An Asian Journey and Khazeray
“From whatever place I write you will expect that part of my “travels” will consist of excursions in my own mind.” --S.T. Coleridge, 1772-1834, English writer My last day of work (before my vacation) on the 8th of November was so easy with the anticipation of the Asian Journey forthcoming. Most of my follow-ups will have to wait for my return but the priorities were well-taken care of.
Lauren Freiman sent me a sweet postcard: Hi Mike!
I thought you would think this was cool. I get so many postcards here I don't know what to do with them all! Not much new here--just wanted to say HI. I can't wait to see you in 2-weeks. Look YOU GOT MAIL!
Love You,
Lauren
November 9, 1994, 10:40AM, Delta Airlines Terminal, Los Angeles
Alan and I are telling ourselves that this is a business and pleasure trip. It really is exciting though. This is our first-time we’ve ever visited the Far East. The weather is supposed to be good in Hong Kong during this time of the year. I’d say ninety percent of the people waiting to get on our flight are primarily made up of Asian descent.
The DELTA ticket agent had a sort of “dopey” Sylvester Stallone sort of look. I brought the November DETAILS magazine 1994 issue and Sly Stallone happens to be on the cover. I also brought along some good reading material for the flight. It’s a good thing since the flight (going) is fifteen hours and twenty-five minutes. The coach seats are not all booked so we won’t have a problem if we wish to spread out and sleep. We were told we may easily take up an entire row. It’s strange in-a-way. We are leaving L.A. here on a Wednesday afternoon and we arrive in Hong Kong on Thursday evening—just in time for dinner. I can’t wait to see what it’s all like. Mom owns stock in HANG SENG BANK and Hong Kong Telecom, so we’ll have to see what kind of vibes we get about those business entities while we are there.
We just got our Iced-Coffee at STARBUCKS and Alan just realized he forgot his book called “HOW TO DO BUSINESS WITH THE CHINESE. Oh well, I guess we’ll have to ‘wing it’. I do know that Nee Ho Ma means How Are You?
We left LAX at noon and it is now 11PM (California time). This flight is taking forever. Ironically, it is daylight outside and we have not seen and darkness or ‘stillness of the night’ due to the time difference via the sky. The first movies I watched was THE CLIENT (of which I had seen before). I kept my mind occupied by reading a great issue of FORBES Magazine which included summaries of the Top 500 Foreign companies. I also read an article in that DETAILS magazine about Transexuals (female to male). That was a bit on the strange side. I also read the Sylvester Stallone interview. Alan had a field day with USA TODAY, the NY TIMES and England’s FINANCIAL TIMES.
The second movie was the colorized, original version of ROBIN HOOD. I passed on that one. The third movie was GETTING EVEN WITH DAY with McCaulay Culkin and Ted Danson. That was a poor, awful movie.
November 11th It’s Friday morning at the HOTEL CONRAD here in Hong Kong. It is now 8:10AM. I decided to NOT look back at California time or my body would be in confusion mode. Alan and I just enjoyed the most fantastic breakfast upstairs in the Executive Tower. We had fresh steak salmon, poached eggs and pastries. It was endless. It was a $50 breakfast that was included with our hotel rate. What a vacation! I skimmed through the HONG KONG Standard newspaper and located the Hang Seng Bank and HK Telecom locations. Their stock listings are so neatly organized in the newspaper. Alan checked it out as well.
As Alan said, “Everything here is so Americanized...but better than America,” and, of course, he was referring to the breakfast.
We are on our way to get our VISA’s for CHINA and then to the Zoo and Botanical Gardens. Then we will take a 5-hour walk via Hong Kong’s Central and Western Districts by starting with a ride on the Star Ferry. Oh yes, I must buy postcards, too.
We got teddy bears in our room upon arrival last night with fresh fruit—so cute.
I mailed mom a postcard of a Hong Kong night scene: I wrote:
Dear Mom,
It really is exciting here. It's so busy. The Hong Kong people are so productive that you can feel all of the cash being made. It's a lot like LONDON here. It should be since England still owns Hong Kong until 1997.
