23 September 1997 He's off! Ron left Charlottesville at 9 this morning on the bus for New York City, where he will get his plane -- 20 hours from NY to Hong Kong!
A bit of last minute excitement was provided by the Vietnamese Embassy issuing his visa improperly: they showed him arriving in Vietnam by air at the Saigon airport rather than by land through the border crossing point with China at the opposite end of the country. The Vietnamese are very fussy about the visa showing exactly where and how you arrive, so this visa would not have allowed him into the country, a real problem when the Chinese visa insists he has to leave after 30 days and then re-enter for the second permitted 30 days. Ron had used a visa service in DC that takes your passport and pertinent visa applications around to the different embassies, saving him the several trips to DC. The improperly issued visa arrived at our house from the visa service via FedEx on Thursday morning (18 Sept) and went back to the visa service via FedEx on Thursday afternoon. The visa service took it to the Vietnamese Embassy (which had already been alerted to the problem) on Friday and got it corrected. When Ron talked to the visa service on Friday afternoon they assured him that they were sending the passport and visa back via FedEx, marked for Saturday delivery. It did not arrive on Saturday, and FedEx couldn't trace it without its number -- even though we could provide the names of both sendor and receiver. The visa service was, of course, closed on Saturday. However, a call to them first thing yesterday morning produced the tracer number, and a call to FedEx produced the assurance that it was scheduled for Monday delivery. The visa and passport did indeed arrive late Monday morning. You may wonder why all this was happening so close to departure time. It's because the 90-day valid time period for the Chinese visa begins on the date of issue rather than on the date of arrival in the country, and since Ron's trip is 75 days with two 30-day entries, he couldn't get the visa until the last minute. Oh, the wonders of bureaucracy!
Ellen
Distributed 3 October 1997 Here's the first communication from Ron, a letter written the evening after arrival in Hong Kong. The letter arrived the same day as Ron's absentee ballot, which I'm sending off to him in Nanning. The Jeff that Ron refers to is the son of a friend of ours; he's working in Hong Kong for two years and offered Ron a place to stay in his apartment in Hong Kong.
Neither Ron nor I have yet received any email from Iris Li (see below). However, although Ron blithely told me I would probably need to download his email only every 2-3 weeks, he'd received 47 email messages as of Saturday 27 Sept, and had another 39 when I checked Thursday evening 2 Oct! Every 2-3 days is going to be more like it.
Ellen
Thursday evening Sept 25, Hong Kong As I sit here in Jeff's apartment eating shrimp chips and drinking orange juice which I purchased along with 5 liters of water (all the way from England and still cheaper than distilled), it feels like the end of a very long day since you watched me pull away in the Greyhound bus. The night on the plane didn't seem to count. [Thursday evening for Ron was Thurs morning in CV, and he had left CV on Tues morning.]
While I was to have a 45 min wait in DC, I barely made my connection, and would have missed it if it had left on time. So I had plenty of time at JFK. Waiting for the subway from the NY Port Authority to Howard Beach and JFK, I recognized the guy from the CV bus station, with the backpack and small duffle bag. He was from Slovakia and was on the staff at Camp Friendship [a summer camp outside CV] for the summer. I didn't notice him between CV and NY. On the bus from DC I sat by a student from Korea. She went to college in Winchester and was attending graduate school to become a teacher of English. Her name is Soyuen Hong and she invited me to stay with her family in Seoul. We seem to have connected very well, and after I had left the bus and was waiting for my luggage she came and found me to say again how she enjoyed the conversation. Made me feel really good.
This morning after a cold shower (discovered later how to turn on the hot water) I walked down hill (and I do mean down) all the way from Old Peak Road to the water front where the ferries are. I had been looking for bicycles, seeing none, and thinking how I was glad I didn't have to push (carry up many steps) the bike back to Jeff's, and near the ferry to the outer islands I saw a biker disappear into a doorway. I caught up with him to ask some questions, and he turned out to be "Mr. Bike" of Hong Kong. He leads bicycle groups on trips into China, but that doesn't appear to be a big thing these days. He also works with the Flying Ball Bike Shop, which is the shop I was going to find to set up procedures if I need emergency parts (from the Biking in China book). He suggested I take a boat to Zhaoqing, a ways past Guangzhou [Canton], and avoid Guangzhou . He sent me to a place past the Macao ferry pier to get a ticket. From there I headed back to the Star ferry to go to Kowloon to locate the China Hong Kong city docks, where the boat departs. On the way a pilot from FedEx asked me if I knew where the Star ferry was, so we went together. In Kowloon, he went in one direction and I went another.
