Sitting here writing this blog, we contemplated our reasoning for visiting Hong Kong during our trip of SE Asia. We had already visited China during the 2008 Olympics, so we had already explored Chinese culture, food, fashion, history, architecture and society. We didn't need to catch a flight and there are no must see attractions (actually there are very few tourist attractions). The best reason we can conjure is because when the opportunity arises "you just have to visit Hong Kong" and thankfully we did.
We won't beguile you with the facts about the city or the long history of how Hong Kong became a British port and now Chinese Special Administrative Region. You can use the Google Machine for all those, but what we will tell you is this city is striking.
There is something about the constant movement of people, the efficient mass transportation, the combination of iconic skyscrapers interspersed with low scale historic buildings and the sprawling well manicured parks that just makes you feel comfortable in the most dense urban city in the world.
Hong Kong is also one of the most expensive cities in the world and being on a budget, we felt it especially, when trying to find reasonable accommodations. Unless you want to stay at the infamous Chungking Mansion, known for being a fire trap death sentence, rittled with illegal immigrants, scammers, thieves, drugs and prostitution, you have very few options. We were not interested in that kind of adventure so we chose to stay a few miles outside the city center in the brand new, government run, Y-Loft Youth Square and visit Chungking Mansion instead (pictured below).
We really enjoyed taking in the Hong Kong skyline, which due to it's small amount of land, 425 sq miles (roughly half the size of Rhode Island) filled with 7 million people, they learned to build vertically. Hong Kong now contains more sky scrapers than any other city in the world and includes iconic towers like the International Commerce Center (third tallest in the world), Two International Finance Center Tower, Central Plaza ...
I.M. Pei's Bank of China Tower,
the brutualistic HSBC Building
The island has a mountain in the middle and the entire city moves down it's slope to the harbor. We were afforded a bird's eye view of the sweeping city skyline by taking the Peak Tram from Central station to the top of Victoria Peak.
After exploring the top of the city, we yearned for a closer inspection, which we were afforded by the famous Star Ferry service that crosses Victoria Harbor and provides scenic views. It was from the harbor that we got a closer inspection of the ongoing harbor reclamation work. Since there is no room to for sprawl they are constantly growing into the harbor by reclaiming land and building on it.
During the day, we spent our time visiting museums and getting lost in the city, but once the sun went down, the real action started. One of our favorite parts was the local's ability to picnic everywhere. Due to the small amount of personal living space, friends and family build little forts in all the available covered public spaces to talk, eat, drink, play cards before heading home.
Then every evening at 8:00pm, the skyline lights up in unison for the Symphony of Lights. For fifteen minutes, the harbor and skyline is filled with an array of colored lights, laser beams and searchlights dancing to synchronized music emitting from the city. Our favorite part was the juxtaposition of the poor fisherman, alone in the harbor. Here we are in one of the most sophisticated, technologically advanced cities in the world captivated by some shiny lights, while he is trying to catch dinner to feed his family.
Our favorite restaurant was Tim Ho Wan, the cheapest Michelin star rated restaurant in the world. The chef was previously at the Hong Kong's Four Seasons Hotel before he got burned out and turned his attention to his true passion, amazingly cheap dim sum. People stand outside for hours, take constant abuse from the dictatorial hostesses, and sit on top of each other in the crowded shoebox sized space just for a taste of his famous BBQ Pork Buns. But its so worth it. Just imagine taking a melt in your mouth southern corn biscuit and filling it with BBQ beans and pork belly and top it off with a little caramelized brown sugar. Awesome! Plus, while waiting outside, you get to peruse the local store fronts filled with imitation military BB guns while drinking 7-11 bought beer.
Although not planned, we got lucky and timed our visit to coincided with the annual Hong Kong Seven's Rugby Tournament. Mostly Australians, Europeans and Kiwis, and even some players, would descend on the dedicated nightlife area, Lan Kwai Fong, to celebrate the day's win's and losses. New Zealand ended up winning, but we felt like the real winners after getting to party with these Australians dressed up like Superman and Wonderwoman.
Plus, check out this couple fighting in the middle of street. We couldn't resist taking a photo of two fighting Panda's. Man, was she pissed. We think he ate all the bamboo.
Our last accolade for Hong Kong is for the Airport. We had high expectations as it was billed as the best Airport in the world and unlike Thailand, it certainly lived up to it's reputation. We were able to check-in our luggage at the downtown express train station and have it delivered right to the airport.
