Mmmmmm.... Pork Buns

  Hong Kong, China
Saturday, February 3, 2007

Our flight to Hong Kong with Emirates was not nearly as plush as the ones with Singapore Airlines. Although we did get a camera on the nose to watch the take off and landing, the movie selection was dull, dull, dull. The one smart idea they did, however, was serving the meal first thing, before the drinks. It settles down the restless passengers to fill them up with food.

Hong Kong is an amazing city, there is no other way to put it. It is surrounded by these green, lush mountains but the city center is full of skyscrapers, incredibly tall apartments and neon lights. It is unlike anything we had ever seen. What had Julius in awe was the skyscraper construction sites where people actually used bamboo scaffolding.Bamboo! But this is the scaffolding that built the city so it must work very well.

We stayed right in the heart of Kowloon, where most of the affordable hotels and eateries are located. We were walking distance to most everything though it took us a while to figure out the city's overhead and underpass pedestrian walkways. Once we figured them out we knew that they are one of the best ways to get around. The less street crossing the better.

Skyline of Hong Kong Island

Our hotel was well recommended by many websites for their spotless rooms and friendly service. These were both true. The rooms were tiny - about enough for a bed and desk - but that is common for Hong Kong. The best feature was the ethernet internet connection in the room which was the fastest we had seen since the start of the trip. The hotel owner seems to be buying up rooms on different floors of the building if they come free. He started on the 8th floor then bought a few sections on the fourth and second floors when they went up for sale. On our floor we didn't know what other business was there until the door to the other wing was opened over the weekend. The hall had lights with red heart lamp shades and the rooms had signs that rotated between "open" and "do not disturb". Sheepish looking men stood outside the doors. Hmmmmmm..... When we noticed the sign in the elevator that said the name of the building we had to chuckle at the irony. At least our hotel owner gave the hotel a different name.

The main tourist activities in Hong Kong are to try all the food (especially Dim Sum), do some shopping, walk the promenade (including Hong Kong's "Walk of Fame" for Chinese movie stars) and

Hong Kong from the top of the Funicular

take the tram up to "The Peak" for the best views of the city. We had to smile at the collective gasp and "Ahhhh" of the mostly Chinese and Korean crowd when the tram came through the trees and the city appeared below. Why can't westerners show such excitement at a good view?

We added a stop at the convention center since our brother Patrick works at one and the Hong Kong one is said to have the biggest window in the city. The place was buzzing with conventions that would be very familiar to anyone in the states: the Job Fair and the Wedding Expo! Yes, ladies, wedding expos are now one of those things taking over the world. While buses of students were corralled to the Job Fair you could see the young high school girls look longingly at the hall next door. Weddings would be much more fun than the job hunt.

The food in Hong Kong is great and cheap, one of the few cheap things in the city if you find the right restaurants. If you want western food or fancy meals be prepared to pay through the nose. We ate noodles, noodle soups, steamed and fried dumplings, pot stickers and other goodies. One place we ate made their noodles and pot sticker wrappers by hand daily and it was the best we had even eaten. Steamed pork-filled dumplings were a food we had never tried in the states but we ate them daily in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is actually a fun city to walk around. From the days when the British ruled there all the signs are still in English and Chinese. If you have a map you can find your way around fairly easily or ask for directions from an old man on the street.

Neon Lights of Hong Kong

If you get tired you can jump on the double decker buses and double decker trams. They also have some minibuses on the busy routes that actually stop picking up passengers when all seats are full. We have never seen that! Usually the world's minibuses will stop adding passengers once people are falling out the windows.

We wish we had more time there to see more sites but we tried to cover the main markets. There are thousands of shops throughout the city, selling every from high end clothes and electronics to dirt cheap stuff from China. Leafleting is one habit the city needs to break. We have never seen so many people passing out leaflets. In such a commercial city I guess it the cheapest way to advertise.

When we came back to Hong Kong after spending a week in Mainland China it was the last weekend before New Year. The sidewalks were mobbed with people shopping for the holiday, crowds that put America's Christmas mall crowds to shame.

We will definitely come back to Hong Kong again, especially since it has become a good place for Africans to do do some buying of Chinese goods. From the airport and around town we met a number of African businessmen who fly to Hong Kong to do deals with Chinese factories for clothes, shoes, etc. Instead of buying from India, Africans are now heading to China for the best deals on these items. As an easy gateway to China Hong Kong will only become more popular.