Hong Kong

Hong Kong is classified as one of the world’s great cities along with New York, London, Paris, and Tokyo and a few more, so it was a must see for us and a great place to start the Asian leg of our trip.  Millions of people live here and it considered one of the cutting-edge cities as far as technology goes.  Sure there are areas in the city that are poor and wearing out, but the majority is giant skyscrapers, extravagant shopping malls, and a very streamlined transportation system.  We were quite shocked as to how new and clean everything looked.

It was very easy to get around in Hong Kong.  From the airport, we caught a bus into the Kowloon area of Hong Kong and it dropped us of quite near our hostel on one of the major roads.  Hotels and hostels in Hong Kong were very expensive, so we had just gone online and booked one of the cheapest ones we could find. We weren’t expecting much, but the place was named Chung King Mansions, so we weren’t quite sure if this was going to literally be a mansion or end up being a bit of a slum.  It ended up being a large, busy building full of small shops and food vendors, with 18 floors of small apartments above it.  Now when I say small, I mean small.  The room was quite literally around 8 feet by 8, with a tiny washroom in the corner that was at the most 2 by 2.  Just big enough to contain a toilet, with a tiny sink that was basically in your lap as you sat on the toilet and a shower that sprinkled down on top of the toilet. The room also had 2 beds around 1 and a half feet wide and around 5 feet long.  There was just enough room to sleep and that was about it. We figured that this was what we get for being cheap, and we made the best of it.  After spending all week sleeping in airports and on airplanes, we were hoping for a nicer place but this would have to do.  We booked in here for 3 nights and resolved to spend the majority of the time exploring the city.

We woke up the following morning and went to start our day with a good breakfast.  Now Hong Kong (and generally most of Asia) doesn’t do breakfast the way our western society does.  There’s no bacon and egg restaurants or cereal or toast or anything like that.  Basically the breakfast menu is the same as the menu for every other meal.  We opted for a bowl of soup with noodles and we didn’t regret it.  You get a huge bowl with rice noodles, delicious broth, some meat (usually pork), and a tiny bit of vegetables. If was a great introduction to the local food, and the bowl of noodles has become quite a staple for us over the last few days. The menus here are very easy to read. Every item on the menu has a picture with it, so it’s pretty easy to see what you’re getting.  After 3 or 4 days we have yet to have a disappointing meal.

We spent our days walking around the city, crossing the harbor on the Star Ferry, visiting both the island of Hong Kong and the area of Kowloon.  The city is very easy to get around in.  Huge sidewalks, a great metro system, ferries, and underground walkways bringing you across streets and under buildings. There is shopping everywhere.  Hong Kong in general is quite a rich area, and the shopping areas reflected that.  Designer clothing, jewelry, electronics, and everything in between was for sale and in grand displays everywhere we went. 

We visited the number one recommended tourist stop – The Peak, which is basically a large hill in Hang Kong that gives you a fantastic view of the city.  It reminded me a lot of going up Corcovado in Rio.  A trolley car ride up to the top and then a great view of the harbor.

The harbor is probably the coolest sight in Hong Kong.  Basically the city is divided by a water way, and on either side are large skyscrapers up and down the waterfront.  At night the buildings are all synchronized to show a cool light show.  Music plays and the buildings all light up with different colors and there are lasers and flashing lights and everything.  It was really cool to see.

One of the other highlights of our time in Hong Kong was visiting a Christian church in Hong Kong on Sunday morning.  It was just down the road from our hostel, and we had seen it the day before and made plans to be there for the service in the morning.  We hadn’t really expected to see Christian churches here, so we jumped at the opportunity to get a service in before we entered China and were unable to do so.  The church was classified as Anglican, but it was nothing like the Anglican church we’re familiar with back home.  It was quite a large congregation, probably half-foreigners and half-locals.  The service was in English, and the pastor was from Australia. There was a lot of singing, bible reading, and prayers, and the pastor had a good message about what it was like to be a Christian in a city like Hong Kong.  After the service there was a social with all the attendees and we drank tea and talked to some of the people we met.  We met a family from Denmark that were living there for a year, and we asked them all sorts of questions about the church-life here.  It was a really enlightening experience and it was great to meet fellow Christians on the other side of the world.

After spending our three days here we felt that it was time to move on.  We enjoyed our time here in Hong Kong, but it was a bit expensive to stay here longer so we’re on the move again.  We booked an overnight train ride to Shanghai, and so we’re off now to visit mainland China. We plan to spend a few days in Shanghai and then probably go further north to Beijing.  From what we’ve read and seen about China were really looking forward to it.  I’m currently writing this blog post on the train, and watching the Chinese countryside go by has been quite a treat.  The country looks really beautiful. Giant cities, rice fields, farmland, lots of activity, and lots of greenery everywhere.  Can’t wait to get off the train and start exploring…