Also at the airport, we were able to get our final Japanese Ramen fix. As detailed in our Singapore post, after AB was introduced to true, melt-in-your-mouth, simmer-all-day salty pork bone Ramen, he made it his personal mission to get some in every city where it was offered. We sampled some in Singapore, searched out a small shop in Saigon, almost got lost in Bangkok lusting after a location that promised 10 different ramen chefs, and finally, we got our last bowl of true Ramen in the Hong Kong Airport. Seriously, if anyone knows a truly great Ramen place in DC, drop AB a line.
We won't beguile you with the facts about the city or the long history of how Hong Kong became a British port and now Chinese Special Administrative Region. You can use the Google Machine for all those, but what we will tell you is this city is striking.
There is something about the constant movement of people, the efficient mass transportation, the combination of iconic skyscrapers interspersed with low scale historic buildings and the sprawling well manicured parks that just makes you feel comfortable in the most dense urban city in the world.
We really enjoyed taking in the Hong Kong skyline, which due to it's small amount of land, 425 sq miles (roughly half the size of Rhode Island) filled with 7 million people, they learned to build vertically. Hong Kong now contains more sky scrapers than any other city in the world and includes iconic towers like the International Commerce Center (third tallest in the world), Two International Finance Center Tower, Central Plaza ...
I.M. Pei's Bank of China Tower,
the brutualistic HSBC Building
The island has a mountain in the middle and the entire city moves down it's slope to the harbor. We were afforded a bird's eye view of the sweeping city skyline by taking the Peak Tram from Central station to the top of Victoria Peak.
After exploring the top of the city, we yearned for a closer inspection, which we were afforded by the famous Star Ferry service that crosses Victoria Harbor and provides scenic views. It was from the harbor that we got a closer inspection of the ongoing harbor reclamation work. Since there is no room to for sprawl they are constantly growing into the harbor by reclaiming land and building on it.
During the day, we spent our time visiting museums and getting lost in the city, but once the sun went down, the real action started. One of our favorite parts was the local's ability to picnic everywhere. Due to the small amount of personal living space, friends and family build little forts in all the available covered public spaces to talk, eat, drink, play cards before heading home.
Then every evening at 8:00pm, the skyline lights up in unison for the Symphony of Lights. For fifteen minutes, the harbor and skyline is filled with an array of colored lights, laser beams and searchlights dancing to synchronized music emitting from the city. Our favorite part was the juxtaposition of the poor fisherman, alone in the harbor. Here we are in one of the most sophisticated, technologically advanced cities in the world captivated by some shiny lights, while he is trying to catch dinner to feed his family.
Our favorite restaurant was Tim Ho Wan, the cheapest Michelin star rated restaurant in the world. The chef was previously at the Hong Kong's Four Seasons Hotel before he got burned out and turned his attention to his true passion, amazingly cheap dim sum. People stand outside for hours, take constant abuse from the dictatorial hostesses, and sit on top of each other in the crowded shoebox sized space just for a taste of his famous BBQ Pork Buns. But its so worth it. Just imagine taking a melt in your mouth southern corn biscuit and filling it with BBQ beans and pork belly and top it off with a little caramelized brown sugar. Awesome! Plus, while waiting outside, you get to peruse the local store fronts filled with imitation military BB guns while drinking 7-11 bought beer.
Although not planned, we got lucky and timed our visit to coincided with the annual Hong Kong Seven's Rugby Tournament. Mostly Australians, Europeans and Kiwis, and even some players, would descend on the dedicated nightlife area, Lan Kwai Fong, to celebrate the day's win's and losses. New Zealand ended up winning, but we felt like the real winners after getting to party with these Australians dressed up like Superman and Wonderwoman.
Plus, check out this couple fighting in the middle of street. We couldn't resist taking a photo of two fighting Panda's. Man, was she pissed. We think he ate all the bamboo.
Our last accolade for Hong Kong is for the Airport. We had high expectations as it was billed as the best Airport in the world and unlike Thailand, it certainly lived up to it's reputation. We were able to check-in our luggage at the downtown express train station and have it delivered right to the airport.
Also at the airport, we were able to get our final Japanese Ramen fix. As detailed in our Singapore post, after AB was introduced to true, melt-in-your-mouth, simmer-all-day salty pork bone Ramen, he made it his personal mission to get some in every city where it was offered. We sampled some in Singapore, searched out a small shop in Saigon, almost got lost in Bangkok lusting after a location that promised 10 different ramen chefs, and finally, we got our last bowl of true Ramen in the Hong Kong Airport. Seriously, if anyone knows a truly great Ramen place in DC, drop AB a line.
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