I saw a sign for "Happy Garden Noodles and Congee Kitchen" and decided that was about my style, so I crossed the street and entered this small, very busy restaurant. Others and myself had to wait. They finally sat me at a table for two with a very lovely young lady who had just received her order of congee. It looked good, so I asked her what it was, and she said it was congee with carp balls and lettuce (at least, that is what my English version of the menu said). So I ordered congee with chicken and mushrooms, which was very good, and hot enough to burn the roof of my mouth. As our conversation left the menu it got much more interesting. She was very interested in my trip and wanted to know how it worked having separate vacations from my wife. I explained how you usually joined me. The I gave her the Web address of the "Where's Ron" page. She was going to send me an email message from her office (bank) so I would have her email address (she didn't know it). After she left, the waitress came over to tell me that she paid for my lunch! Wow ... what a surprise ... a young lady paying for my lunch! So Ellen, if you get an email message from Iris Li, please send her one back saying "Thank you for lunch, and I hope you will be my guest for lunch on Dec 7 at 1" (or later, whenever she arrives for her lunch time. If she accepts, please send me a note by way of Jeff. Now this is some kind of communication system! I don't see Jeff's computer with his TV, CD, fax/copier stuff, so it may be at his office. So this gets sent by mail.
PS From my walk today I have shin splints and a very sore knee from the down and up the mountain.
Distributed 6 Oct 1997 Here is the missing email from Hong Kong, which Jeff kindly resent. The first is a portion of a message sent to a friend recovering from a heart attack and copied to me. Janet, to whom Ron addresses several comments in the second message, is our friend who is Jeff's mother; she's going to Hong Kong to visit Jeff later this month. My guess is that these messages were written on Saturday 27 September.
Ellen
The place I am staying is above the Zoological and Botanical Gardens. My room has an arch of windows at the end, and through the left one looking up is the end of the Victoria Peak tram, and out of the right one I can see some of the harbour. In between is solid green, the very steep side of Victoria Peak. Quite a view. However, the climb from the harbour to the apt is quite a trip; I intend to aviod doing again by foot. Today I'm going to learn how to use public transportation.Jeff has a notebook at home with no disk drive. Somehow he networks it through his office, so when he comes home tonight I will ask him to send this and if I am lucky, I will get to write another to Ellen to report on the day's adventures on public transportation.
Hi Ellen,This evening I put the wheels and axle on the Bike Friday suitcase and pumped up my bike tires to 80 psi. So now I am ready for leaving Hong Kong tomorrow by boat for Zhaoqing.
Today I visited the Flying Ball Bike Shop only to find out they can no longer ship parts into China. They want people to buy Chinese parts, but I doubt if I will be able to find many parts for the Bike Friday, so I will be careful. Seems like they want to sell things to the US but don't want to import our stuff.
The Chinese owner of the bike shop told me they take a group ride every Sunday into the New Territories. Since I had already planned to leave on Sunday morning, this will have to wait for my return. He also introduced me to a biker who lives on Lantau Island and I heard about all the mt. bike trails, which will probably be too much for my bike. But he did give me the solution to the problem I had been working on.
The boat leaves from the China Hong Kong City terminal in Kowloon and I had been trying to figure out how to get my suitcase and pack from Hong Kong Island to Kowloon. Most people use the Star Ferry, but I read the dimensions of the packages allowed and used your metric tape [I'd found a tiny tape measure of Ron to take along] and determined the bike suitcase was way over their limit. This morning I checked out the Metro (MTR) and found they didn't allow luggage either. But there is another, the Jordon ferry which allows luggage as well as bikes. This is the key for biking in Kowloon and leaving on Hong Kong Island.
The bikers also told me they biked around the Island to Aberdeen and Stanley, but I have decided that I have finally found the place I am not willing to bike. Yesterday, at Jeff's suggestion and with his directions, I found the bus station for local bus to Stanley. Jeff said to be the first on the bus, and go to the second level (English double deckers) and get a front seat. (Janet if you do this, be sure to get the front +right+ seat, because the left is too close to the mountain side coming down, which detracts from the beautiful views). It was a great bus ride, but I observed the narrow roads, steep hills, absolutely no shoulders, and lots of buses and taxis.
