Fragrant Harbor

Hong Kong, 香港, literally “fragrant harbor” in Chinese is exactly that. After landing at the airport following a nightmarish 9 and a half hour flight on Turkish Airlines (involving at least 40% of people in my vicinity including myself having broken tray tables and the staff seeming completely unconcerned), I trotted myself right along to the information counter to locate where I can apply for my Chinese visa. Upon arriving at the counter I make my one big realization. As I was packing, I wasn’t overly concerned about forgetting something small because as long as I have my passport, money, and western deodorant I can get everything else in China. I had, of course, overlooked the fact that I needed to apply for my visa in the airport; thus, my filled out application form and passport photos were sitting in my suitcase in Istanbul. Luckily, my thinking was correct and since I had my money and my passport, I was able to go get passport photos made for a couple dollars in the airport in 18 seconds (that’s what the booth advertised – Photos in just 18 seconds). A large chunk of cash and 24 hours later, I now have a Chinese visa allowing me to enter the mainland as many times as my heart desires so long as it’s before February 2012 and I don’t stay more than a month each visit.

Entering Hong Kong was surreal. I recognized almost everything from when I was here 2 years ago, and it was every bit as incredible as I remembered. Hong Kong, for those of you who have not been, is essentially 60% New York and 40% Asian Grocery Store. It’s gorgeous high-rise buildings with the smell of incense wafting up from some unseen location and the occasional blast of the odor of roasted duck. Confession – I’m leaving this afternoon to cross to the Mainland, and I have yet to have Chinese food in Hong Kong. I have had Japanese curry and Indian curry and even a chicken salad sandwich (don’t judge – I was having some serious cravings for celery which Turkey apparently does not view as a staple ingredient as I have not been able to find it anywhere). All in all, Hong Kong is very much a fragrant harbor; its streets are filled with the most incredible mixture of things from all over the world. Yesterday, I was on the hunt for a book store for research purposes (look at me dutifully pursuing what I’m supposed to rather than stuffing my face), when I came across a shop called (if memory serves me right) Voi La La. This place was a wine emporium, so I had to go in of course (psh, and there I go ruining my productivity). Hong Kong wine prices are about 25%-50% cheaper than Turkey’s so I walked around and gawked at the decently priced bottles. The shopkeeper (who, note this, speaks fluent English) comes up and asks me if I need any help. I say, “No, I’m just looking around.” Then I spy a bottle that I’d seen several times before, but had never tried. Judging by the classiness of the establishment, I took a chance and asked the guy if he’d tried it before. He said no, but that the same vineyard (Oveja Negra – the black sheep in Spanish) was on sample today. He asked me if I’d like to try it. My answer was “yes,” while in my head I was going “does a bear crap in the woods!?” I went on to sample three of the four wines available, and actually purchased a bottle of the Oveja Negra which was absolutely superb. I figured that the roughly $11 purchase was justifiable as a joint present to me and birthday present to Ben Turman with whom I extend to share the bottle in Beijing in honor of his 21st birthday which means exactly nothing in China since he’s been able to drink legally there for about 3 years and in actual practice, drink since he could see over the counter. I will check out the details on the bottle as well as the other name I wrote down from the sampling and offer them up as my erudite wine recommendations soon.

For now, I will leave you with the simple statement that Hong Kong is absolutely amazing (and far cheaper than Turkey). If you ever get the opportunity to go, you simply must because it is a world in and of itself. You can rest assured that it will be the destination of quite a few of my job applications in the coming months, until then, I’ll going to be prepping myself for my return to the mainland, the land of the Great Wall of China, the land of the Terra Cotta Warriors, the land of the Great Fire-wall of China, and the land of the Chinese Communist Party and their “Communism with Chinese characteristics” (of course those characteristics are not capitalism, they’re just lessened market controls and economic restrictions and more free flowing capital… not capitalism at all).