We celebrated our third wedding anniversary on Wednesday 22 October. I'm not sure where that time went, but it conveniently coincided with the biggest Hindu festival, Diwali, and hence more Public Holidays for me.
When moving to India, we had a vague vision of travelling to lots of different places in India in our first year, then going farther afield in Asia in our second. We've done well on the first objective but stalled on the second, mainly because the first has proved so enjoyable and I haven't got much holiday left between now and the end of March.
Pre-anniversary treats in the lounge
Anyway, we decided it was time to spread our wings and Hong Kong is short-ish five hour hop from Mumbai so we used some of Phil's hard-earned air miles to secure a bargain set of flights for a few days away. I knew very little about Hong Kong before arriving on Wednesday except that it used to be British, it seems to be a popular place for expats in Asia and is the home of HSBC bank. My brief research suggested that Hong Kong is an international (not too crazy) city so I was looking forward to a few calm days of good museums, varied and exciting food, usable public transport and functional public toilets. It's strange the things that I pine for whilst living in Mumbai!
Anyway, here's our mini-guide to Hong Kong based on our trip.
1) History
Hong Kong was a British colony between 1898 and 1997 before being handed back to China when the British lease ran out, but under the condition that the British legislative structure would remain for 50 years following the return to China. Whilst Hong Kong is now very much Chinese, as are most of its residents, the historical British influence is strong and tangible throughout the city. I felt quite nostalgic upon seeing blue British road signs and the orderly driving, street names and general culture are reminders of Hong Kong's heritage.
We spent an afternoon at the Hong Kong Museum of History in Kowloon which is excellent and I would highly recommend to anyone visiting Hong Kong. It was so good that we got timed out and had to miss out a whole section on the Japanese occupation near the end.
Old colonial buildings in Hong Kong are sparse but a few remain including the cathedral, tea museum in the park and the old tram travelling up to Victoria Peak. Unlike India, Hong Kong has not tried to shed its Britishness but it retains a strong Chinese culture too, including temples within the city which are well worth a visit.
My top tip is to read about Hong Kong before you visit and understand how the city's past has influenced its present. A lot has happened to such a small patch of land and it's well worth understanding how Hong Kong has developed.
Fisherman statue on Aberdeen Promenade - the historical trade of the Aberdeen area
The Peak Tram approaching...
World War memorial flanked by skyscrapers
Incense ceiling hangings in a temple
The Big Buddha (not strictly old, but pretty impressive)
Monastery on Lantau Island
Reconstructed old house in Stanley - now housing a tapas and German meat restaurant
2) Nature
Hong Kong is described as one of the most overcrowded cities in the world but we found it to be blissfully quiet compared with Mumbai. Most of Hong Kong island is protected countryside and most of the other islands and mainland are positively rural. Even in the busiest areas, it is only a short walk into the hills to reach a peaceful trail and lush countryside which is spotlessly clean and beautifully kept.
We walked from our hotel in Aberdeen, on the south side of Hong Kong island, up to the top of The Peak to enjoy the view and catch the tram back down the other side of the hill. This was serene yet close to the heart of the city. Later, we caught the bus to the south-east of Hong Kong island to walk along the "Dragon's Back", a popular stretch of hills with great views over the south beaches. We saw great trails on our visit to Lantau Island although didn't have time to explore and have been told that the hiking in the New Territories is fantastic. All the trails we saw were well labelled and maintained, though not too crowded so it felt like a proper rural walk.
As well as the hills, Hong Kong has beautiful beaches which we saw both on Hong Kong Island (Shek O and Stanley) and on Lamma Island. They are spotless with soft white sand and netted off areas of sea to allow you to swim without getting eaten by sharks (always a bonus).
The natural beauty of Hong Kong was a revelation and the green verdant hills shrouded in mist (some would say smog) alone would be enough for me to return for a future visit.
Beach on Lamma island
On the walk from Aberdeen to the Peak
A happy sculpture in Hong Kong Park
Enjoying the pond
View from the cable car on the way to see the Big Buddha on Lantau island
Climbing the Dragon's Back
View of the south side of Hong Kong island from the Dragon's Back
On the trail
Shek O beach
3) Transport
Hong Kong's public transport system is fabulous; cheap, efficient, well maintained, air conditioned and with a wide variety of modes of transport from which to choose. The only thing we didn't do on our trip was travel by car; the opposite of our approach in Mumbai. Most enjoyably, we walked a long way every day although we also took ferries, buses, a minibus, the metro train, the Peak Tram and a cable car. I'm told that taxis are good value too but we genuinely didn't need one.
