Maverick in ‘Not quite Hong Kong’ and a roundup of Asia 16 July – Maverick scribed by Toni

KFC breakfast Guangzhou

Squeak – that’s all I can manage. We are supposed to be waking up in Hong Kong today, though we didn’t quite make it last night, as explained in my blog from yesterday.  The family wake up in their ‘Austin Powers’ style apartment, though there is no ‘yeah baby’ moments coming from their mouths as they pack up their bags to head to the next available train to Hong Kong.  

Guanzhou Apartment - Railway hotel

The hotel gives us all breakfast vouchers for KFC.  Sammy calls it the Kids Fattening Centre and the kids are shocked.  It doesn’t look anything like they imagined and breakfast appears in the form of rice soup and a kind or churro.  John rescues the day by getting some bacon and egg muffins for him and the kids and a coffee for Toni.  Toni, James and I enjoy the rice soup, though Sammy, Lucy and John definitely do not like it. 

Sammy powers in his massage chair by the swivelling TV

Our train is at 9:04 am so we have half an hour to breathe before making our way through customs and onto the platform for another modern high speed train taking us straight to Kowloon.

Hong Kong is our last stop in Asia before we hit Europe, James has been promised a visit to the modelling shop so he can stock up on Raspberry boards, servos and Arduino whatever that all is, Hong Kong Disneyland beckons as well as the usual tourist sites.

The sprial staircase above the card table leading upstairs

Asia has certainly created an impression, a better understanding and some real appreciation for the industriousness of some countries.  We’ve seen kindness, corruption and many different beliefs and religions.  We have only scratched the surface of each country we’ve visited and all we have are general impressions.

My family are from New Zealand and having seen some of their life, I can see how lucky they really are.  New Zealand needs to consider that it is one of the most beautiful places in the world, with rich agricultural resources, as well as clean air and water, and with global warming speeding our way, a very attractive climate less affected by warming than our neighbours.  4 million people in the whole country is so few.  New Zealand must seem like the ‘Elysium’ of the world to people in Asia and the rest of the world.

It doesn’t take a bird brain to know how important it is to manage the growth and development of this small country.  If I could fly, my air quality wasn’t great and I didn’t have much decent water around, you can bet that I would be heading to New Zealand and if they didn’t want to welcome me, I would be coming anyway.  I’d take over the nests of the other birds and steal all their food to ensure my own bird family survives.  Perhaps New Zealand should welcome a few more wise bird families to New Zealand, focus on the strength of the whole society and ensure it’s united in its values. If I arrived in a country where the values weren't clear I would certainly be chriping loudly to instill some of my own.

Personally I liked meeting the birds that had a sense of purpose and a faith.  Where religion was at play – god really did help those who helped themselves.  Why should New Zealand produce bird seed for all the new families? can they really afford that? how does that help birds learn how to thrive?  When you start handing out free birdseed, my feathered friends can become dependent and blind and incapable of harvesting the cherries in the bush.  What’s more they stop trading with the other local birds.  We are such a long way from global values though let’s find our great local New Zealand ones. The greatest legacy the Lee Kuan Yuew left for Singapore was not the wealth that was created it was the values that are shared today by everyone no matter their race, religion or family history.

New Zealand needs to welcome other birds that bring genuine investment of hard work and commitment to this country.  We don't want birds that just bring birdseed to feed fat pigeons.  We need more birds, let’s go out and attract the best ones and make it easy for them to come.

I am proud to be a Glenorchy bird and proud that we have our plan and our values in the Glenorchy vision plan.  We need to hold to our shared values and not let foreign birds come in and do things different to our shared values just because they have a lot of birdseed.  I, Maverick worry when too much birdseed is spread around.  It bloats the local birds and they can’t see straight.  Is this birdseed a gift or is it slow poison?  Can we still see our vision plan when we’ve been eating too much birdseed?

Anyway enough about birdseed.  I am glad to be leaving the smog filled areas in China.

We arrive in Hong Kong and make our way to Jordan and our shoe box sized apartment.  We are not there for long and head straight towards Central and up Victoria Peak on the tram.  The wait in the heat was long, though en-route we were able to see the history of the tram and Victoria peak.  People used to be carted up this monstrous hill by sedan chair.  Can you believe it?  It is one thing to be doing a Grand tour in the cooler climes of Europe, though hoisting an overdressed Victorian Man or woman on your shoulders in that heat seems ridiculous.  Anyway, once the tram was built it was much easier and what an engineering feat that was.

On top of the hill, we arrived at a peculiar building shaped like an ironing board.  How do we get out of here?  Desperate for the views we paced around the building looking for the exit.

Eventually we are rewarded and start the Hong Kong Trail.  This affords magnificent views with birds and butterflies and spiders added into the mix.  Victoria peak is where the crazy rich people live.  They pay somewhere in the region of 200,000 HKD per month in rent.  That is around 40,000 NZD per month just for an apartment to rent.  If the New Zealanders are worried about property prices in Auckland they should look and see what is happening in Singapore and Hong Kong.  You can’t really change a lot without severe intervention – local and open market pricing anyone?

We all loved our walk and stretching our legs, especially after all that time on trains.  Keen not to queue again we start making our way down the steep decline towards the star ferry.  Our plan is to be there in time for the laser light cruise departure.  With such a steep descent we all experience thigh burn, though no-one is complaining and I’m being carried, so why should I complain?.  John hails a taxi when we are nearly at the bottom of the hill.  He’s desperate for a cold beer and a sit down.  I can’t see the kids or Toni complaining too much.  The kids would love to sit down for something cold. 

We all headed to Pier 8 not realising quite what we had come to.  We thought the staff were incredibly rude, though then read that we were being served by people with learning difficulties.  It felt strange to see the opposite of what is normal happening, with staff appearing aloof and not wanting to serve you.  

Whistles weted, we headed to the Star Ferry as the sky started to glow pink and the lights starting to turn on.  We spent an hour cruising the harbour learning about the different areas and and the growth and changes in Hong Kong. Laser lights lit up buildings and flashed incredible displays.

8 pm was late enough and no-one argued when it came to a simple dinner or steamed broccoli and salad before a very early night.  The kids are needing all their sleep and rest before Disneyland tomorrow.