the road.  I'm writing this trying to describe just how amazingly agressive and fast and irresponsible the drivers were, and it is just impossible to convey it.  On each day we had a great indidual experience (food, people, etc), but when 90% of the day is spent dodging death, it makes for a trying week.  We even considered hopping a train to get out of the country, but in the end we made it. Whew!



Auschwitz



The most memorable day was our visit to the Auschwitz location and museum. It is eery to be at the actual spot where such horrific things took place. We don't usually visit museums, but this was an experience. Our Polish guide was excellent at conveying the life of the Polish, Jewish and other prisoners. It is actually hard to believe that the Polish people still live and work in the town of Oswiecim, where the death camp is located. All of it is preserved and about 90 percent of the original buildings and barbed wire is still standing. It was haunting.  And, even more incredible is that the town's main industry is still the chemical plant that was built with slave labor from the camp.  Today!  Still in operation!

Traditional transportation

As we rode farther and farther east in the country, there we still lots of houses and crazy drivers, but they would be juxtiposed with a farmer driving a horse drawn cart full of milk cans out for delivery.  We saw HUGE gardens (mostly potatoes) that are clearly feeding the people for the year.  We saw men hand scything the edge of their land, and whole familys out using pitchforks to create the classic haystacks. 



Farmer cutting grass for his animals

 We'd see women shoveling coal into their house, and the smell of it burning permeated the air the whole day. We also saw many, many stumbling drunk men.  We saw daughters holding up their fathers; we saw groups of scary men loudly drunk.  We heard people throwing up in the street, and we actually broke down our camp late one night, which we unwisely put in a town park.  We went to the police station and they found us another place to be.



Apartments in unmaintained building

 One last highlite was the food.  Specifically, Pirogies.  These little Polish dumpings, with different fillings including potato, cheese, spinach, cabbage, or meat are a delight.  What's more, these are a part of Amy's traditional Christmas dinner as she comes from Polish stock.  They were fantastic, we got plates and plates and plates of them (for two bucks, how can you not) and we're going to get one more plate tonight.



Busy pedestrian street of Przemysl
(mysteriously pronounced "Sheemish")



 The old and the new.  The kindness of the women and the intimidating appearance of the men.  The beautiful old architecture of churches and the Communist era apartment buildings. These were all a part of our experience through Poland. We're now safe and six miles from the Ukrainian border, which we will enter tomorrow.  If this was 1989, we would be 6 miles from the Soviet Union, which sounds sexier, but since the breakup of the Soviet Union, we now have more country options to cross!  Regardless, things are getting more and more different the further East we go, and from stories we've heard, we anticipate quite a production crossing the Ukrainian border on bicycles. This is allowed in only a few places as at most crossings the border guards need to write down a car license number.  No license plate, no crossing.  Wish us luck!