My Title is Hong Kong

Hong Kong (HK) is very humid, after all its situated in the tropics. Its hard to believe Hong Kong Island is a tropical island though. I guess some of it has to do with the fact that densely populated islands in the tropics are basically unheard of. When you think of the Caribbean, you think of palm trees and tiki bars. I’m not going to say that there aren’t any of those in HK, I’m just saying that perhaps the first thing you think of when you think of HK is “city”. And that assertion is for all intensive purposes true.

Picture taken somewhere near Kennedy Road, part of the financial district so therefore less dense.

HK self proclaims itself as “Asia’s world city”: and that might just be true to any uninformed tourist. Save for maybe Tokyo. Perhaps its true to say that HK is Asia’s World city. Just off the top of my head when I think of major Asian cities I probably would list them in this order: Tokyo, HK, Singapore, and once again nodding our heads to the uninformed tourist I would place Beijing over Shanghai – that’s only from their point of you mind you. That being said, Shanghai is certainly overshadowed by the city/territory of HK. However nothing would please the Chinese department of internal affairs more than Shanghai replacing HK by becoming the new economic center of China. And to give you my personal opinion, that is the direction that Shanghai is headed. And HK will simply become marginalized.

That being said, HK definitely has some kind of island charm that Shanghai lacks. To me, Shanghai felt deeply impersonal while the Beijing – especially the Hutong districts felt almost romantic and somewhat sleepy.

Just by throwing a cursory glance at HK, there doesn’t seem like there is anything to do. But don’t worry, we definitely found stuff to do in our stay at HK. Most people just come to shop. It used to be “really cheap” here but now it’s just “cheap” All of the Northern side of Hong Kong Island is dominated by designer shops which may be cheap by American/Western standards but since we’ve been to Beijing and Shanghai first, it just feels expensive. Allow me to explain the geography of the Hong Kong territory. The closest mainland city of relative significance is Shenzhen, one of the many modern instant cities that literally have sprouted out of farm-like villages in within 2 years. Chinese development is impossibly fast. Shenzhen is in the Guangdong province (Canton) and it forms the northern boundary with Hong Kong. The Hong Kong territory is an envelope that includes part of the mainland as well as a good number of islands. The northern most land is referred to as the New Territories, land that the British leased from China for 99 years. This region mostly just includes national parks which are very impressive, at least that’s what I gathered by looking at pictures.

Going south a little is the Kowloon peninsula (it means 9 dragons in Cantonese). The Kowloon area was until very recently the most densely populated city in the world. It’s still up there though. South of Kowloon is Hong Kong island, which is where Causeway Bay is located (we’re staying in a hostel at Causeway Bay). To the west of Hong Kong Island is the biggest island in the territory – Lantau Island which is where the Hong Kong International Airport, rated number 1 airport in the world by various independent sources. It was pretty awesome to fly into though, a lot of tropical looking water and tropical looking mountains. Its really its own kind of experience.

Native Hong Kongers list 2 things that are most-do's for new tourists. The first one is to take a peak tram up to Victoria Peak, one of the various names for the tallest point on Hong Kong island. The tram is essentially a one way trolley anchored by a two 2 inch thick braided steel cables. Today there is a cover to the red San Francisco-esque tram but the original tram was just a tin can. During World War II it was rumored that it was made out of cardboard. For people with an express fear of roller coasters this might not be the thing for you. It has steep inclines which nearly reach 30 degrees, which is actually steeper than you think it is. And you pass through a lush canopy of rainforesty like trees. At the top you are greeted by what is best described as a shopping mall, which is pretty much what Hong Kong is made up of: yes I mean to say that Hong Kong is comprised solely of shopping malls. At the top of this mall is an observation deck which commands a view past Hong Kong Island into Kowloon and even outlying islands. Its actually a lot less humid on top of the mountain than down in the urban jungle. Also at the top is the infamous Madame Toussaud's Wax Museum, something we opted out of seeing.


The second thing that the locals recommend is spending a day at the Ocean Park, one of Hong Kong's two amusement parks - neither of which we visited - there just wasn't enough time.a lif According to National Geographic Magazine, riding the Star Ferry across the harbor is one of the top 50 things to do in a lifetime. Not wanting to miss out on that we went to go check it out. At just 2.20 HKD (less than 0.30 USD) the ferry from Causeway Bay to Kowloon (Tsim Sha Tsui) is a steal and basically free for those of us accustomed to the rising costs of subway fees. Its a really cool feeling crossing the harbor in the midst of all the urban development. On the other side is Hong Kong's version of Hollywood's Avenue of Stars. I identified only 6 celebrities of the many listed. We then proceeded to our next destination.


Ngong Ping is the world's largest outdoor bronze seated Buddha. Which is such a specific category that skeptics may mock the title. Except that it actually is really cool. Normally you would take the subway (MTR) to the far side of Lantau Island aka the end of the yellow line, which we did, and then take a skyrail (cable car) over the mountains towards the monastery where it is near. However when we arrived there the skyrail was closed until further notice. Regrettably we had to take bus number 23 which was basically a bus ride which was over an hour long that looped around in the mountains. The view was nice though.

There's a monastery at the base of the Buddha. It's actually really big and it looks as if it is praying towards the mountains. Surrounding the Buddha are 6 minor deities praising him. The Buddha itself isn't very old, I think it is less than a century old but I'm not sure about that. The ride back was terrible though, the bus driver didn't turn on the A/C so the entire bus was sweaty and gasping for air by the end of the ride. In fact it was less humid and hot outside of the bus than inside. We felt like it was as if we walked into an airconditioned room when we stepped out of the bus. It was one of the worst experiences of my life.

We did other stuff too that I would like to write about but the internet is only half working so I think I'll call it a day at that. And then once we get to Taiwan tomorrow I can expect to have direct broadband access at which point I can add massive amounts of pictures.

-Andy