Having landed in Hong Kong on the 25th two things struck me. The first was how western the place was. The only way I can describe HK island for anyone who hasn't been is like a giant canary wharf meets up-market shopping mall meets china town. All in a good way.
The second thing was how modern the place was. More skyscrapers than I remember from manhattan, much much cleaner than Bangkok. Everyone is polite and practically everyone speaks a little bit of English.
It was here I met an old colleague, Jake. We both made the decision to go travelling around the same time, although completely separately. He had been to India for a few months and had been in China for 2 – visiting Hong Kong for the visa run.
The second thing was how modern the place was. More skyscrapers than I remember from manhattan, much much cleaner than Bangkok. Everyone is polite and practically everyone speaks a little bit of English.
It was here I met an old colleague, Jake. We both made the decision to go travelling around the same time, although completely separately. He had been to India for a few months and had been in China for 2 – visiting Hong Kong for the visa run.
Meeting someone on the road is always helpful as they give you the tips and advice that the travel guides just can't. As we traded stories about our travels and the experiences we had I had a small revelation. It dawned on me why a lot of people go travelling. It's not hat they're unhappy with their lot, or at least generally anyway, it's more that they, we, need a new challenge and to broaden our horizons. And going to a new environment gives that. China would certainly be that for me.
Having landed in the evening and still a little dozy from the Valium (I'm not a good flyer and the stuff helps me ge through what would otherwise be an uncomfortable ordeal) we decided to head out, to taste my first proper chinese cuisine.
The thing that Jake had said, and that I soon learned, was that picture menus and the art of pointing soon become invaluable in China. Long (or so I thought) the preserve of Brits and Germans in restaurants abroad, the picture menu has now become invaluable, along with its sketchy “Chinglish” translations (I’ll be compiling compendium for the UK market). The difference in China is that the menus have no pretension of photoshopping the pictures, what you get is what you see. The rest of the island’s cuisine is quite varied and there are lots of upmarket European restaurants for the well heeled expats.
Hong Kong has a lot of sights to see for what is essentially a working city, which can probably be done over a day or two. The next day we headed to the zoological and botanical gardens (I was very much more interested in the “zoo” bit than the “bot” bit) which housed an impressive array on monkeys and gibbons (which I thought was a bird) and was set fairly high up on HK island. It is a short journey to the tram which takes you to the famous Victoria park at the summit of the island, with it's stunning views.
Being the massive geek I am, I decided to visit an exhibition on the redevelopment of HK docks (I was the only person in there and all three staff followed me round like I was some sort of visiting foreign dignitary). Apparently Hong Kongers (if that’s what they call themselves) were up in arms about over development and used the Harbour redevelopment as a locus of their fury. All very interesting stuff – and HK is very compact.
Having landed in the evening and still a little dozy from the Valium (I'm not a good flyer and the stuff helps me ge through what would otherwise be an uncomfortable ordeal) we decided to head out, to taste my first proper chinese cuisine.
The thing that Jake had said, and that I soon learned, was that picture menus and the art of pointing soon become invaluable in China. Long (or so I thought) the preserve of Brits and Germans in restaurants abroad, the picture menu has now become invaluable, along with its sketchy “Chinglish” translations (I’ll be compiling compendium for the UK market). The difference in China is that the menus have no pretension of photoshopping the pictures, what you get is what you see. The rest of the island’s cuisine is quite varied and there are lots of upmarket European restaurants for the well heeled expats.
Hong Kong has a lot of sights to see for what is essentially a working city, which can probably be done over a day or two. The next day we headed to the zoological and botanical gardens (I was very much more interested in the “zoo” bit than the “bot” bit) which housed an impressive array on monkeys and gibbons (which I thought was a bird) and was set fairly high up on HK island. It is a short journey to the tram which takes you to the famous Victoria park at the summit of the island, with it's stunning views.
Being the massive geek I am, I decided to visit an exhibition on the redevelopment of HK docks (I was the only person in there and all three staff followed me round like I was some sort of visiting foreign dignitary). Apparently Hong Kongers (if that’s what they call themselves) were up in arms about over development and used the Harbour redevelopment as a locus of their fury. All very interesting stuff – and HK is very compact.
That night we headed to Kowloon which is technically (at least geographically) in mainland China – although administered by HK. The views of the island’s skyscrapers lit up by night is just absolutely stunning (and quite possibly breathtaking). There was a tower which looked like it had been taken straight out of the film Tron and a plethora of super tall buildings dominating the skyline. I think the pictures do it justice.
Kowloon is an interesting place – much more hectic than HK island and, I dare say, a little dirtier. Another day, another trek trying to find a temple. Failed. We then decided to head to the famous markets – a silk market – a fakes market – a ladies market (ladies clothes, rather than ladies) and a goldfish market (literally shops with goldfish – a whole road of them). Getting new release DVDs was interesting as we were beckoned into a backroom in a store which sold “ladies DVD” (yes, ladies this time) although after haggling we decided it was against our better judgement.
A quiet night with the new Pirates of the Caribbean film and then off to bed.
The next day we headed to Llama island which is one of the recommended main islands off Hong Kong Island. It couldn’t be more different to Hong Kong and had an almost European feel. We ate in a vegan hippy café which had signs on the wall of a “make love not war” hue. Llama island’s main beach deserves special attention. It is a fairly good beach and its nice to actually see sand after concrete jungle. Except the beach was right next to a coal fired power station, complete with signs saying “when windy, do not swim in water” –presumably because the stations fumes would blow in your face.
All was not lost, as there was another beach on the other side of the island. Except, what the map didn’t tell you what that it was a trek over the mountain, down the mountain, through steep jungle and via a “youth hostel” which didn’t seem to exist. And so we trekked, for hours, and hours, to find the mysterious beach. The highest point has to be being greeted by a Chinese graveyard at the top of one hill, and a misleading sign which lead up trekking through some jungle. 3 hours and 3 pints of sweat later, we decided to cut our losses and head back to the port. Nonetheless, would recommend going to the island – and if anyone does find that beach, well, you’re a more lucky man than me.
The Hong Kong crowd, which we sampled the next evening, was a relatively young and vibrant mixture of expats and natives, all blending together in the island’s many bars and clubs. There are some good bars in HK, although a little pricey, are not too busy and serve good drinks – rather than the crap you sometimes get when travelling (think “fake” alcohol – like fake Louis Vuitton – looks the same, whole different evening to be honest).
And that was Hong Kong. Of all the places I’ve visited I can certainly say I could live and work there for a little while. It has a certain glitz and charm about it which is attractive.
Off to mainland China…
(Some pictures from HK)
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| "Scaffolding" - from Bamboo |
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