The (So Far) 3rd Happiest Place on Earth

Now, if you're not from LA or not a Disneyland enthusiast, I apologize in advance if this post bores you to tears. We'll be writing about Cambodia next!

Sam must have been the first person to tell me that a Hong Kong Disneyland existed. Up until then, I was happily convinced that there were only 3 Disneylands - LA, Paris, and Tokyo - and one Disneyworld - Florida. Apparently, there are more, though, folks. Well, technically only one more at the moment - Hong Kong - and one more to come likely next year - Shanghai, which the Chinese are determined to make the biggest ever, obviously. My point being: I am here to test them out for you (3 down, 2 to go)!

 Disneyland subway cars (genius!) and subway station right in front of Main Street

The first fun thing about Hong Kong Disneyland that you need to know is that it's wee! It's like a cute little playsize Disneyland squeezed on to a small island where they weren't sure what else to do with the space. There is very likely a parking garage, but everybody arrives there with the subway, as did we. The best part about that is that, once on the island of Lantau, you switch lines at a station to the Disneyland-specific train line with special Disney cars that have Mickey Mouse windows, seat fabric, and holders! Basically, an eight-year-old's ride to heaven.

The main advantage to Hong Kong Disneyland is the price. We had debated going for a while, since Disneyland is notoriously expensive and we weren't sure if it would fit in our budget, but as soon as I found out it only cost 450 HK dollars (45€), we were sold (well, I was sold, Micha was by default and cuz he likes to make me happy). We even managed to get another 15% off on the tickets by buying a tourist pass day ticket for the subway - which saved us quite a bit on our transport to and from Disneyland, too - and paying with credit card. Yippee!

Even gnomey got to join in on the Disney fun!

Ahhh, the comforting site of Tomorrowland

This mini-Disneyland is laid out almost just like LA Disneyland: you walk in through Main Street with cute little shops and room for parades, in front of you is the (wee) castle, to your right is Tomorrowland, up ahead and on the right is Fantasyland, up and to the left is the newer kiddie area, Toy Storyland (instead of Toon Town in LA), and on your far left is then the Adventureland-style area called Grizzly Gulch. (Micha's Hong Kong post shows a map here.)

As you can imagine from the size and price of the place, there aren't very many rides that it has to offer. I had us hit all of the important ones, though, and even an unexpected diamond in the rough in Toy Storyland. We headed to Space Mountain first (obviously), got ourselves fast passes, then waited in the shortest line ever for Astro Blasters (which is always so crowded in LA!), which Micha totally kicked my ass at. Then we went on Space Mountain - it started slow but ended up just as it should be! - and made our ways towards Toy Storyland. 

 Yup, that's the entirety of the Space Mountain start area. Precious, no?

Hehehe, check out the chicks in the back row!

On the way, we stopped for lunch and were never more glad to have thought in advance to bring some bread, spready cheese, and fruit with us, as the offerings of Hong Kong Disneyland catered primarily to their Chinese visitors, who don't seem to mind spending 8€ on an MSG-filled cup of noodles and 3€ on a small water bottle.

In line for a ride in Toy Storyland, we experienced the epic clash of cultures that you hear about between Hong Kong Chinese and mainland Chinese. It was roughly 800 degrees and 100% humidity, and the 45-minute line slowly turned into a 90-minute line, weaving it's way back and forth across a very small section of cement covered with a roof and lined with not nearly enough fans. The mainland Chinese, we learned in the weeks before, have very little concept of what a line is or what its purpose serves and prefer instead to push and shove their way forwards until they reach their goal. The Hong Kong Chinese love their queues (as many a British backpacker emphatically related to us during our China travels). As the temperatures rose and waiting times lengthened, people pushed closer and closer together, both attempting to cut their way to the front and just stand as near as humanly possible to the person in front of them (a joy, as you can imagine). Just as I was starting to get severely grumpy from the lack of my personal space bubble, a loudspeaker announcement came on reminding everyone (in 3 languages) to please keep in mind that it is an extremely hot day and best to keep a reasonable distance from the people around you to prevent any discomfort. Half of the line breathed a sigh of relief. Half just look around in confusion as to what discomfort they could possibly be speaking of.

 Toy Storyland is beyond precious and that ride on the right was ah-ma-zing

Failed, but ridiculous, self picture attempt

We went on the Grizzly Gulch rollercoaster, which was basically Splash Mountain without the splash, and then realized we were pretty much out of rollercoasters. It came down to either the Jungle Cruise (meh), It's a Small World (yay! but Micha despises it), or Space Mountain again. (And again.) Clearly, Space Mountain was the winner - since we had fast passes again - and since the after-effects of Micha's spill over a very large and all-too-high chain at the Big Buddha the day before were starting to plague him (bruised shins and a sore chest; we're pretty sure he pulled some rib muscles when he fell, poor guy!), I got to brave the ride all by my lonesome. Via the fast pass lane. Twice! So, I did what any rightminded person would do on my last ride of the day - requested the front row, put my arms up, and screamed like a teenybopper as we whipped around corners at "warp speed" in the dark. Space Mountain hasn't felt that good in years.