I'd love to bring you here. You do have a passport...so check your calendar. Most everyone speaks English so it's not so bad at all. There is lots of shopping and great things to buy. I hope you like your gifts.
The Chinese food is yummy. The Executive Tower Hotel free breakfasts at the HILTON here are so so good. See you soon, Love Michael J Armijo
Sunday, November 13, 1994 -
Today we may venture out on a one-hour ride on a Jet Foil to the island of MACAU, a Portuguese owned island. I've been lackluster in writing...so let me provide some written updates:
We’ve been in Hong Kong the last few days and have come to realize walking around and between buildings via direct building links (from building to building) is easier than walking on the streets in terms of getting around. And the Central Plaza Building in Hong Kong is just magnificent. We’ve taken some great pictures. We’ve also done our fair share of postcards.
The Zoological Gardens and the Hong Kong Park stroll was a nice mild way to start our introduction into Hong Kong. It was too cute when I photographed Alan with an older Chinese Woman at the park. She was quite sweet about it. Also, on Friday, November 11th, a taxi driver drove us to KOWLOON and recommended a Shanghai Tailor. I now have a suit and two white shirts on order. I may get a sport jacket and two pairs of slacks in addition to that. Alan is getting a suite (a beautiful blue one) and a black sport jacket and seven shirts in colors of white, pink and blue. Those are our presents to ourselves.
We also did a sort of mangled walking tour of KOWLOON. We used the 94-95 FROMMERS Hong Kong Travel Guide to help us. The number of stores and vendors that are side by side on each and every street it quite amazing. There is so much activity and everyone is out to make a buck. Some Indian guy was trying to lure me to some other tailor and it took a little work to get him to leave me alone. Jeez!
Alan’s been a little flustered and overwhelmed by all of the stores and people. Actually, the walking about has been a bit tiring on both of us.
On Friday evening we took a taxi that took forever and a day to get us to STANLEY’s FRENCH RESTAURANT. It was okay—not great. I ordered duck breast and it was too gamey and thinly slice. It looked like thinly sliced pigs’ ear now that I recall. Ha-ha. At the great Cantonese Restaurant, we ate at last night (ZEN at The Palace Mall) there was an actual item on the menu described as “thinly sliced pig’s ear”. However, ZEN was delicious. Their prawns with the sweetened walnuts were a “HIT”!
On Friday, we left KOWLOON via a green and white Ferry to Wan Chai and we walked from Wan Chai to our CONRAD HOTEL. Again, there were a lot of shops and activity during our walk to the Hotel. We were in awe and quite surprised. As the English writer, W. Somerset Maugham once wrote: “The good traveler has the gift of surprise.”
Tea at the PENINSULA HOTEL was overrated. Alan yelled at me because he couldn’t locate his camera—when he finally found it (in his shopping bag). Grr...
On Saturday, November 12th we had to modify our tentative itinerary. We were going on a group “Land Between Tour” but we had to go to the American Express office for our VISA’s for CHINA and get confirmed fittings at the tailor. We absolutely needed those approved travel VISAS’s. And so, we cancelled that group tour outing. In the midst I bought a gorgeous, casual Valentino sweatshirt while Alan was closing out the American Express transactions for our VISA’s. We both got some good usage out of that time.
After much confusion with Alan taking control of the map, we finally found the headquarters building to HSBC Holdings (Hong Kong Shanghai Bank Corp Holdings). Alan was getting so confused and flustered, blaming the maps for not being up to scale. An analogy of the problem was as if he was looking at a map area of Compton while in Studio City. We found a post office and were going to get some stamps but the idiot postal clerk was not very helpful or hospitable. Everyone else that we’ve run into has been extremely kind.
We found RICK’S CAFE but we were not allowed in because we were wearing shorts. I guess she wasn’t very kind either. We saw the joint and decided we weren't really missing out on anything. We strolled on over to the REGENT HOTEL for a restful stop at their lounge. We enjoyed a cocktail and wrote a few postcard scribbles. That was a much-needed rest as we enjoyed the views of the boats going back and forth from HK Island to KOWLOON.
