With nearly 7 million people crammed into about 1,000 sq. kilometers (about 425 sq. miles) here, to say it’s densely crowded here does not adequately describe the sensation of being devoured by mobs of people – thank goodness neither of us is claustrophobic (we simply could not function here if we were.) Our best analogy so far is that of being dropped into the middle of gigantic schools of fish.
Thousands and thousands of silver, yellow, black fish swarming and churning and rolling their way through life; If one turns suddenly the entire group follows instantaneously with lightening fast precision, and although it seems impossible, there are rarely any collisions of any kind. Huge schools meet each other head-on and pass without incident, without even a glance or wince of danger – hell, most don’t even look up from their cell phones or I-pods or walkie talkies or papers.
It’s as if each has been blessed with some sort of radar, a powerfully intuitive group radar, which must come with a Chinese birth certificate. Bodies dart, zig, or zag just enough to avoid what, elsewhere around the globe, would invite certain physical damage. But here in China, HK especially, mere fractions of inches seem to allow for the masses to propel themselves as fluidly as water flowing around a stone.
This is the financial district so there are not many historic building left since the Brits took over in 1841 and began rebuilding the city through reclaimed real estate. I manage to chop and glide my way down from the Central section Eastward through the harbor sidewalks and side streets for a few miles, all the way to Statue Square; in memoriam to The Glorious Dead from WWI, the only real historic sight other than the impressive new office army of buildings that caress the heavens.
It’s stifling-crowded here, think NYC on steroids, and my stroll takes me by store after store teeming with owners and wives’ of owners (the real bosses here) who wrangle and supervise dock workers unloading truck after truck of soft and hard goods into marine supply storefronts (that’s HK for “we sell anything and everything that swims or lives in the water”).
Streams of shirtless men and burly women work quick, sweat hard, and are strangely silent as they carry sacks of rice, grains, boxes of deep fried somethings, and all sorts of dried delicacies (at least they are here), using dolley’s, hand carts, and makeshift containers loaded to maximum, and then at least doubled up to save a trip, into these tiny stores. They claw and maul their way from the street into the stores with supplies, dodging and weaving their way directly through a sidewalk-thick flow of Chinese and foreign businessman and women marching valiantly towards their office buildings.
This area of HK is all big money and ambition. With their comical, “place to go and a short time to get there” grimaces plastered on their faces, most of these drones are decorated in the same outfits; Navy blue casual suit, brown shoes, the free Daily Standard from Britain, a latte in one hand and a cell phone to the ear in the other, and the ubiquitous white iPod earbuds dangling around their neck. The women wear white blouses but pretty much look the same. It looks like NYC at lunchtime but one good whiff of these streets reminds me that we are far far away from NYC.
Glazed, fatigued eyes betray an otherwise smart appearance and once again I’m grateful for my decision to have left the 9-5 office jungle for greener pastures and I daresay, more adventures. Today I’m just a tourist here and I like it that way. For their part, they ignore the bald foreigner, as does the rest of the city.
I ogle the locals and am empathetic to the worker bees as I make my way to grab some coffee and head back to the hotel to wake Jenny. I did not cause, nor did I see, one collision nor hear not one loud word – this place is so polite, so amazingly efficient, and brimming with tact and manners it’s almost eerie. It’s civilized China; a dazzling mix of the old regime adopting the new.
Today we decide to walk some more, then grab some lunch, then hop on one of the plentiful buses and trams that take up most of the city streets, which are at least 2x as wide as most cities to accommodate all the traffic and pedestrians.
HK is an unusual amalgamation of British efficiency on the outside; barely holding down the frantic animal that is modern China on the inside. It is divided into four distinct sections and we are on the main island, which is small in comparison to Kowloon located a stone’s throw across the harbor, then there are the hundreds of outlying islands, and then the New Territories.
We don’t know what most of these folks do for a living but they sure look busy. We walk past hundreds of storefronts selling things we can’t even identify each tidy and neat with a steady stream of men and women coming in and out, but these are not customers, or even hawkish buyers. We don’t see anyone buying anything, just loading them up all morning, day, and night. Probably selling to restaurants is our best guess so far....
Many of the same stores can be seen in Shanghai but here in Hong Kong they are much more organized and clean. British-tidy we call it. And if you ever wonder if shark’s fin soup really is hurting the masses of sharks out there, by any estimation our answer is undoubtedly yes. Thousands of boxes of fins just on one street alone, displays cases stuffed to the brim with the largest (about 5ft high, to the smallest no larger than a coke can) with hundreds of markets selling all varieties and at shockingly high, and low, prices too. They are laid out to dry in the sun and then sold out of large barrels, boxes, whatever will hold them. We won’t try the soup just because it’s obviously damaging the species and we’re basically hippies these days...:)
The sensible British installed trams (in the US we call them trolley’s), these pint sized double-decker buses go over every inch of HK and for the paltry sum of $2 HK dollars (about .30) you can ride to the end of the line in any direction. These trams are plentiful and efficient and we sat on the top and just watched the city go by below us for hours until we got hungry.
