October 22, 2004
Hong Kong
Surprisingly, the most heroing experience of the whole trip occured in Hong Kong. The Balinese driving was close at points but I'm afraid the Sai Kung Speedboat Incident takes precedence. For sheer physical danger the driving wins out but the speedboating wins on emotional scarring. Here's what happened:
After a cab ride that lasted way too long (due to the drivers not having a clue where they were going and dreadfully over shooting the mark), seven hikers were dropped off at a place in the New Territories starting with the letter "T" (I can't remember the name, Jessica?). They then hiked an hour on a mostly well paved path with brilliant views and cows on the way (no, the cows weren't brilliant). The path then spit them out in a village with a lovely cafe, the food was good and the puppies were cute. Our intrepid expats then spent a couple hours on the most beautiful beach in Hong Kong, before realizing that the sun was beginning to set and one of them had a flight back to the US that night. So they packed up and made the 15 minute hike to another small village with two cafes (I think) and a phone where they could call a speed boat to pick them up.
The plan was perfect, or so they thought. Only one of the hikers spoke Cantonese, he therefore was nominated to have all dealings with speedboat drivers. So while the other six hikers contemplated buying icecream and switching into their flipflops, or smacking eachothers bug bites as the case may be, Steve was informed that the seas were too rough for the little speedboats to make the trip. Steve, sadly relayed the information, that the only place in these rough waves to catch a boat was another hour's walk back the way they came. The hikers were dismayed but they had a plane deadline to make, so on they went.
On arriving at the alternate pier they found that there is a regular Ferry but that they had just missed it and it wouldn't be back for another half hour. There were however, several speedboats trolling around the harbour that seemed to be looking for work. Steve, the invaluable linguist, opened bargaining with the closest driver. After several exchanges a price was reached and she drove her boat over to the pier so that we might hop in. Just as we were to begin loading, however, another speedboat wedged his way between the hikers and the boat. Thus, followed a very heated argument between the two drivers in some strange speed boat dialect, that for all Steve knew, was not Cantonese. As far as the hikers could tell there seemed to be some sort of rivalry or pecking order that had somehow been violated. The two drivers, eventually, came to an understanding and the hikers were split into two groups and loaded 3 in the man's boat, 4 in the woman's boat.
Steve and the other two in the man's boat sped off, out of the bay, they were waylaid halfway to their destination by a Police boat. The police scrutinized their passports but otherwise let them on their way, they were then dropped off at the pier with the busstop.
Meanwhile, the woman's boat with her 4 passengers took a slow sweep of the bay while the woman seemed to be chatting with all of her fellow speedboaters. Soon, they pointed out of the bay and were headed off at top speed, they stopped once so that the woman could tell two of the passengers to get in front, seemingly to balance out the boat. It wasn't 5 minutes, however, until they stopped again and the woman demanded that she get paid. The hikers looked around them they weren't far from land but it was dark and they didn't know where they were going so they decided to pay her what had been agreed on back at the pier. She seemed happy with this and continued on. Again they hadn't gone very far when the woman stopped the boat once more. This time there was another boat headed right for her and it didn't seem to be stopping. The driver yelled something and quickly turned the wheel so that the boats didn't collide. The other boat was empty except for the driver, who was wearing a dark vest similar to what a policeman might wear. There were, however, no markings or lights on his boat and it didn't look much different from all of the other speed boats. The hikers were concerned. The two drivers were shouting, but this time not at eachother. The woman was yelling something about the police and the man was yelling something as well. The hikers were now very concerned. They finally figured out through gestures that drivers wanted the only male hiker in the boat to transfer over the this new boat, leaving the female hikers behind. All sorts of horrible scenarios were popping into all of their heads, kidnappings at the forefront. Upon realizing this, Jon, chivalrously refused the invitation and firmly stated that either all of them switched boats or none of them did. The drivers got the point and seemed upset, but resigned, the one boat headed off in one direction the other with it's passengers went on. The hikers hearts did not fully descend back into their chests, however, until they saw the lights of their destination in the distance and to their great relief were quickly reunited with the rest of their party.
Diane luckily made it back in time to catch her flight, if not have dinner first. And the rest of the hikers went out for a night of partying in order to forget the experience.
----
Here are all of the Hong Kong pictures, sadly I didn't take as many as I did in Bali. This is partially because I kept forgetting my camera at night and partially because I was a bit under the weather for much of my time there. Also, I did not get any pictures of our trecherous speedboat ride, it was too dark and I was a little too scared but be fooling with my camera. Ah well, I did get a few good ones, and here they are:
After a cab ride that lasted way too long (due to the drivers not having a clue where they were going and dreadfully over shooting the mark), seven hikers were dropped off at a place in the New Territories starting with the letter "T" (I can't remember the name, Jessica?). They then hiked an hour on a mostly well paved path with brilliant views and cows on the way (no, the cows weren't brilliant). The path then spit them out in a village with a lovely cafe, the food was good and the puppies were cute. Our intrepid expats then spent a couple hours on the most beautiful beach in Hong Kong, before realizing that the sun was beginning to set and one of them had a flight back to the US that night. So they packed up and made the 15 minute hike to another small village with two cafes (I think) and a phone where they could call a speed boat to pick them up.
The plan was perfect, or so they thought. Only one of the hikers spoke Cantonese, he therefore was nominated to have all dealings with speedboat drivers. So while the other six hikers contemplated buying icecream and switching into their flipflops, or smacking eachothers bug bites as the case may be, Steve was informed that the seas were too rough for the little speedboats to make the trip. Steve, sadly relayed the information, that the only place in these rough waves to catch a boat was another hour's walk back the way they came. The hikers were dismayed but they had a plane deadline to make, so on they went.
On arriving at the alternate pier they found that there is a regular Ferry but that they had just missed it and it wouldn't be back for another half hour. There were however, several speedboats trolling around the harbour that seemed to be looking for work. Steve, the invaluable linguist, opened bargaining with the closest driver. After several exchanges a price was reached and she drove her boat over to the pier so that we might hop in. Just as we were to begin loading, however, another speedboat wedged his way between the hikers and the boat. Thus, followed a very heated argument between the two drivers in some strange speed boat dialect, that for all Steve knew, was not Cantonese. As far as the hikers could tell there seemed to be some sort of rivalry or pecking order that had somehow been violated. The two drivers, eventually, came to an understanding and the hikers were split into two groups and loaded 3 in the man's boat, 4 in the woman's boat.
Steve and the other two in the man's boat sped off, out of the bay, they were waylaid halfway to their destination by a Police boat. The police scrutinized their passports but otherwise let them on their way, they were then dropped off at the pier with the busstop.
Meanwhile, the woman's boat with her 4 passengers took a slow sweep of the bay while the woman seemed to be chatting with all of her fellow speedboaters. Soon, they pointed out of the bay and were headed off at top speed, they stopped once so that the woman could tell two of the passengers to get in front, seemingly to balance out the boat. It wasn't 5 minutes, however, until they stopped again and the woman demanded that she get paid. The hikers looked around them they weren't far from land but it was dark and they didn't know where they were going so they decided to pay her what had been agreed on back at the pier. She seemed happy with this and continued on. Again they hadn't gone very far when the woman stopped the boat once more. This time there was another boat headed right for her and it didn't seem to be stopping. The driver yelled something and quickly turned the wheel so that the boats didn't collide. The other boat was empty except for the driver, who was wearing a dark vest similar to what a policeman might wear. There were, however, no markings or lights on his boat and it didn't look much different from all of the other speed boats. The hikers were concerned. The two drivers were shouting, but this time not at eachother. The woman was yelling something about the police and the man was yelling something as well. The hikers were now very concerned. They finally figured out through gestures that drivers wanted the only male hiker in the boat to transfer over the this new boat, leaving the female hikers behind. All sorts of horrible scenarios were popping into all of their heads, kidnappings at the forefront. Upon realizing this, Jon, chivalrously refused the invitation and firmly stated that either all of them switched boats or none of them did. The drivers got the point and seemed upset, but resigned, the one boat headed off in one direction the other with it's passengers went on. The hikers hearts did not fully descend back into their chests, however, until they saw the lights of their destination in the distance and to their great relief were quickly reunited with the rest of their party.
Diane luckily made it back in time to catch her flight, if not have dinner first. And the rest of the hikers went out for a night of partying in order to forget the experience.
----
Here are all of the Hong Kong pictures, sadly I didn't take as many as I did in Bali. This is partially because I kept forgetting my camera at night and partially because I was a bit under the weather for much of my time there. Also, I did not get any pictures of our trecherous speedboat ride, it was too dark and I was a little too scared but be fooling with my camera. Ah well, I did get a few good ones, and here they are:
// posted by Julie @ 11:29 AM 