Yesterday I also took the Star Ferry to Kowloon, then walked right along the Promenade until I reached the coliseum. I was too tired to walk back and couldn't figure out how to catch a bus, so I took the train north to Kowloon Tong where I caught the MTS back to Prince Edward and then changed to the red line going north to Sham Shui Pa where I looked at all of the pirated software at the Golden Shopping Arcade. This was the first experience that really felt like Aisa. Hong Kong seems more like Singapore or London, modern, clean, orderly, and affluent.
Later I took the MTS back to Central and took the Tram to Victoria's Peak, which was a spectacular sight. I had intended to get there at dusk to watch the night lights turn on as the daylight fades, but I was too late. I will do this again when I return. (Janet, take Jeff's advice, and get there at dusk.)
Today I met a lady that just finished a two week blitz of China with a tour group, and is leaving tomorrow, and a business man who is leaving today after a two week business trip through Asia, a different city every night. There are many ways to see Asia, and they think mine is unusal also.
There are more things to see and do in Hong Kong, but I feel the adventure of China calling and want to begin, so I will save some things for my return. Perhaps Janet will be able to leave me a note suggesting what exciting things she found.
Jeff has been most kind, allowing me to come and go, and providing advice, maps, suggestions and answering questions. I have also enjoyed CNN news, video movies on CDs, and of course this lap top.
Tomorrow night I will miss these modern necessities. I already miss you, our tomatoes, the computer, Internet, email and the conveniences of home.
Love,
Ron
And now, back in Hong Kong again... 5 December 1997 Kathy is a friend and neighbor who just arrived in Hong Kong to visit friends there for a couple of weeks. Before she left, she got from me the phone number where Ron would be staying, and I passed on to Ron her friends' phone number so she and Ron could get together for a Nelson County VA reunion in Hong Kong during their several days of overlap. This email was sent to Martin, Kathy's husband, with a copy to me.
Ellen
Friday evening 5 December How's everything back home?! Our news release for the day is that we've just rescued a poor orphaned cyclist who has been all over Asia since last Sept., and the most incredible thing is that he is from Afton VA! Yes, I was just about to email you again about that number and who should phone here about 10 pm but Ron. He said he'd been waiting for Jeff a couple hours and was afraid he was out of town and he couldn't get past the gate and didn't have a place to stay. So T phoned for a taxi to pick him up and now here we all sit and T is making Ron a big bowl of hot noodles and corn on the cob and he is telling us all kinds of wild tales. Now with that introduction ...HEEEEEEREs RON!
Hi Martin...Ellen said you organized a ride in November...sorry I missed it.
Getting to HongKong from Zhaoqing today, I was quite pleased with my ability to find fast boat ferry terminal, buy a ticket, clear customs in HongKong (with my bike and cart going from the boat through the system all attached), finding the ferry that would take the bike and cart accross to HongKong Island, then getting a taxi to take me to Jeff Saxon's place...only to find Jeff not at home. After waiting for a couple of hours, I finally managed to get in touch with Kathy, and her friends invited me to stay with them. The taxi ride to where they live in the western section of the new territories cost more than the fast ferry boat from Zhaoqing.
It has been quite a trip. The day before yesterday, my bike was on top of a bus when the bus turned off onto a side road and went under a low power line, which caught on my bike seat, pulling it out of the bike and throwing it out in the road behind the bus. I was sitting in back with a guy from New Zealand, and I looked out the back when we heard the noise overhead...and I recognized my seating bouncing down the road. The power cable also broke, but not before straightening two of the ends on my bungie cords, and pulling the bike apart at most of the quick release points. My cable was locking the bike to the roof of the bus, and this kept the bike from being pulled off (and was probably the cause of the broken wire). The back rack was bent, and some other parts were twisted, but most of it I could fix, and the bike is still usable. But when I first looked at it my gut was most upset.
See you soon...before you will see Kathy. And by cc hello Ellen. See you soon, and will try to be in touch. Hope you can get a return address from this message to reach me.
Ron & Kathy & the cat & Reuben & T
6 December 1997 [?] Hi Ellen,
Mid-day today, Reubin, Kathy, and I took a cab to Jeff's to move my stuff and then to lunch where Reubin treated us to a special Chinese lunch. Then we went to the top of Victoria's Peak, where I stayed to see the city lights turn on before walking down to Jeff's.
