Hong Kong is a place that has to be seen to be believed. Absolutely nothing about this city makes a damn bit of sense, and maybe that's why it is such a fabulous and captivating place!
Full of contradictions, I'm never sure what to expect when I walk out the door, neither from the city nor from its citizens. The Cantonese people are pushy but polite, aggressive yet shy, extremely well-dressed but display deplorable table manners: lots of nose blowing, noodle slurping, and teeth picking going on at the table... Dressed to the nines, these folks are seemingly driven by shopping and consumerism, and yet the city is full of elaborate religious shrines and beautiful spirit houses that imply a deeper sense of understanding.
The city itself is tiny in land area and yet packed with huge skyscrapers... Hong Kong is both very Chinese and very western simultaneously... Buddhist monks burn incense and beg for alms underneath giant billboards advertising the latest Versace collection. Absolutely everything here is numbered: the light switches in our hotel room, the rubbish bins on the street, the urinals in the public toilets... I am not joking. This obsession with numbering is just one example of the efficiency and attention to detail that keeps Hong Kong humming 24 hours a day, seemingly never taking a rest to sit back and admire the jaw-dropping view across Victoria harbour. The British must have had a hard time relinquishing their lease on HK in '97: who in the world would want to give all this back?
The weather has been steamy and damp since we arrived, and most of the buildings on Hong Kong island have been shrouded in fog all week... From our hotel in Kowloon (the mainland side of the harbour) we've been able to explore all the major sights on foot, also by taking advantage of the great train and ferry services that connect all parts of the city. Our visit to the Botanical Gardens was like hiking through a wet sauna, but hey: the plants seem to love it!
Hong Kong highlights include: singing horrible Karaoke renditions at Green Box; forcing Paul to ice skate for the first time (he did NOT like it); slurping up delicious Vietnamese food at the ultra-posh Golden Bull restaurant at Ocean Centre; Dim Sum and beers at the hip and trendy noodle bar Sweet Dynasty in Tsim Tsha Shui; rushing to catch the Star Ferry to Central during the nightly harbour light show; admiring the view from our 14th floor room; exploring the jam-packed and super-loud Temple night market; sitting back with a cup of tea to enjoy an hour-long foot massage... Ahhhhh.
Like many great cities, 5 minutes can be too much, and a week is certainly not enough... We are off to Beijing on Monday, preparing ourselves to be herded like cattle on our 5-star, all-inclusive, whirlwind package tour of China's capital... Wish us luck! More soon X Jason
2 comments:
Again, very interesting images and thoughts you are writing about. I would love to experience what so many of my workmates have, i.e. they being Chinese living in China. I look forward to hearing about your experiences as you travel through China. Our close friend in Groningen visited China for a month and had some amazing pictures and some funny stories...bet you will too.
I am enjoying your stories of your AMAZING once in life time journey! How you are managing to keep up your energy -- do all this-- AND blog in such a facinating, entertaining to say nothing about how you are somehow able to put it in perspective...is amazing in and of itself. As the American tv show/movie Wayne's World characters--Garth and Wayne would say: "I am NOT worthy!" I mean, WORLDLY"
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