Hong Kong – City of Contrasts

We arrived in Hong Kong a bit dazed from our previous week in China. After six weeks of travel in South East Asia, Hong Kong was a welcomed reprieve. Even hardened travelers such as Emily and I enjoy westernized creature comforts from time to time….

Hong Kong is a city of extremes; at first glance it appears larger than life. It is a city of engineering marvels, with massive skyscrapers clinging to jungle clad mountains and more neon and artificial lights to make you wonder if night even exists. Yet at street level every available slice of land is exploited for its maximum potential. With approx. 7 million people living in an area of only 1000 sq mi…most of which is mountainous terrain too steep to build on, the people of Hong Kong are literally living on top of one and other. Needless to say space is at a premium and this has created one of the world’s most unique cities. To maximize space buildings have ultra-low ceilings and entire families live in rented apartments no larger than 400 sq ft. Only the very rich can afford to own a private car, thus virtually the entire city uses the various modes of public transport. With rising energy prices making it glaringly apparent that the North American model of suburban sprawl is becoming increasingly unsustainable and with the need for world to reduce its ‘ecological footprint’, claustrophobic Hong Kong might provide insight into the megacities of the future.

Hong Kong was that last leg of our china tour with my parents and their travel companions Doug, Debbie, Raymond and Susan, which also meant our last chance to fill up on gluttonous meals and enjoy the safety and comfort of upscale accommodation. Our first three days were spent touring the major sites of the city including the famous Victoria peak, a floating restaurant and the various beaches on Hong Kong Island and a quick trip to Macau, the Las Vegas of the Far East. Our last two solo days were spent scouring the city for cheap food and trying as hard as we could to avoid spending any money. Though we did splurge on the last day and escaped from reality for a few hours at Hong Kong Disneyland…

As per usual, here are some pics of our latest adventure…now with video!!! How exciting!!!

Upon arrival at Chek Lap Kok Airport we made a b-line to a renowned seafood restaurant. Outside of the restaurant dozens of fish merchants display their catch. Diners select their fish from the fish merchants and then bring their fish to the restaurant to be gutted and grilled as desired.

Much to Emily's dismay, we settled on this red snapper (If you enjoy eating seafood and don't want to become a vegetarian I suggest that you don't watch this video.)

The next morning we were blessed with beautiful sunshine and managed to get a relatively unobstructed view of HK from Victoria Peak

Emily dipping her feet in to the waters of repulse bay
All the tourists were throwing coins into the mouth of this fish at Buddha Park. We were unsure of their motivation and can only chock it up to luck!

All over HK there were young couples getting married. We snapped a picture of this happy couple in the Stanley district

Our last blog showed a picture of my new shoes, so it's only fair that emily gets the same treatment

Although Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated places on earth, scenes like this still exists only minutes from downtown.

HK at dusk

This one is for my Uncle Neil....just kidding
I tagged along to a business meeting with Doug, Raymond and my Dad at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Also in the photo is Delta's local business partner and de facto tour guide and the University's Maintenance manager

Emily sipping her Hong Kong beer from a bowl....ever so civilized!

My Mum, Dad and Susan enjoying another lazy susan dinner

self explanatory

HK at night

Neon!!!!!!!

My Dad, somewhere in HK

English style double decker buses navigating the busy streets on Nathan Road in Kawloon

Portuguese colonial architecture in Macau:

The skyline of old Macau is now dominated with glitzy casinos

The Venetian in Macau:
Mum playing slots
Saying goodbye to my parents in HK :(

Back to backpacker squalor: Our 60 sq.ft. hotel room in downtown HK...complete with ensuite bathroom.
British colonial building juxtaposed with ultramodern bank of china tower

at 8 pm every night, the buildings of downtown HK have a laser beam light show...we weren't able to ascertain why, but we assume it's for the tourists, and maybe for good luck to boot

Ancient Buddhist temple in the heart of Hong Kong's central business district, the coils are incense and the red ribbons are prayer flags

The HSBC building, said to have top marks for feng shui

Giant lily pad in Hong Kong Park

The Bank of China tower by night

Disneyland!!!!!!!!! Like eurodisney, disneyland HK is also loosing money. Disney's loss was our gain...no line ups!!!!

Emily racing around the track at Autopia. It was the first time emily sat behind the wheel of a car since we've left Canada so she was a little rusty to say the least

Toystory

buzz lightyear....or at least we think it was as he only spoke cantonese

The street clean up crew turned out to be pretty tight drummers...I wasn't fooled though, I think they were hired for their musical talent first

Canada's representation at 'Small World'
Teacups!


This display was set up to show how many frames go into one second of animation. Once the wheel reaches the correct speed and the strobe lights begin to flash, that's when the magic happens. There are 24 sculputures of each character around the circumference of the wheel

We're back in Bangkok for a few more nights and then off to Southern Laos, Cambodia to see Angkor Wat and the capital Phenom Phen and Vietnam before returning a third time to bangkok enroute to delhi, india and the next leg of our world trip.

All the best,

Love, Chris and Emily