China/Hong Kong 2007
Arrival in Hong Kong, the next day on a week-long tour of southern China, then two more days/nights in Hong Kong before leaving the next morning.
Day 1 - Arrival in Hong Kong, the flight over, and then wandering over to Mong Kok to explore.
Day 2 - ferry over to Zhu Hai, China, to a water farm, a memorial Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, and a play.
Day 3 - pottery factories in Foshan, plus some other stuff...
Day 4 - ancestral temple park, then into Guangzhou itself, including the Guangzhou Museum.
Day 5 - the Seven Star Crags.
Day 6 - Bao Mei Palace and the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial.
Day 7 - Taishan city.
Day 8 - back to Hong Kong via the KTT high-speed train, plus the HK skyline at night.
Day 9 - Tsim Sha Tsui, dim sum, Mong Kok, etc.
Return - our first day of rain... as we leave Hong Kong/China.
Definitely very different; Hong Kong feels like a big change from the US, but China is even more dramatically so. Coming back to Hong Kong from south China, the feeling that Hong Kong is compartively nicer, better organized, and more familiar is very strong. When everything is relative, the standard of comfort in Hong Kong feels much better than in Guangzhou. I'm told by friends who have been to Beijing and Shanghai that both of those cities are very modern now too-- Guangzhou, by comparison, has much more visible poverty compared to all the work into Shanghai and Beijing to cover it up.