Going to Hong Kong for a visa

View of Hong Kong island from Kowloon.

Recently me and Loida had to go to Hong Kong to get tourist visas for China. Not really sure why... but our company paid for it, so I didn't really mind. Loida had to go back home to the Philippines so she was just there for the first day.

The first day was a long one. We left our apartments about 5:00 in the morning and took a taxi to a hotel with a shuttle bus. We ended up taking another taxi to the airport because the shuttle didn't leave for another 30 minutes. From the Zhengzhou airport we flew to Shenzhen, China (very pleasant flight I must add. One of the nicest I have had in a long while). From the Shenzhen airport we took a bus to the border. Shenzhen seemed like a completely different place to me from the rest of China. I hardly saw any scooters. The air was really clear too. It was so weird.

Once at the border, we walked across and went through customs, then took the metro in Hong Kong. Our goal was getting to church, so we took the metro to the closest station to it. Church was wonderful even though we were an hour late. It just so happened that the time we went at was when a Filipino branch met. Convenient for Loida. She was able to talk to others in Tagalog. As for me; besides the missionaries, I was the only guy there, and the only non-Filipino. Kind of weird. Travel to the other end of China and feel like I am in the Philippines.

Going up the elevator for church. The building had chapels on the 1st, 2nd and 6th floors.

The church building was wonderful. We were told that it was the second most expensive building the LDS church has built (the conference center being the most expensive). Property cost I am quite sure is the reason it is so expensive. It was a wonderful building to be in! At times I could pretend I was in Utah because the design and interior is very similar to all the other church buildings being built.

After church, we stayed to eat dinner with the rest of the branch. We had a great time talking to people and were just happy to be in an actual church building.

Not sure what a bunch of Cantonese speaking Elders were doing with a handful of Filipino ladies for dinner.... perhaps missionary work has changed some. 

This was a member missionary who really didn't want to be dancing. If it looks like he is on the verge of tears, I think that is because he probably was.

After dinner, we walked around to see some of Hong Kong (up to this point, we really had not seen anything since we went straight to church). Hong Kong was so nice. People seemed very friendly, and most people spoke English quite well. The city was relatively clean. The non-smoking sections actually didn't have people smoking (I was surprised however to see so many women smoking in Hong Kong). It is also a place definitely catered to tourists.

On the Hong Kong island looking out to Kowloon.

After walking around for a bit, we had to go back near the church so that Loida could take a bus to the airport. I went and looked for a cheap place to spend the night.

The LDS church building at night. The second most expensive church building in the world (or so I was told).

The street right in front of the church. The church was conveniently across the street from the place I needed to go to get my visa.

After walking around for a long time and trying to avoid all the tourist traps, I finally realized that I would either have to stay in an expensive hotel, or just let one of the Indian guys show me a place. About every 30 seconds I got approached by an Indian man who would ask if I either wanted a watch or tailored suit. I just told them I wanted a place to stay and they hooked me up with the right guy.

This was the room I ended up staying in. Didn't need two beds, but they didn't have a single room. 

The place I stayed at was one of the many places in a large complex called the Chungking Mansions. I totally felt like I was living in a mansion.....  Right.... Basically the entire block was run by Indians. So... first Filipinos, then Indians... I never really felt like I was in China. The block had a very unique culture to it. People from everywhere. Seems that Indians and Pakistanis were the most common, followed by Africans, then Asians, then westerners. I had an interesting experience on one of my elevator rides. Here is the dialog:

Chinese lady to other Asian Couple (In Chinese): What part of mainland China are you from?
Asian Couple (In universal language): (Blank Stare)
Me (In English): She is asking what part of China you are from.
Asian Couple (in English): Oh, we are from South Korea.
Me (in Chinese): They are South Korean.
Chinese lady to other Asian Couple (In Chinese): Oh; my bad. I thought you were Chinese because of the way you look.

I didn't bother to translate that last part. The Chinese lady never actually looked at me; not sure if she realized that I was the only non-Asian in the elevator at the time. It was interesting being in a place so diverse.

After the first night, I went to get my visa renewed. After that I didn't do much of anything because I didn't really know what to do in Hong Kong (my company told me just a day prior that I would be going to Hong Kong, so I didn't really have time to get ready). I spent much of the day reading about Hong Kong and avoiding tourist traps. Oh. And looking for 7-11s. I bought a Slurpee from every single 7-11 I saw with a Slurpee machine (sadly, it seems that only about 35% of the 7-11s there had Slurpee machines).

The Hong Kong island.

Hong Kong has cool looking buildings.

More cool looking buildings.

Hong Kong and China flag. 

LDS church building.

Inside the church seemed much like the church would in Utah.

View from the church window.

Soccer in China

I had no idea that the city I live in has a professional soccer team until a friend recently asked if I wanted to go. I said sure mostly because I think it is good to do anything once. Personally, I have never really liked live sports that much (not even BYU football. I know. For shame). I prefer watching on TV (for too many obvious reasons I won't even bother listing them). Anyhow. I went to my first pro soccer game! Yay! (Let me try that again...) <sarcasm>Yay!</sarcasm>

I rode my bike there to avoid traffic (and because riding a bike is awesome). Once at the stadium, I realized my mistake. It was a crowded sporting event. Crowded in China is basically beyond crowded. At the ticket counter, I waited for my friends to arrive. It was crazy! Just getting into the game was pandemonium  They would not let you bring anything in, so I saw people arguing about horns that they bought on the street just minutes prior. I saw other people trying to chug down their remaining drink before they went into the stadium. They closed all the gates but one, so people getting in was like cattle going through the cattle gates.

Eventually we got in and went to our seats. The tickets were 30 元 for one of the common tickets (about $5). I stood up the whole game because everyone in front of me was standing and because our seats were pretty nasty. The more expensive seats on the section next to us were completely empty. I don't think they have figured out a good pricing system yet. Most people were crowded together, with huge empty sections of the stadium.

Within the first three minutes of arriving, our team scored a goal. That was about the only exciting thing we saw. I would have to say watching soccer is akin to watching a meteor shower. You wait and wait for something to happen, and when it does, it is really cool. The problem is that it does not happen very often. One big difference though is that when you watch a meteor shower, you usually enjoy the company and atmosphere. You are not usually crowded out buy a bunch of men screaming and smoking cigarettes. Plus, meteor showers are free. I guess in China the sky is too polluted to see stars most days, so you might as well go see a soccer game.

We were team red. Jian Ye I believe. I like the pictures of the generals in the background. In the top right corner, you can see to the left the crowded section, and to the right the more expensive section.

On the bike ride over I saw the Bole man. Yay for bananas!

This is my favorite hatr care organtzaion.

The Swiss Sightseeing Medical Association

To be clear; I have no idea what the Swiss Sightseeing Medical Association is. I was recently however the spokesman (or something like that) for the company.

It is apparently quite common for Chinese companies to hire foreigners to basically pose as a company member or representative. This supposedly gives the company the illusion of being more international or mainstream. Such an occasion recently happened to me.

I first went into an interview, to see if I was foreign (white, old, gullible) enough to do the job. They had a dress code for me. Suit and Asian looking dress shoes. I have neither. They said they would somehow give me the stuff and that they had a script for me. I was not to read the script, but memorize the content and give it in my own words. They were going to give me the script the next day so that I would have time to prepare.

I didn't actually receive the script until I was in the taxi on the way to the event. The script was in Chinese. Once I was actually in the hotel where they had the event, I got an English version. I had to spend the time I was in the hotel trying to translate it into English that didn't make me laugh.

It seemed to be a big event. They had a lot of models there and dancing performances and such. It seems that almost all the people in attendance were very wealthy women in their 30s-50s. Everyone was dressed up real fancy like. Gathering from the script they gave me, the company sold medical equipment or something of the sort.

Eventually they told me it was my turn to speak... I really had no idea what I was supposed to do, but I got on the stage and they all applauded and handed me a nice bouquet of flowers (which I was sadly not able to keep). After they introduced me, I gave my speech in English and had someone to the side translate in Chinese.

The stage where I gave the speech.

After I gave my speech, I thought I was done, but they kept me on for a while. Eventually, they had me hand out a bunch of certificates and shake a bunch of hands and pose for the camera. Unfortunately, I don't have any of those pictures. But I am sure they are filled with cheesy goodness.

Me with everyone who received an award.

Too bad I didn't get to keep the suit.