First Taste of Hong Kong

Side Street In Hong Kong

I arrived in Hong Kong VERY early after drinking a substantial amount of free wine on the plane. Funtimes. Doesn't help that I swear to god that airport is about twice the size of Hoddesdon. Having been sufficiently "wow'd" by the first few city blocks that came into view I became oh so very much smaller when the bus reached the city itself. Hong Kong is the most beautiful obscene thing I have ever seen. People are packed in like sardines, so much so that on arriving at my accomodation (Ashoka Hostel) I found the receptionist sleeping on a makeshift bed behind the desk. First impressions WIN! Having to sit around for a couple of hours before being checked in left me in a very bad mood, fully ready to hate Hong Kong in all it's glory. It didn't take long for me to change my mind...

He has MASSIVE hands for a small guy..

When I eventually set off to explore the local area I discovered that all the comments I had heard were completely true. The place is LITERALLY just one huge shopping mall. It's made up of shopping centres, connected to eachother by MORE shops. Places where people actually live starts about 3 or 4 stories up. My building is 20 stories high, and it's a diddy one. This is a city that makes the human race feel very big, but the individual feel very small. I love it to be honest, I wandered around the city and despite exploring for a good 4 or 5 hours I REALLY didn't get very far. But I DID manage to get hopelessly lost... like more lost than I've ever been in my entire life. It was kinda good fun really, wander around aimlessly for a couple of hours till i decide I should ask for help then find my way to a familiar place once again and repeat the process. The fun would have gone out of it when it got dark though...

Everything's very cheap which is fantastic to say the least, including transport. It cost me the equivalent of £1.80 to catch a ferry and a 50 minute bus up to Victoria Peak that evening in the hope of seeing Hong Kong from up there at night. My hope's were crushed when I found myself at the top in a cloud. So my shopping spree continued in the mall at the peak instead!

Hong Kong