 |
| 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment