Hong Kong

It was a kind of spur of the moment decision to come to Hong Kong. Well, I'd been thinking about it for a while, but spur of the momently bought a plane ticket. I'm very glad I did. Hong Kong is a crazy and exciting place.

The first few days I spent walking around the city attempting to shop and being impressed by the huge buildings everywhere. Space is such a commodity here every building is a high rise: it's the only way to fit eight million people into a space smaller than Ottawa, and if we count usable space I think much smaller than that. Part of what makes Hong Kong so impressive to look at is the fact that it is surrounding by steep jungle clad mountains. They rise up so sharply, yet the buildings seem to be trying to compete with them, it is just so cool to look at. And then you see skyscrapers perched right on the sides of the mountains, it's crazy!

(they even have to put cemetaries on steps!)

This is also, again because of the space issue, and incredibly crowded city. I have never seen sidewalks crowded to this extent, it's like being in a constant human traffic jam. Like Bangkok, this city loves to shop. It has a few street markets but they are literally so crowded on the weekend it is just too annoying to really look for things. I bought a few named brand things that were smuggled in from China at cheap prices yay!

The best place to see the big buildings and fantastic skyline of Hong Kong is on The Peak, which is the peak of the tallest mountain on Hong Kong island. Unfortunately this time of year is quite foggy, so it was fairly hard to see, but I got some nice views nonetheless.

(the picture below is of a path on the peak, i just put it here because I thought it looked cool :)

I had a met a nice girl named Lynn in Chiang Mai who was from Toronto but had been working in Hong Kong for a few years. I sent her an email and she was nice enough to show me some things I wouldn't have seen on my own. Hong Kong has a quiet side in an area called the new territories. We went and ate dim sum at a restaurant with these giant fish in a tank out front. they were as big as me! and I was quite impressed by them, but not hungry enough to eat them. Then we walked along a pier where fishermen sold their daily cathe right out of their boats... all sorts of things: cuddle fish, lobsters, crabs, star fish, seemingly anything that moved under the sea was fair game. We got on a Junk to take a tour of a local island, the area around Honk Kong is loaded with islands, and it was pretty fun. The Junk was less junky than I had expected, but still a bit junky, as junks go...

Then we took these cool double decker buses to the complete other end of Hong Kong, on the far side of Hong Kong island. This seems to be where the rich people and tourists hang out. Ferraris, porches, mercedes everywhere, and upscale tourist shopping. Living on this side of Hong Kong costs a fortune, literally. You'd have to be a millionaire. Ah Hong Kong, if I ever become a millionaire I'll surely buy an apartment in Kowloon, the area I was staying in. Because I'd need to be a multi-millionaire to live on Hong Kong island.

But all over the city there are cool things to see. Right near the hostel I was at there was a place called Kowloon park. I just figured, "ah it's some park, whatever." But then I wandered in and was amazed at all the crap there was to see, it was so well designed and right in the heart of the city. There were flamingoes and peacocks and swans and all sorts of other weird birds I'd never seen before, and pools and ponds and fountains, it was really pretty great. Just walking around alwasy seems to be the best way to find out about cities. And in Hong Kong that is somewhat doable because it is compactly built in comparison with its population.