Before we left, though - and rest assured, a half day at Hong Kong Disneyland is plenty, I can now confirm - we did wait long enough to enjoy the midday water parade that made its merry way through the park hosing down sweaty, tired spectators until they were all giggling like schoolchildren. Disney, you never fail me!

The Belly-Baring Men of China in Summer

Hi! We're alive! Oh, we have quite the plethora of updates about what's been going on with us since we left Hong Kong (many many flights, buses, temple visits, mosquito bites, and a couple of unavoidable doctor visits, just to mention a few) and we're trying our darndest to keep up writing and posting despite the overabundance of terribly slow internet in the places we visit. True story.

But as a result, I've decided two things. 1) I won't be rewriting in English about the same places that Micha's already written about in German. Or else I won't even likely be done with China before 2014. Maybe one day... but for now, English-speaking friends, I will leave you in the trusty hands of Google Translate (which is bound to provide some extra entertainment)! There's even a button on the right side column of this here blog, right under the new Instagram map I added - to keep you at least updated through those pictures on where we currently are! And 2) I will leave you with one last hilarious post about China before moving on. That's not to say I won't come back and write more about some places Micha's already written about one day, but this will be easiest for keeping up with where we actually are, I believe. Fingers crossed!

So, my absolute favorite thing about China, hands down, was the following of a trend that oh-so-thankfully ended for most of us in the early to mid-2000s: belly baring. Now I know you're now picturing teenage girls in flared jeans with shirts that ended 2 inches above their pants à la Britney Spears, and that would be the normal group of people one would expect to bare their bellies. But not in China, my friends. Oh no, in China, when the temperatures get sizzling, it is the menfolk who, apparently completely unable to bear the heat on their midsections, hike up their shirts in reckless abandon and strut around as if they'd just won either a beauty pageant...

...or just finished their cupping beauty routine (much like a Hollywood starlet)...

 ...or, you know, just won a hot dog eating contest, depending on the dude

And now you know the true key to beating the heat and humidity during the summer. (Could have come in handy for that recent heatwave in Germany, no?) You can thank me later!

Hongkong - China, nur mit Regeln

Mit Erreichen unseres nächsten Zieles zeigt sich, dass wir bei der Wahl unserer Route durchaus abwechslungsreiche und gegensätzliche Ziele ausgewählt haben. Nach einem abenteuerlichen Ziel folgt ein vergleichsweise entspanntes und andersrum. Während China eher zur ersten Kategorie zählt, gehört unser nächstes Ziel Hongkong definitiv zur Sorte millionenfach bereist und für die Allgemeinheit als reisetauglich befunden. Genau genommen bleiben wir mit Hongkong zwar in China, allerdings ist es gefühlt eine ganz andere Welt und ein deutlich anderes Reiseziel als China. Doch dazu später mehr.

In Hongkong fällt uns zum ersten Mal so richtig auf, wie bedrückend am Ende die kaum mögliche Kommunikation mit den Menschen in China für uns war. Einfachste Dinge konnten wir nicht klären und erklären. Ganz zu Schweigen von netten Plaudereien beim abendlichen Drink. Mehr als nur einmal verlassen wir bspw. Restaurants, weil es keine Fotos zu den Gerichten gibt und die Bedienung unsere Betonung des Wortes Nudeln oder Dumplings nicht versteht oder verstehen will. In Hongkong gehört diese Frustration der Vergangenheit an. Nicht nur, dass man uns und wir endlich die Leute verstehen, es gibt wieder freien Zugang zum Internet. So holen wir wie Süchtige die Onlinekommunikation der vergangenen drei Wochen nach. Zudem überrascht uns Hongkong mit einer Mischung aus britischem Hang zum Folgsamsein und chinesischer Lebensart. Autos fahren in ihrer Spur. Nach dem Überholen reihen sie sich wieder ein. Für Festlandchinesen wird im öffentlichen Straßenraum auf unzähligen Hinweisschildern darauf hingewiesen, dass sich Würgen und Spucken nicht gehört, dass man zum Vordermann gerne etwas Abstand lässt, dass Nudelsuppen nicht in die U-Bahn gehören und dass man Leute erst aussteigen lässt und dann selbst einsteigt. Gleichzeitig bekommt man jedoch die aus China bekannten Leckereien. Untereinander sprechen die Menschen Kantonesisch und viele kleine Seitenstraßen könnten durchaus als Straßenmärkte in Peking oder Shanghai durchgehen. Gleichwohl gibt es in den Supermärkten ausreichend westliche Produkte. Und so kaufen wir uns einmal sogar Vollkornbrot, Wiener Würstchen und Käse, weil uns Nudeln und Reis dann so doch langsam zum Halse raus hängen. In den ersten beiden Tagen sind wir von Hongkong sehr angetan und genießen das bunte Treiben. 