Here are some pictures of our transport experiences:
Enjoying dinner on the plane (business class treat though it wasn't very good on Cathay)
Ferry to Lamma Island
On the Peak Tram
Star ferry from Hong Kong island to Kowloon
The MTR
On the cable car over Lantau island, mainly watching planes taking off
The mid-levels escalator - site of a very good pizza restaurant
4) Food
Hong Kong is a foodie's dream; it is a worthy equal of London or New York from a culinary perspective but with an Asian twist.
Unfortunately, I managed to pick up a stomach bug shortly before leaving Mumbai which curtailed my eating but we still enjoyed a variety of the goodies on offer in Hong Kong. I would highly recommend several of the restaurants shown below which were recommended to us by others too.
Fish fresh from the sea
and on to our plates
Refined dim sum and Maxim's Palace. The barbeque pork buns were excellent.
Sushi (we ate a lot of it...)
Shanghai style soupy pork dumplings - loading up on our meat
5) Friends
The world is a small place and we were fortunate to meet up with two different groups of friends in our five day visit. Dave Richards, from Cambridge, was passing through on a work trip; and the Bloomfield family have been living in Hong Kong for the last four years.
We had a great time catching up over dinner on Friday and Saturday and enjoyed learning about Hong Kong from a local perspective too.
Meeting Dave took us to Discovery Bay (other friends of Dave live there) which is a slightly bizarre place; an expat enclave which was built as a holiday village and subsequently abandoned. We would never have otherwise visited DB which felt very much like a small part of California in Hong Kong; we wouldn't have guessed that we were in Asia whilst drinking beer, eating pizza and watching the fireworks from the nearby Disneyland over the horizon.
6) Buildings
Hong Kong's skyline is rightly famous and we admired some of the sleek and stunning buildings in the heart of the city, including the HSBC and Bank of China buildings. Feng Shui also plays a big part in building design adding yet more quirks to the landscape.
For me, the most overwhelming aspect of Hong Kong was the huge scale of the apartment blocks, far bigger than anything I've seen in India. I found myself geekily estimating the number of people who must live in each one - some must house 10,000 people easily. Many of the locals live in family units in very cramped conditions. Space is at a very high premium in Hong Kong.
Aberdeen Harbour - The view from our hotel window
Our Ovolo Hotel - Tall, spindly and highly recommended
Victoria Harbour from the Peak
Very big building (can't remember which one)
Bank of China. The triangles shown cause Feng Shui problems but the big square buildings offsets this issue.
Inside Norman Foster's HSBC building
Looking back over the Harbour from Kowloon
7) Money
Hong Kong is a very wealthy place. Unlike Mumbai, where extreme wealth exists in only small pockets or behind closed doors, Hong Kong's affluence is obvious wherever you go.
There are copious shopping malls with every expensive designer shop you can think of, apparently targeted at the mainland Chinese visitors. A high proportion of the cars that we saw were BMWs or Mercedes and eating out was pretty pricey, in line with prices in London rather than Mumbai.
Tax rates are low and capped at 15% although accommodation costs are eye-watering - upwards of £4000 a month for even a small simple apartment. Gambling is huge in Hong Kong, as Phil saw on his trip to the races, and accounts for 12% of all tax revenue.
So whilst Hong Kong is modern and international, the residents of the city (and tourists) pay handsomely for this.
A night at the races
Temple Street night market - low key shopping
Causeway Bay shopping
Hello Kitty is VERY popular in every form
Crazy crazy house prices
A dog park. Not something you see in Mumbai.
8) The future
So what's next for Hong Kong? Change is afoot as student protesters have recently occupied several central streets in an unprecedented challenge to the Chinese government. Hong Kong continues to grow richer and more powerful, along with China, and the power and rise of the East was clear to me on our trip.
My other observation was the power of technology in Hong Kong; wifi connections were everywhere alone with the latests phones and gadgets. The top gadget in Hong Kong appears to be the rather bizarre "selfie stick" upon which a camera phone can be placed to allow for a selfie to be taken at a distance. Very bizarre. I hope they don't make it to India!
The selfie stick is hanging off his arm rather than in use here
Protest tents
Messages of support from the protestors
