Hong Kong
Hong Kong was the last stop on my three month long journey. It was the time to reflect on my trip and get mentally prepared to return to a less adventurous life.
I expected Hong Kong to be a large international city with great restaurants and a lot of interesting shops. I usually try to avoid gigantic asian metropolises, but after Singapore ended up being such a success, I figured I should make a detour for Hong Kong as well. I must say I was slightly disappointed by Hong Kong. It is a gigantic city with lots of shops, but either the shops sell the same brands that we find in the West or they sell a collection of really bizarre items that I would have no use for. The food wasn’t as good as I hoped for. I tried street food as well as fancy Michelin starred restaurants. But both were less creative and tasty than I expected. Another disappointment was the lack of history in Hong Kong. I always find it sad how many Asian cultures (including the Chinese) don’t really value and preserve their history. I have seen with my own eyes how the old cities of Shanghai and Kashgar were getting destroyed. I was surprised to see that Hong Kong as well destroyed many of its historic places (e.g. kowloon walled city) within the last 15 years. It’s hard enough when historic places get destroyed by war and bombs, but it’s even more tragic when people destroy their own past.
Despite all of this, Hong Kong was of course not all bad. Here are some of its highlights.
My favorite place was the Peak, the highest point of Hong Kong. From there you can take hour long peaceful strolls while enjoying an amazing view over the city. I liked it so much that I went up to the peak twice. It’s a fantastic place for morning jogs and picnics, just 20 minutes away from the buzzing city itself.
In Hong Kong, I also took a “blindness” tour. An organization called Dialogue in the Dark rebuilt part of Hong Kong in an indoor space that is completely in the dark. They give you a cane, a blind guide and then lead you through Hong Kong. I really loved the experience! As part of the tour you go to a movie theater, you have to purchase things in a bar, find the right items in a market, cross many streets etc. I ended up being quite surprised by how good and useful my other senses were. I expected to be completely lost in the dark, but to my surprise, I was able to estimate the location and distance of noise (e.g. cars) correctly. Of course it is still very challenging to navigate an environment without seeing, but I was surprised that I could do it at all. The whole experience was a very nice glimpse into blindness.
The city of Hong Kong is laid out like many Asian cities, with lots of street markets and many different neighborhoods that each specialize in one item. You have streets that sell animals, some that sell microwaves, others flowers. It is very entertaining to navigate these neighborhoods.
Hong Kong also has a beautiful harbor and promenade. Similarly to Singapore, every night Hong Kong has a light show where its various sky-scrapers light up in different colors. Although the promenade is very nice, the light show feels incredibly basic compared to the one from Singapore. Finally, there are also a set of museum along the promenade. I couldn’t recommend more the history museum of Hong Kong. I’m in general hesitant to go to history museums as they often end up being very dry. But this particular museum was literally amazing! They reconstructed parts of Hong Kong across the ages. So you end up taking strolls through Hong Kong’s streets and shops while time-traveling. It was incredible to see what Hong Kong looked like before WWII. It doesn’t seem that long ago, but it makes all the difference between an authentic place full of history and culture, and the row of concrete buildings that you find now. For so many places in the world, I wish I could have visited them 50 years ago.
This ends another wonderful trip. Once more I was reminded of how many extraordinary places there are in this world. There were so many highlights to this journey: the rice fields and beaches of Indonesia, the climbing and diving in Malaysia, the hospitality of Bhutan and Myanmar, the discovery of Beng Mealea, and the historic treasures and unbelievably good food of Vietnam. I also felt very grateful of how many people went out of their way to welcome me and help me in one way or another. There is so much the world has to offer and I can’t wait till I will get to discover more of it. To the next trip!
See more Hong Kong images here.