Jeff and I are heading out to dinner and tomorrow I am planning a trip to Macau. So...talk later. Ron
8 December 1997 Hi Ellen,
It is now 9:55 Monday night in HongKong. Jeff and I have just finished a wonderful Chinese dinner of mushroom and noodles, hot wonton, crispy rice and shrimp (yummy, and some left for breakfast), rice, tofu and pork, and ginger ale (as well as a cup of chinese tea). Then after dinner we went for a sauna and massage, which was quite an experience. There are a choice of hot or dry sauna (we chose the dry), a shower (mine was warm), a dip in the hot or cold pool (we chose the hot), then a rest with Coke provided. We were asked if we wanted to preview the masseuses, but we said no, just let them select. (Next time Jeff said he was going to indicate small, since his may have weighted 20 pounds more than mine.) These (not so little) old (to Jeff) Chinese ladies walked up and down our backs as well as providing the more traditional massage.
Yesterday's trip to Macau was a pleasure. Around 9 I took a taxi to the ferry terminal and caught the 9:30 jetfoil ferry, which was very comfortable and took about an hour. The views were interesting for part of the way and cloudy for part.
I picked up a map and some brochures at the tourist desk on arrival, and bus numbers were on the map. It was easy to catch a bus to the Lou Lim Loc Gardens, which was my first stop. A nice little community park with some live music groups practicing, some flowers, and ponds and a number of interesting doors and gates to pass through. From there I walked to St Dominic's Church which I found quite attactive (I took a picture inside). The area around the church is a very attactive shopping area, with the streets like a mall (no cars). Then I continued to the Ruins of St Paul's and the Monte Fort (which was closed while they are building a museum inside the fort). I walked around to the construction ramp and walked up to the top and saw the view. Then I walked back to the Ruins of St Paul (the front of the church which is still standing). Some to the foundation has been perserved, and in one part there are little tomb-like areas with lights and glass and you can see all the bones. Then walked to and through the Casa Garden (which I just stumbled across looking for a bus. Then walked south as far as the floating casino (which was an interesting building from the outside, but was closed) where I caught a bus to the Maritime Museum (which was closed for renovations) and looked at the old boats at the dock before walking accross the street to the A Ma Temple, which was a series of temples up the side of a small steep hill.
For dinner I tried a Portuguese meal of stewed rice and cod, which was not a great hit with me. The Lisboa Casinos however involved a lot of hits at the blackjack table. The Chinese take their gameling very seriously. If I could have figured out the colors of the chips and the rules of the games maybe I would have played some, but at the blackjack table (the one I understood) the minimum bet was 400 HK (about $48) and the maximum was 6,000. The other games were more of a mystery to me. I could figure out part but not all of the what was going on. Baccarat, dominoes and others. Before leaving the area, I walked through the Lisboa Hotel area and checked out the Russian prostitutes. As I understand, their minimum was 1,000 HK (about $130). A couple of them were quite beautiful, and spoke some English (but others were just made up). Like Janet, I didn't gamble or try the ladies, but at least I got a little more infomation. When I finally walked back to the ferry terminal about 9:30, the next available seat on a ferry was 11:00. It left late, ran into some rough weather, got in late along with two or three other ferry boats at the same time. When we go to the immigation area, all the signs said "local residents" except 1 for visitors. I didn't clear the immigration area until after 1:30, and then there was a long line for taxis. So it was a long day.
This morning I packed the bike before going shopping. And now I must pack my bags for tomorrow. So goodnight my love...see you tomorrow (sort of, except it will be a very long day to me). Ron
...and finally, back at home! 10 December 1997 Hello all!
When I think of the days and hours it took by bus, boat and plane from Lijiang to Afton, it seems like I have been traveling home for a couple of weeks. While it is always "great to be home", this time it should be said in bold underlined italics with all caps even if it is a cold rainy day in Afton.
Ellen picked me up at the Charlottesville Greyhound bus station Wednesday morning at 7:05 am: her hug was wonderful. We spend some time catching up, drinking hot tea with lemon and sugar, looking at my collection of "loot", taking a nap, and for me, having some different eats: cheese toast, sour dough toast with honey, and tonight ginger-lemon chicken with noodles. (While I have eaten a lot of noodles and chicken in the last couple of months, it was nothing like what I have been eating.)
Sometime in the next couple of days I will sort out some of the pictures I took and Ellen will post them on the "Where is Ron" web page for your viewing pleasure.
I look forward to being back in personal touch with you before long, and I thank Ellen for being my "central communications center" to keep you all up to date on my (mis)adventures.
Ron
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Last updated: 22 May 2002