I2-1: 西坑 → 香港 → 西坑

June 8, 2023

Not that they have all that many followers or views but the Official Twitter Account of Zhuhai City reshared one of my videos!

I've still got online banking and access to various credit accounts, but the last time I was in the US was in 2019, and all the physical cards for everything not Chinese have expired. As for the cards that are Chinese, I use them so rarely that they aren't especially happy about being asked to do things like allow me to access my bank account and withdraw cash.

Just because I've had many multiple previous occasions of random people stepping in to help me when I've ended up completely fucked by non-working systems doesn't mean that I should rely on random people showing up to help. The moneychangers' rate is probably better than the bank's rate but, considering how reluctant my card is to let me use it at a domestic ATM from the same bank, the safest thing for me to do is to have cash in hand.

It may be that Hong Kong is Chinese, but I'm "not in China" for the first time since March 2020!

With the exception of trying to get rid of nuisance bills given to me by weirdos that insist on cash¹ (or hotels that return my key deposit as physical money²), the last time I used cash was when I was stuck in Thailand in February and March of 2020.

I make it through Customs and Immigration without too many hiccups. My very battered, very worn passport is an object of consternation and disdain by the Chinese border official on my way out and, on account of something being wrong, gets me a five-minute wait outside an office on my way back in. I've been putting off getting it replaced because, even though I have an employee to do it for me, I didn't want to deal with the multi-day nightmare that is going to be updating my entire digital existence from my bank cards to my mobile phone to every single place I've been Real Name Verified.

Even this close to street level, this doesn't feel like an appropriate way to be on a scaffold

The hooked knee and ankle provide many points of contact, but a safety line should still be worn

Although they are far more relaxed seeming and a lot friendlier looking than the Chinese Officials, the Hong Kong side do that thing police do where they casually ask questions in the hopes of tripping you up. Questions like why I'm crossing the border with nothing more than a passport, a wallet, and a power bank.

Not seeing any reason to mention that I'm going to get the Covid vaccine⁴, I mention my other plans for Hong Kong which is to have lunch at Chungking Mansion - the center of Hong Kong's Indian community. Of course, I don't understand the Cantonese beyond a few cognates, but the language of laughter is universal, and the entire row of border officials in their little booths above the lines where people queue for inspection clearly think it hilarious.

Particularly, once my rescheduled vaccination was also moved to the Clinic's Nathan Road location, how could I skip this?

Then, time to catch the border bus downtown. There are two companies providing bus service, both for the same ticket price. I bought my ticket from a kiosk in the entrance area on the mainland side (overpaying by a smidge because I bought in renminbi). That bus hasn't arrived yet. The other company's bus is getting ready leave, so the two ticket sellers cum ticket checkers are yelling through their portable headsets at everyone who comes through to COME AND GET A TICKET NOW.

I'd have merely found this distasteful and annoying if not for them also getting stroppy with me because I dared to sit down in one of their unoccupied and broken folding chairs⁵. Now, while I know better that future crossings into Hong Kong should aim for one of the border sites that has a subway connection, I also know what bus company to avoid.

Bitchy bus company ladies didn't like being photographed

Subway connection is much easier than the bus

Disorientation on the Hong Kong side is par for the course. I'm going from near 100% comprehension of all written text within my field of vision to, at best, 50%. I don't really like having my communication ability stolen away from me but this almost understandable mash-up of British English, Wade Giles Romanization, and Traditional Characters is, somehow, worse than being completely blind, deaf, and dumb.

Money changed, I wander my way down Nathan Street to Chungking Mansion, get a delicious fast food meal from the first stall I encounter near the entrance, then head to the nearby Clinic where I'm scheduled for a shot that mostly doesn't hurt as much as Sinovac and mostly doesn't make me as disoriented and muddle-headed in the immediate aftermath of getting vaccinated, but which still leaves me in a condition that calls for, once again, telling Edgar I can't meet him for dinner ... and maybe next time I'm in Shenzhen?

¹ Hi Nathan!
² On one of the recent trips to spend time with Chinese Boyfriend, I ended up getting the rafting venue's locker key deposit partly because he also had no idea what to do with random small bills and partly because I'm otherwise thorny about him giving me any money³ so he takes every opportunity he realizes I won't be unhappy about
³ Feminist upbringing versus a far less egalitarian idea of male and female roles and a watch collection worth more than everything I own.
⁴ A surprising to me number of people not only aren't fully vaxxed but seem to take umbrage with my wanting to be fully vaxxed
⁵ As in, lied to me that my bus was arriving, grabbed the chair the minute I stood up, folded it, and then tried to physically take it away from me when I realized that the bus wasn't arriving yet and went to sit down again.

I don't think this is how these barriers are supposed to work

Today's ride: 1 km (1 miles)
Total: 1,025 km (637 miles)

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