At 10, Anna and Jeffrey would meet me at Kowloon Tong, 42km from Hasmik’s apartment. I calculated 4h to go there, including crossing the border.
I just want to quote Anna when I told her about this project: “I am not sure if it is a good idea to go to HK by bike :)“ and I answered “Let’s say it would be a little challenge 😉
Ok…
I did the first 6km and arrived at the border at 6:20 and the first 2 parts of that challenge were: the officer meant, I cannot cross the border by bike and the border only opens at 7:00. The officer spoke Chinese fluently, but luckily there was a man who translated his flow of words and in the end, he called is supervisor and told me that I can go, but only by bus and the bike has to be stored in the bus. This would have been the first opportunity to leave my bike in China, lock it safely and go by bus. Let’s say – too reasonable for me? Additionally, I thought, maybe I can go back from HK to China by bike and see what happens.
At 7, the group of waiting people went into the building of border control and the officers just noticed my bike with a hint of astonishment. Everything went smoothly, I bought a bus ticket with Yuan and got back change in HK$, put my bike in the bus and off we drove. First, I had told Anna I could be late, because the border is opening later than expected, then I had written that I am in the bus and will be on time. I just wanted to send those messages fast before my Chinese SIM card would stop working. In the meantime, the bus had stopped, and the passengers and my bike had to leave after travelling maybe 400m. There was another building, HK border control. Everything went smooth and I was told to go back to the same bus stop, and: no, I cannot go by bike. The Chinese bus driver had left the bus in the back part of the station, now a driver from HK drove to the front part, my bike went to the luggage space and the bus went on. Only for a while.
I didn’t look at my watch, but I guessed it was maybe 20 min and calculated another 6km. (Now, I know we had been in Sheung Shui Station, and it was less than 6km)
Anyway, here I could start going by bike, according to my calculation I could reach Kowloon Tong at time if I manage an average of 15km/h and only the very small reasonable part somewhere in the back part of my head thought about locking the bike and going on by bus or train (I was sure the train will be there, too, and now I know it was like that, just one station away from the Chinese border)
The next 22km, I was mostly riding along the GPS route, but then I lost it and Mr.G lost me and gave me always changing and confusing direction and in front of me was a big hill and around me were highways and barriers making crossings difficult. Before that, I had met many cyclists and it was easier to decide where to go when I saw what they did. Now, I saw nobody. I tried this and that always turning back to my starting point of confusion. And there was the train station….
When there was not enough time to fool around anymore, I asked someone if I can go with the train with my bike, the answer was no. My problem was that my phone didn’t show me the location (“you are in a tunnel or building” – no, I even didn’t stand under a tree!), so I had no idea where I was and I wanted to know where I would leave my bike when I use the train without it.
25min were left and I decided to follow the road signs. There was Kowloon West and Kowloon center, both showing me that it could not be far anymore. I chose “center” and went fast. Soon, the road looked a bit like highway, only there was a lane reserved for buses calming me down. The road went uphill, and I fought to keep a high speed.
And then there was a policeman, apparently waiting for me, because he talked into his radio set and it looked like “yes, now he is here!”
He stopped me and told me to go back. Going back? First, I didn’t want that so much but second this was very dangerous – there was not enough space between barriers and bus lane. He also thought about other possibilities, also talking in his radio, but then I had to walk back. I ran down the hill on the highway one the bus lane against the direction of the traffic, every 10sec pressing me and the bike against the barrier when a bus came (some of them showing “Kowloon Tong”…). I reached a normal street, raced back to the station and had 10min left to reach the meeting point. I locked my bike (not according to my plans with several locks and my flag-cover), jumped into a taxi, jumped out again to take my phone out of a small bag on the bike, jumped back into the taxi and the driver showed what he can, going fast and: not using the highway! I could have gone the same road 30min earlier by myself!
With the change from buying the bus ticket I could pay the taxi and then met Ann and Jeffrey. My plan had been to leave the big bike bag on the bike under that cover (and fix the cover with another lock) but in my hurry, I had taken everything with me (in the end, as above mentioned, “even” my phone.)
So, I had to carry everything with me for a while, but then Jeffrey brought the bike bag to his office to store it during our tour.
First, we went to the Chinese New Year Flower Markets in Victoria Park where you could get pigs and food, pigs and flowers and beside other things also pigs.
And like on fun fairs in other places, too, you found those barkers loudly praising peelers or other tools for the household. The pigs were mainly stuffed animals or paper cuts sold by students who by that get in touch with business life.
We used the old tram
and then had lunch in a typical restaurant for locals where you had to wait at the entrance to get a seat and the tables are shared between different customers if there was a free seat.
After lunch, we went to the Victoria peak.
once the older building could have looked more impressing 
“Walk with Jesus” looks good on a car!
The first plan was to take the Peak Tram but that would have meant one hour of cueing up and we managed to walk up in the same time without hurrying.
After this calm walk, we again met the hordes of tourists at the Peak tower where we gave up visiting the platform or other attractions.
Instead we made a circle walk on the top with less people, more nature and good view down to HK. I would like to say nice views, because even the sun was shining, but the smog clouded my perception.
