We went down to Hong Kong to get new visas and stayed there for two nights. Myung lived just across the water from there, in Shenzhen, for a long time, so she wasn’t too excited about staying. I think it could be interesting, but for the casual tourist, it’s mostly about shopping and looking at the fabulous glass and steel skyline. Well, there are a couple of pictures. One was taken during the nightly light and laser show you can watch from anywhere high up or from Kowloon, across Victoria Harbor where we were. The other is from the tram to Victoria Peak. The view from the peak is the other big touristy thing to do.
Compared to China, the shopping is great and the prices of quality things is less. I’ve heard and I think it may be true, Bangkok is better for bargains. Whatever, it’s not my thing.
It was nice to be in a developed “country” again. China’s coming up in the world, but it has a long way to go. You kind of get used to China which, in turn, is way more developed than India. But Hong Koing arrived a loong time ago. Stuff works well and the people are more modern. I wonder how it will be when it becomes completely Chinese in 40 more years. Will China ever catch up? Everybody is watching.
We got out visas this morning and came right over to Shenzhen. Tomorrow we are going to Henan Province to look at the heritage sites there. Click on my cctv link and then click on Henan for a preview. The pictures will be a lot better than mine, anyway.
Speaking of pictures, my friend, Renato, suggested a way to make my “vertical” pictures not pixilated. It means the picture will appear little on my website, but you can click on it and it becomes big and not pixilated. My other pictures get big if you click on them too.
The big news about our travels now is that we spoke to a woman at the Iranian consulate in Hong Kong. She said flatly that Americans do NOT need to be part of a tour to travel in Iran. What a difference that makes!. She said all tourists need a “reference number”, and told us how to get one for each of us. We’re working on that. So, if that is possible, we’ll go to Iran. That also means I’m reconsidering going to Pakistan which, for you geographically challenged persons, is between China and Iran. If it seems hairy, I’ll not stay long in Pakistan. The only thing I must see is Mohengodaro and Harappa. It was an Indus Valley civilization almost contemporary with civilizations of southern Iraq, 6000 years ago. The way things are going in Pakistan, I think it might be a good idea to go before Pakistan falls into civil war and visiting there becomes as difficult as visiting Iraq. I don’t want missing Iraq to happen to me again. Shoot, something bad could happen in Iran, too. Like, Nut-case Netanyahoo might nuke it.
That’s it for now. Talk to you later. Be well, all of you.