We make our way to a noodle shop that is recommended in TripAdvisor only to find it has been replaced by a posh hair salon. Not to be deterred, we lower our heads in shame and shuffle over across the street for another quick round of McCafe. Sometimes it’s just too strenuous and stressful to navigate a menu in Chinese and go through all that. And yes, it was delicious.
We both need clothes so we rummage through a street market shopping area and find some cheap stuff for both Jenn and I because they have our sizes here, and they don’t have anything close to our sizes in our home city. The prices are good, around 8 – 10 US for shirts, pants, tops for Jenn – we are pleased with our finely honed haggling skills.
We map out and eventually locate the bus exchange, jump on the 75 and relax on our way over to an infamous harbor here in HK called Aberdeen. It is named after the sister city in Scotland, where I just happened to live for two years (well, about an hour and a half North closer to the highlands). This harbor is famous for the sampans that local fishermen use to work the waters and also from a James Bond film where he is hopping around sampans and shooting bad guys. It is also home to the world’s largest floating restaurant, Jumbo. It’s kitschy and HUGE, and the dim sum was forgettable, but we are famished and just not up to arguing about getting charged not only a VIP surcharge but also an additional tax on our bill. Sometimes we just can’t help being tourists...Go for the views, not the food.
Made it back home in time to grab a party-nap and then put on some flashy, “we know how to party if there is one around” clothes and hit the HK party district. Lan Kwia Fong (Orchid Square) is home to the trendiest pubs and hangouts in HK and like Shanghai, it’s basically where all the folks who are not from China go to get their drink on. We had beers with names we haven’t seen in months, chat in English without having to pronounce every-single-word-clearly and well, end up drinking too much. The cab ride home was quick and cheap, just like this section of town.
More tomorrow...
Just a street shot showing how everything in this city points up! The city is really jam-packed to the maximum so, as in Manhattan, we spent most of the time walking around looking up.
Taking a break on the bus for some cheeze...
The Chinese are a bit shy so I end up taking more street scenes and landscapes than candid people shots (my favorite)...street scenes are easier there though because there is never a lack of subjects...
The mass transit in HK is fantastic...buses come by every 3 minutes and cost about .20 cents to ride to the end of the line...the trams (green cable cars) are a throwback from the British colonization and they are even cheaper (.10), but they make more stops so they are not as efficient but you can sit on the top and really enjoy the views of the cities. And then there are the ferries that speed everyone over the water to the outlying islands, etc..they are cheap, dependable, and fast.
Typical side street where a market has blossomed...
This is the small area called Aberdeen and it is famous for one of the James Bond movies (who knows which one?), and the constant flow of sanpans (the ubiquitious Chinese fishing boats) zipping in and out of the harbor area, along with the largest floating restuarant in the world; the Jumbo. The view was great, the place smelled of diesel and fish, we were hit up incessently by boat women (the women own the boats here) for a ride around the harbor, and they ripped us off at the Jumbo restaurant by charging both a VIP surcharge (2x) and then an additional tax. All in all, still not a bad day in HK though...:)
Some fish spread, out, to advertise the days catch from one of the sanpans...
This is a sanpan (meaning three planks in Cantonese); small, easily maneuverable, smelly, but you just can't say you've been to Hong Kong if you haven't seen one of these, or a thousand...
The view of the nicer part of Aberdeen harbor showing how the rich people, and the poor people, live in Hong Kong...home of the world's most expensive real estate; top price in the best area is $5,500 per square foot.
The infamous Jumbo restaurant...much nicer inside than you would expect, but the food was forgettable and I already mentioned the additional charges for tourists...:(
Jenny spotted this graveyard on the way to Aberdeen. Rarely will you see graveyards in all of China because space is at a premium and there is the water table to think about, in addition to cremation being the method of choice. Don't know why this one is here but it was remarkably beautiful and serene...
This is a widely talked about bar in Lan Kwai Fong, which means all tourists and ex-pats come to this area of town to get drunk and speak slurred English...La Dolce Vita..they have a great reputation but was a bit of a disappointment on this Tuesday night, but there were a dozen or so other bars waiting for us so we moved on after a beer...
Speaking of night life...this is just one small street in the Lan Kwai Fong area...needless to say we don't have these kind of options back home in little DanYang...we got up later than expected the next day, and that's all I'll say about that...:)
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