C & C globetrotting around the world…

We crossed the border to Hong Kong by… foot! You take the metro to a specific station in Shenzhen, walk over the border and then get on the metro in Hong Kong again, so it’s pretty funny.

Imagine the landscape of Vancouver (aka Vankong or Hongcouver) with its ocean on a mountainous backdrop. Add the skyscrapers and hustle&bustle of Manhattan NYC and it’s going to start to look like Hong Kong. Then double the NYC prices, add lots of street vendors and Chinese fake watches and you will have a picture of HK. After the 99 years of British rule that ended on July 1, 1997, Hong Kong is not China. It still has different judicial and political systems, a different currency and enjoys more economic freedom than mainland China (called the one country, two systems principle). But let’s not forget the print the British left: driving on the wrong side of the street and widely spoken English.

Actually, this is only about 20% of Hong Kong, where the city is. The other 80% of Hong Kong is covered by jungle and is a lot quieter. It was interesting to discover the urban jungle of the city and skyscrapers, and then heading to the islands around the peninsula and seeing ancient fisher villages, untouched jungle and pedestrian islands.

On our first day there, we went to various famous markets in Hong Kong, like the flower market with its thousands of orchids, the bird market and the goldfish market where many fish are already put in a plastic bag ready for you to take home. After dark we watched the “Symphony of Lights” from the Kowloon side over Hong Kong Island. The idea is nice, but they could do so much more with it. The view of the waterfront and its skyscrapers is beautiful and we also walked on the Avenue of Stars, taking pictures with Bruce Lee’s bronze statue.

Luckily we were able to Couchsurf the first 2 nights in Hong Kong because the city is just unbelievably expensive, especially if you’ve travelled through Mainland China before. Our CS hosts were Raphaele (a French teacher from Poitiers) and Shane (a Kungfu Master from Shijiazhuang) who moved to HK over a year ago in their tiny apartment. The apartment is so tiny, that where we slept was the hallway/kitchen/living room/office/guest room. Their bedroom was not any bigger: only the mattress and a wardrobe fit, while the bathroom was crazy small. It was very nice of them to have us and it was interesting for us to see how people live, but I don’t think we could live like that for more than a few days. It’s interesting to see how people make do.

On the second day, we got up early and applied for our Vietnamese Visa, which was surprisingly quick and cheaper than in mainland China. We then walked through the neighbourhood called Central on Hong Kong Island, which is the business district of HK and passed the 70-storied Bank of China building. We got to a nice park and discovered that the CIBC building was just across from it. A bit like in Montreal with the Cathedral and the small park on University Street. We went up to the 36^th floor where the CIBC Office is, enjoyed the views and had the chance to talk to the managing director. From there we walked again through the city, passed the St-John’s Cathedral (one of the few colonial buildings still standing in Central) and had lunch at McD. It was really annoying seeing delicious food around us, but because of budget limitations we couldn’t have it, so we had McD’s more often than we would have liked. After that we headed to the Mid-Levels Escalator, the longest covered escalator in the world at a length of 800m, taking 20min one way and transporting 20,000-30,000 people daily. From there we could look down on SoHo with its fancy restaurants. We also passed the Government House, formerly the office and residence of the Governor of HK during the British rule, and St-Joseph’s Church, a strange-looking blue church.

We took the Peak Tram up to Victoria Peak to 396m above sea level. The tram opened in 1888 and was powered by coal fired steam boilers. It is said to be a landmark in HK and the most enduring emblem of HK’s past. The leaning gradient varies between 4 and 27 degrees, but it feels more like 45 degrees (especially going down when you stand). Before its construction, one was carried up by sedan bamboo chairs strapped to 2 poles and carried by 2 people. At the top, we went to a look-out point and then walked the 3.5km Victoria Peak garden park trail with nice views all around. From the top we also watched the sunset with Keith and Sarah, whom we coincidentally met up there and knew from Lijiang. We took the tram back down together and walked under the HSBC main building. Feng shui (wind water) influences the construction of many buildings in Hong Kong (lifted HSBC building, wholes through entire buildings or missing floors) in order to allow bad spirits to pass through the structure, not to stop at it.

On the third day it was time for us to explore the other side of Hong Kong: its nature. Christoph went hiking with 2 Hong Kongnese from CS, while Cecilia stayed in the hostel sorting pictures and reading about the Outlying Islands and Macau to plan the upcoming days. Christoph was happy to discover a different side of Hong Kong while hiking on the Yuen Tsuen Ancient Trail in the New Territories. The 6-hour hike was beautiful, passing through unspoilt tropical forests and alongside quiet creaks.

On our fourth day, we got up pretty early and rode the metro to the end of one of the lines on Lantau Island. We took the bus winding the road up to the Ngong Plateau and visited the Tian Tan Buddha, the world’s tallest outside seated bronze Buddha. You climb up 268 steps to reach the feet of this 26m tall gilded statue and get rewarded with nice views of the surrounding area. From there we followed the road to tranquillity on the “Wisdom Path”, an outdoor replica of the centuries old Heart Sutra, one of the world’s best-known prayers that is revered by Confucians, Buddhists and Taoists alike, displayed on 38 wooden steles which are arranged like an 8 shape to symbolise infinity. We then went to Tai O, a small fishing village with houses on stilts. What’s interesting is that the houses are connected, with the passageway of one going through the living room of another house. We also walked though them and were surprised to see Western toilets and flat screen T.V.s in these rustic houses. We also had a nice lunch here before hopping on the next bus to beautiful Cheung Sha Beach, before going to Mui Wo and taking the ferry back to Central on HK Island.

Then we took another ferry to Yung Sheu Wan on Lamma Island, a small island with no cars and laid-back people. We arrived just as it was getting dark and found an apartment to share with Ben and Maayan for 500HKD, a great price compared to Kowloon. After dark the small fisher harbour looked like Crete in Greece with the fisher boats and little houses on the hills.

On our last day, we had breakfast in the room with baguette, cheese and fruits before heading out to the Family Trail for a hike to the other side of the island, the fisher village of Sok Kwu Wan. We passed a look-out point and a beach and then had a delicious seafood lunch. We took the ferry back to Central to go pick up our Vietnamese visa. Afterwards we walked to the Golden Bauhinia, the symbol of Hong Kong since the 1997 British handover and is also the flower on the flag. Right next to it was the Convention Center, a huge construction by the waterfront.

On Hong Kong Island and Kowloon (the peninsula), we felt like in Manhattan, but on Lantau Island with its hilly drive, ocean and beaches, it felt like Hawaii. Then on Lamma Island we could have been in a Greek fisher village by night and in Costa Rica during the day. And all of this in Hong Kong, a city-state of only 1,104 square km (half the size of Luxembourg!).