Wir schlendern einfach ziellos durch die Hochhausschluchten, probieren mal hier, mal dort etwas zu essen. Vor allem aber setzen wir uns nach den vergangenen intensiven drei Wochen nicht unter Druck. Wir schlafen aus und legen uns sogar an einen der wenigen Strände Hongkongs, springen ins Meer und lassen uns die Sonne auf die Bäuche scheinen. Natürlich tun wir aber dennoch etwas für die Bildung und besichtigen etwa das Kriegs- und das Nationalmuseum. Insbesondere letzteres schlägt alle Museen in denen ich bisher war. Zum Teil sind ganze historische Stadtviertel nachgebaut und alles ist natürlich durch entsprechenden Multimediaeinsatz untermalt.

Wir erfahren, dass Hongkong eigentlich zu China gehörte, einst jedoch von ungehobelten Briten besetzt wurde. Mehr noch: Die Briten wollten eifrig mit den Chinesen Handel treiben. Weil es den Briten im Unterschied zu den Chinesen jedoch an sinnvollen Handelsgütern fehlte und man aus China mehr im- als exportierte, beschloss man auf der Insel, den Chinesen einfach indisches Opium anzudrehen und so die Handelsbilanz wieder geradezurücken. Die Chinesen, darüber wenig erbaut, begehrten auf. Und da man in London im damaligen imperialen Drang den einen oder anderen Soldaten über hatte, rückten die Briten überzeugend an Chinas Ostküste ein. Die Chinesen trollten sich und waren zu Verhandlungen bereit. Im Vertrag von Nanjing wurde den Briten nun Hongkong zugesprochen. Von 1843 bis 1997 war Hongkong – bis auf drei Jahre japanische Besetzung – florierende britische Kronkolonie. Heute leben sieben Millionen Menschen an den engen Ufern der über 200 Inseln Hongkongs. Die meisten tummeln sich allerdings auf Hongkong Island und Kowloon. Und mittlerweile gehört Hongkong auch wieder zu China, konnte sich allerdings für die kommenden Jahrzehnte auf dem Papier Demokratie, Marktwirtschaft und freie Medien bewahren.

Da in Hongkong Platz Mangelware ist, wird vor allem hoch hinaus gebaut. Einige Wohnhäuser haben bis zu 50 Etagen. Die Zimmer sind entsprechend teuer und klein. Auch unser Hostelzimmer misst gerade einmal sieben Quadratmeter. Unser Bett ist so klein, dass ich selbst mit durchschnittlichen 1,80 Meter Köpergröße an Fuß- und Kopfende an die Wand stoße. Entsprechend halten wir uns mehr draußen auf und verbringen bspw. einen ganzen Tag in Disneyland Hongkong. Bei Nicole kommt man um solche Dinge nicht drumherum. Auch der wohl weltweit kleinste IKEA – just gegenüber unseres Hostels – bleibt auf Wunsch einer einzelnen Dame von unserer Anwesenheit nicht verschont.

Nach fünf Tagen Entspannung sagen wir Hongkong Lebewohl. Unsere nächste Station bringt uns nach Singapur. Darauf haben wir jedoch nicht so recht Lust. Kurzfristig planen wir um und entscheiden nach Kambodscha zu fliegen. Wir wollen unbedingt nach Angkor Wat und mal so richtig ans Meer. Wir buchen uns Zusatzflüge von Singapur nach Phnom Penh und verlassen während des Zwischenstopps den Flughafen in Singapur gar nicht erst. Wer schon einmal in Singapur am Flughafen war, der weiß, dass das an diesem Flughafen hervorragend funktioniert. Ruhebereiche mit Liegen, 24h geöffnete Geschäfte, Duschen, toll angelegte Kaktus- und Orchideengärten, ja sogar ein Swimmingpool verkürzen einem die Wartezeit ungemein. Nach elf Stunden vergleichsweise entspannter Wartezeit startet unser Flieger nach Phnom Penh.

A Taste of Sam's Life in Ningbo

It’s a bit of an understatement to say that I was ridiculously excited to see Sam, one of my oldest (long-time, not that she’s an old lady ;) friends again, and that in her new, for-the-time-being home in Ningbo, China. A city I’d never heard of before she moved there, but that has 7 million inhabitants nonetheless. Since Sam is one of my very favorite people on the planet, I knew she’d show us a fabulous time, but I didn’t know beforehand just how darn helpful it would be to have her introduce us to China and travel around with us for a bit. Being with someone who knows Chinese – even “survival Chinese,” as Sam calls her language skills – is a Godsend in this country, where even hand gestures are unrecognizable (fun example: the Chinese only need to use one hand to count to ten).