I found my niece, Ally a cool tea set for about $19.50. Alan bargained down to that price. Ha-ha. They wanted 330 HK Dollars which was equivalent to $42.90 USD. I owe Alan for that bargaining power.
I still want to buy some silk pajamas. I must look around some more for the right ones. There’s always the Palace Mall which is adjacent to our hotel. We can still go there upon our return from the CHINA adventure. As Alan says, I like “khazeray” items—but it’s not really true. I like mementos and essential items that I can give to friends and family. I try not to focus on junk—per say. “Khazeray” is a Yiddish slang term for junk.
9am, Sunday, November 13th: The HOTEL CONRAD Tower breakfasts continue to rate high in our books. Alan just made a satisfactory ‘dump’ that he had to rant and rave about. I am enjoying my vacation. I think Alan is, too. Let’s see what the Portuguese Island of MACAU is like today.
Monday, November 14th, 11am. We are currently in CHINA SOUTHERN AIRLINES headed for Beijing. Yesterday, our MACAU escape was quite the adventure. We took a pedicab ride throughout town. We viewed a bit of Chinese gambling but definitely did NOT participate. The taxicab rides are cheap—just like in Hong Kong. We had lunch at the Posad Santiago Hotels, GRILL FORTALEZA. That was quite nice. Aland and I ate fish: Macau Sole and Dover Sole. We ventured into the TAIPA VILLAGE of MACAU. It was so ‘back-in-time'. We got some good photos while we were there.
At the MANDARIN ORIENTAL HOTEL, we both bought little love birds made of a natural gem. My bird is made from the Amazonite gem. I’m not sure about Alan’s. I guess we both participated in buying a bit of “khazeray”. Ha-ha
While waiting for the ferry I wrote mom another postcard of a big tree:
Nov. 13, 1994, Sunday, 5:30pmDear Mom, It's 5:30 in the evening here and in California it's 1:30 in the morning. Your Saturday night just ended and my Sunday night is about to start.
Right now, Alan and I are waiting for a high speed ferry boat to take us back to Hong Kong. It's a one hour boat ride. We came to this island of MACAU which is a Portuguese Island but 95% of the people are Chinese. It's a good preview for tomorrow when we fly to Beijing, CHINA.
I thought this card was neat. Read the story below about the LOVERS TREE IN TEMPLE KUN LAM.
We are having fun exploring. Wait until you see thee pictures I've taken. I'll need to make a photo album for myself. Love You, Michael
Story: The tree seems to have four trunks that grew together embracing each other as a family of four. A romantic legend tells two young lovers who were forbidden to marry committed suicide in a love pact, The spot where they were buried eventually thrust out two trees which grew together in an eternal bond.
The Jet Foil ride to MACAU took an hour. We tried to sleep for the ride back to Hong Kong but all I did was rest my eyes. When we arrived, we noticed all of these Hong Kong women all over the street, chatting, gossiping in their little clique groups. Apparently, we learned that it is typical on Sunday nights –being a non-working day—that all of the HK women spend a lot of the day shopping and by night fall sit on the curbs, streets and have a sort of ‘girls' night out’ get-together. it was wild and so overcrowded. Then we later learned that it is all of the housekeepers that do this, so who knows?
We at ate the ZEN CANTON Restaurant at the PALACE MALL. We simply loved that shrimp with sweetened walnut dish. Then we went to our hotel room to pack our bags.
Many on this China flight had one of these stickers. Alan felt like he was left out and should have a sticker also. I happened to find the above sticker on a garbage can so I peeled it off for him. Ha-ha. Getting out of Hong Kong and arriving in Hong Kong required filling out departure and arrival cards as well as showing our passports. It’s so time consuming but all part of the game. Well, here we come...Beijing, China! Let’s just hope we don’t get into any trouble.
The more senior you are that more likely are to get into trouble: “A big tree catches the wind” is a true saying. --Nien Cheng, LIFE AND DEATH IN SHANGHAI
