F&G: Hong Kong 1

20 November 2012

Hong Kong 1

We’re trying to get our second day started so we’ll just do a brief write up. No time to find links to various things but we do have a few videos. We’re staying in a hotel in Causeway Bay on Hong Kong island. Yesterday we just wandered around a bit near our hotel and then took the train over to Tsim Sha Tsui and wandered more there. We met up with a friend of a friend for lunch and then wandered some more.

General thoughts about Hong Kong:

Hong Kong is incredibly fast and efficient. Everyone and everything seems slightly rushed but it’s a striking change after the endless moments of Manila. This efficiency shows up everywhere. For example, the escalators here are really fast, especially for the mass transit system. I almost wiped out the first time I stepped onto it. There’s also the longest covered escalator in the world near our hotel. It’s more like a moving sidewalk and apparently takes 20 minutes to ride the whole thing. The mass transit system is incredible, perhaps due to the relatively small size of the main part of Hong Kong. In general, though, the infrastructure of the city seems superior to anything we’ve seen in the U.S. In order to make use of the limited space here (there are mountains in the middle of the island so there isn’t much usable land), everything is vertical. More skyscrapers than anywhere else I’ve seen.

Hong Kong seems like a much more fashionable and condensed New York. Everyone seems very conscious of style, perhaps due to the clothing industry here. There are lots of people on the streets trying to hustle tourists into buying a tailored suit.

Along with all the cultural differences from Manila, there’s a big climate difference. It’s actually almost chilly here. It was in the low 70s yesterday with a breeze from the ocean and light rain in the evening. It felt amazingly refreshing. Also, it’s not nearly as crowded as we were expecting. Maybe we’re just comparing things to Manila, where they cram twice as many people on the trains than they do here. On the MRT in Manila, it’s normally so crowded that you don’t even have room to move your feet. Here, you still have a bit of wiggle room before they stop boarding the trains.

Heading off now for a morning at Victoria Peak and then a Foodie tour in the afternoon. More later.

Videos:

Here’s a panorama of Victoria Harbour from Tsim Sha Tsui and a shot of the junk crossing the harbor.

We walked around Kowloon Park in the afternoon and chanced upon the aviary. There were lots of incredible birds there, including these Rhinoceros Hornbills. The noises are coming from other birds near them.

We chanced upon this flying pig sculpture while wandering.