Sam, gnomey, and me, reunited!

We arrived in Shanghai jetlagged beyond belief after 17+ hours in transit, but, surprisingly, managed to very easily find our way through the metro to our hostel thanks to all signs in the city being written in pinyin – the official way of writing Chinese in the Roman alphabet, developed in the '50s – and not only in Chinese characters. In another fortuitous turn of events, the dorm room we’d booked for the night for the three of us – go big or go home when starting out a new backpacking life, right? – was full, so they gave us a triple for the same price (score!). Which resulted in us crashing in there at about 1:00 in the afternoon for the most glorious 3-hour nap I’ve ever had.

We explored a bit of Shanghai around the Bund for the rest of the afternoon before Sam arrived – 2 hours late thanks to a taxi letting her off on the wrong street, having understood her in (survival) Chinese to have said “Shaanxi” instead of “Shanxi" street – at which point we went for a lovely dinner of xiao long bao (regional soupy dumplings), a soon-to-be staple food of ours in China.

 Mystery meat street food

The next day, we took a bus over the "world's longest sea bridge" (or so they say, China seems to always have the world's ___est something) to Ningbo and got a big heap of an introduction to expat life in China with a bunch of Sam’s friends at a random little waterpark right outside town. It’s hard to express just how embarrassingly much I love amusement parks, so suffice it to say that a waterpark on a painfully hot summer day is just about perfection in this California girl’s eyes. The four-person intertube funnel ride was just about as much fun as you can have apart from a water trampoline, but man, do the Chinese make you work for your fun! We had to carry the rafts all the way up those seriously high flights of stairs each time! On wet and slippery ground with a few beers in us (but of course)! In the US, people would go lawsuit-crazy over much less...

 Now that's how you carry rafts

To continue our full-on Ningbo experience, we had some super delicious barbecue street food after the waterpark (the clams were to die for!), then got martinis at their neighborhood fancy schmancy bar before hitting up the local bar street, which we weren’t allowed to leave until the sun came up.

Ningbo sunrise, as seen from Sam's apartment

Along with getting our first taste of Chinese beer – light and not nearly hoppy enough, but somehow still refreshing in the heat – we also got to know the quirks of Sam’s little group. Our favorite weirdo was AJ, who comes from an Australian farming family and is a bit awkward around people until he gets a drink in him, and then he starts dancing in what can only be described as a male version of the Elaine dance (here's hoping the poor guy never reads this!).

Over the course of the next couple days, Sam took us to a few of her favorite restaurants and one major aspect of Chinese culture became suddenly clear to us: group eating. People only seemed to go out to eat in large groups and not a single person in one of the restaurants we visited ordered a dish for themselves. All dishes were ordered for the table - and always way more than you can finish - for everyone to pick from slowly as each dish is delivered to the table in a completely haphazard order with no consideration for what it is a starter or main dish or dessert. There is no better way to try as many new dishes as possible in such a short time frame. And as a random bonus for the chopstick-impaired (like me), you never end up overeating!

 Sweet food court treats to start the day

 The ancient Ningbo library

 45° Celcius is not pretty on anyone (notice that the AC I'm in front of is on 30° and it felt freezing!)...

...but ice cream helps

Evening group dance time

Two of about 18 ordered dishes

Sam’s last job before sending us off for a week on our own was to help us book our train tickets to Beijing, a daunting task anywhere in China and one nearly impossible for foreigners in not-on-the-tourist map Ningbo (literally, the Lonely Planet covered it up on their map with the legend). We thought the streets in China were chaotic enough - people just drive in any direction, in any lane, any time they want, is what I gathered from my observations - but the ticketing office is a whole nother beast.

 Pedestrian crossing? What's that?

Waiting for train tickets

It's basically one giant, loud mass of people forming groups that could occasionally be mistaken for lines and I gathered that it works like this: Everyone slowly shoves and elbows their way forward until they reach the front, at which point they yell at the ticket seller in Chinese their destination and time and she yells back prices and questions like, “hard seat?” “sleeper?” or “first class?” in a disgruntled voice and tries to get the transaction completed as quickly as humanly possible. Needless to say, Micha’s and my blank stares and useless English words were of absolutely no help and without Sam’s (super impressive, to us!) survival Chinese, we probably would never have made it out of Ningbo, much less on two reasonably priced second class seats on the bullet train. Which, coincidentally, is the exact same as the German ICE, a comforting realization when boarding. If only the seats were also made for German sizes instead of Chinese, then it'd be just like home...