Hong Kong, Briefly

I didn't really know what to expect from Hong Kong, but I guessed that it would be pretty similar to Tokyo simply because both are large Asian cities. Nope. To my great intrigue, HK is a compelling place that is completely its own.

Ed and I landed late-ish on a Tuesday night and took a cab to our hotel. We found that although most restaurants were closed by the time we were settled in and Ed was hungry, around 11:00 P.M., that there is never a McDonald's too far away when one is in Hong Kong, and most seem to be open all night.

Although it is a modern city, bamboo scaffolding abounds.

The following morning dawned slightly overcast. I considered it warm, at nearly 70 degrees, but the number of down coats and scarves I spotted suggested that most locals disagreed. Our first move was to walk to Wagyu, an Australian restaurant, for breakfast. The setting and the food were wonderful, and I recommend it highly. We wandered through the antiques district and looked at allegedly ancient bronze castings, ceramics, ivory carvings allegedly made from mammoth tusks, and more jade than you could shake a stick at. Then we did a little shopping in one of the many, many upscale malls here. Like in Japan, shopping seems to be a favorite national past-time. The huge office and apartment buildings that fill the downtown area all seem to have devoted the first few floors to high-end stores. The sidewalks here are narrow and often in poor repair, but luckily many of the buildings are connected to each other by raised walkways that provide wider avenues through which to get around. Navigating, however, was quite a challenge. It was like trying to learn one's way through a rabbit warren. Lunch, in one of these malls, was at a delightful Thai place called Mak Mak. Again, highly recommended.

Huge banyan growing into a wall

I spent most of our excursion not sure what to look at. First, there were the buildings, which were enormous and creatively (if not always attractively) designed. Some looked like remnants from another era with washing hanging out of windows and some were sleek and modern. Then there was the backdrop: hilly and surprisingly verdant. I've never been in such a modern, urban city that had more thriving plants. Enormous banyan trees and other jungly-looking plants burst from any space that wasn't paved right next to heavily-trafficked sidewalks and whizzing roads. And finally, the people: not since New York have I seen such diversity, but there is a different kind of variety here. Hong Kong is absolutely overflowing with ex-pats, and we heard British and Australian English, French, and German just as much as Cantonese as we wandered the streets. These aren't tourists, either; they live and work in this Asian financial center, rubbing shoulders with Chinese men carrying straw baskets filled with celery and Chinese women in woven reed hats. The overall style seems to include both traditional(ish) clothing and formal and professional attire.

Ed and I ventured up to the peak after lunch. One can walk to the top or take the tram, and we opted to do the latter since we'd been on our feet all day already. The tram runs every five minutes or so, and the ride takes three or four minutes, during which the car climbs the mountain at what feels like a 50-degree angle. Off the tram, we ascended through yet another mall to the viewing platform on top, where we were presented with a breathtaking view of...smog. Pictures showed us what we were supposed to see from up there, but the pollution, thick and light gray, concealed most of the city, even parts that weren't too far away. Interestingly, my eyes and throat felt OK; I've never experienced smog like that and would have assumed that it would feel intolerable. Walking home later that night, much of it was gone; Ed says it's mostly from power plants, which presumably have to burn less coal late at night once most of the city has gone to bed.

Admiring the "view" from the peak

We went to 12000Francs, where a friend of mine is the head chef, for dinner that night. It is in a hip part of the city called Soho, where narrow streets are lined with cozy boutiques, bars, and restaurants. Our food, which we let Conor select for us, was wonderful and we left, around midnight, stuffed and happy. My advice to all travelers to Hong Kong is to 1) eat at 12000Francs, and 2) save room for dessert (though you will be tempted not to).

We treated ourselves to a late wake-up the next morning, then took the subway (clean, surprisingly easy to navigate, and quick) to Kowloon for an early lunch of dim sum at the Peninsula Hotel. This was my first real dim sum experience and, although some of the dumplings were a bit slippery and required chasing with my chopsticks, it was wonderful, particularly with the elegant Peninsula as a backdrop. We began the meal with glasses of champagne and ended it with about a gallon of tea each. In need of a walk afterwards, our next stop was the Yuen Po Bird Park, a street devoted entirely to stalls selling bird cages, toys, food, and hundreds and hundreds of birds. It was, as you can imagine, a pretty loud place. Over the fluttering and chirping, Ed and I identified finches, parakeets, Macaws and various smaller parrots, lovebirds, mynah birds, and more. In addition, there were plenty I'd never seen before, and lots of opportunistic sparrows flying between cages eating all the spilled birdseed.

We made a few other stops--not particularly interesting ones, so I'll spare you--before getting our bags from the hotel and heading back to a very convenient train station that goes right to the airport. HK is difficult to walk around, thanks to all of the raised walkways, and we found that taking cabs is just as tricky. Despite its large ex-pat population and modern feel, most cab drivers don't speak enough English to understand where one wants to go and are unwilling to look at an address presented on a Google Map. We were turned down several times before, finally, an older gentleman pulled over for us and helped load our bags. Since they didn't fit in the trunk, he simply left it partially open and secured everything with bungee cords. I could have hugged him. 

Hong Kong would be an interesting city in which to live, and I'm glad I got to visit it briefly, but I'm not sure there's much of a reason (except the shopping, of course) to go back or spend much time. 

Another example of modern-meets-antiquated: Street stalls in which vendors spread their wares on the ground under awnings between sleek, new buildings. 

A typical Hong Kong vista: tall buildings and elaborate roadways punctuated by lush stands of tropical trees.