There are still people who are intellectually overwhelmed by the idea of climate change but when you can see how dirty the air is that you need for breathing, you could guess that someone say, “Ok, stop, business and going by cars may be important, living is more important.” You could solve some of the biggest problems of the world just by changing from madness to reason. (And to make it clear, even when I tend to madness in small things like bike trips to HK or elsewhere, this madness doesn’t do too much damage, so I feel entitled to state things like that)
I asked Anna and Jeffrey about things like meaning of life and the development of HK under the constant influence of or from China. You can see and feel a big difference between HK and Chinese people’s behaviour. Maybe this started from colonial times when the British brought their way of life and administration etc to HK. But it is interesting to see that apparently after a generation or two or maybe also less than that, people moving to the city adapt this way of life. But Anna and Jeffrey also told me that the mainland-influence changes things in HK, for example language. Every day, 150 Chinese are allowed to move to HK (by a quota for family reunion if I got it right) and it would be a found food for right-wing populists all over Europe to condemn this endangering of the own culture. By the way, I am sure that the second player in this game is this “own culture”. If people truly have something like that, society can absorb much from the new coming people, partly transforming it to something own and new, partly just being stronger than influences. I think Vienna some decades ago was a good example for that, many people came from all sides and their culture in the end made Vienna more Viennese. And now we have starbucks etc, which has more effect on our culture (Viennese coffee houses?!) than some thousands women with headscarf and their conservative patriachs…
I just want to say about Hongkong (and many other places) that I have difficulties with the concept of earning a lot of money and maybe even having a bit time and some possibilities to spend it (besides the cost-prohibitive apartments) but after a week of working being tired enough to need the weekend to recover for the next week of working. This is a circle of live that ignores the uniqueness of our existence in favour of at least meaning- and useless or even harmful activity.
We went down by minibus and on the way to the ferry came to an underpass with many Philippine women sitting there in groups on pieces of cardboards. Ann and Jeffrey explained to me that these women are working as maids in HK households and in their spare time gather there.
This imbalance of self-exploiting rich and exploited poor makes me speechless and helpless. I just know that this cannot be final goal of human development.
Anna had chosen a Vegetarian restaurant for dinner and to make it short, the food was great.
I just must add that even in a Vegetarian restaurant you can ask how many hours a day the people in the kitchen work and how much money they get. Or what about those people who grow that food? Or who transport it?
That reminds me on a pupil at school some years ago who asked me about my income. And after that asked if I mean per month or per week (his father, a cook, got the same per week). At that time, with young children, I could have coped with my monthly salary even every week but that is not the point. For me it was good to hear that not always those who are privileged enough to be able to go to university (like me) also earn more money.
It was evening and time to get back to China. Anna and Jeffrey had made a great day for me with delicious food and many things to see and now they helped me so much until I finally was in the train to China.
I had asked the taxi driver for the name of the place where my bike is. Anna had looked it up at a map and it was only one stop with the train from our meeting point!
She and Jeffrey accompanied me there. There was another problem to solve, because bikes are allowed in the train only when you remove the front wheel. Now my bike is a bit heavy and with the bag it is around 25kg and not so easy to transport when you must carry one wheel and balance the bike with the bag, but I would have done if possible!
At my bike-shop in Vienna, they had exchanged the axis to one with special screw head so thieves cannot take the wheel. And now I couldn’t, too, because the special tool for that was in another bike bag in Shenzhen. To the guard on the platform I suggested to lock my bike to have the same effect (it is hard to move it and for sure not less dangerous for other passengers!) and she said, she would be ok with it but other passengers could complain why I get an exception because I could open the lock any time! (I also could put back the wheel any time). So, the solution was to fix the wheel with cable ties. We had to wait for another guard who came with two ties and fixed both wheels (for more security, for a bigger challenge, for what?)
and both guards waited at the platform until I was in the train, in the last wagon, last door. Now it also was time to say good-bye to Anna and Jeffrey,
the doors closed, and I was on my way to Lo Wu. There, I had to carry my bike from the very end of the platform to the exit at the top. A guard saw me and first meant he cannot open the cable ties but after watching me for a while he had an idea and came back with scissors. He cut the tie at the back wheel and now I could balance the bike, what was difficult enough compared to just pushing it. And as if I still would be too dangerous our what ever for whomever the guard accompanied me to the gate and only there removed the second cable tie.
At the border control, I should fill in an arrival card but got only a departure card and queued up. But the officer wanted a real arrival card, gave me one, I filled in the form (nearly the same) and queued up again.
Then, they renewed the 17 days old pictures of my finger prints and face, and I could leave. I couldn’t leave the station without asking for a way out, but happily I had been there before (there is that commercial center) and could orientate faster. I wanted to message Anna, but my SIM card had not recovered from the tour and didn’t allow WeChat or SMS (and of course nothing with VPN)
The last point stressing me on that day was the key to Hasmik’s apartment. I could remember that I had put it in my jacket and closed the pocket with a zipper. But I didn’t find it. Worried and tired I drove home. At the gate, the guard knows me and opened the door. Then I locked my bike and started to search in my bike bag, because I hoped to find the key, it could have been fallen out of the pocket. And then I saw that my bike jacket has one more pocket at the chest and even could remember that I had put the key there and the best thing about that was: the keys were still there.
Many minutes before midnight of this long and eventful day, I opened the door, did what had to be done and went to bed.
*****
“I am not sure if it is a good idea to go to HK by bike :)“
“Let’s say it would be a little challenge 😉
*****