Hong Kong skyline seen from The Peak, in the mountain.
But the idea transformed with the time I spent there. First there was the drinking nights in Kowloon markets and sightseeing in the day with two western guys living in China, also on a visa run. They told me stories about the small town (3 million people) where they live, with barely no other foreigners. Generally, westerners living in mainland China have a good opinion about it and are happy with their lives there. Then there was the drinking night in Soho with a bunch of westerners working and living in Hong Kong, where I had a glimpse of their life style. At the end there were the days and nights with people from the hostel, some travellers, some who just arrived and were looking for a house and job. On the last night we decided to go (probably illegally) all the way up to the roof top of the Chunking Mansions - a gigantic and decrepit block of flats, with dodgy Indian and African shops on the ground floor and tens (literally) of hostels and guesthouses up in the several towers in the block that inspired Wong Kar Wai in his film "Chunking Express" - where we looked at Hong Kong from above at night.
Unfortunately I ended up not connecting that much with the Chinese Hong-Kongians (?), but I had an idea of a interesting spectrum of Westerners in that city.
Now, about the city itself. Hong Kong is not China! Hong Kong is Hong Kong! It is a relentless city with people everywhere on the streets, all day and all night. The area of the city is not that big, so Hong Kong ended up being an extremely vertical city, with skyscrapers everywhere. To give you an example, a 20 floors building is small there... It is a modern city, a city of the world, like London or New York, that had more to do with Tokyo than with Beijing por Shanghai. It has people from all over the world living there. At the ground level it looks Chinese in the smaller streets: night markets, street food, etc. The mix between the modern and the typically Chinese/Asian is amazing! It feels like a city from a science fiction film, as it reminds me a lot the cities in Blade Runner or 5th Element, with shiny, modern life above and more chaotic and grimy (the good kind of grimy) below.
The skyline is breathtaking, specially if you see it from the peninsula towards the island: an endless row of very tall buildings in the foreground with a luxuriously green mountain in the background. Best skyline in the world!
In Hong Kong the local language is Cantonese, which is different from the usual Mandarin spoken almost all over China. The food is also fantastic... That region (not only Hong Kong) is the home of the famous Dim Sum, which I used to have many times in London's Chinatown. The weather is tropical, so it is pretty much warm or hot all around the year and it rains a lot. Everyone sweats a lot in Hong Kong, the humidity is enormous (at least when I was there).
Generally the Westerners in Hong Kong live a working, but also bohemian life in Hong Kong. I've heard several times that one of the reasons why they were there was the fact that they could afford a quality of life that would be impossible back at home. A small example: most people I talked to had a maid that would regularly clean their house, as part of the rent. Apparently there is an easier access to a more luxurious life in Hong Kong than in the West. Like in almost all big international cities in Asia I've been (Singapore, Tokyo, Shanghai, etc.) the Westerners living there show a certain love/hate relationship with the city. People in these cities complain more about their life style than people living in mainland China, for example. But those are very different places and consequently these will be different people, driven by different mental patterns and standards.
Yes, I can easily imagine myself living in Hong Kong... more than in any other city in Asia... at least from the ones I've been so far.
View from the rooftop of the Chunking Mansions
An air vent in one of the Chinking Mansion's towers. Another sci-fi element in Hong Kong...
Streets Of Hong Kong
The skyline is breathtaking, specially if you see it from the peninsula towards the island: an endless row of very tall buildings in the foreground with a luxuriously green mountain in the background. Best skyline in the world!
Hong Kong skyline seen from the peninsula
Hong Kong skyline seen from the Star Ferry (one of icons of the city)
In Hong Kong the local language is Cantonese, which is different from the usual Mandarin spoken almost all over China. The food is also fantastic... That region (not only Hong Kong) is the home of the famous Dim Sum, which I used to have many times in London's Chinatown. The weather is tropical, so it is pretty much warm or hot all around the year and it rains a lot. Everyone sweats a lot in Hong Kong, the humidity is enormous (at least when I was there).
Hong Kong trams - another icon.
Generally the Westerners in Hong Kong live a working, but also bohemian life in Hong Kong. I've heard several times that one of the reasons why they were there was the fact that they could afford a quality of life that would be impossible back at home. A small example: most people I talked to had a maid that would regularly clean their house, as part of the rent. Apparently there is an easier access to a more luxurious life in Hong Kong than in the West. Like in almost all big international cities in Asia I've been (Singapore, Tokyo, Shanghai, etc.) the Westerners living there show a certain love/hate relationship with the city. People in these cities complain more about their life style than people living in mainland China, for example. But those are very different places and consequently these will be different people, driven by different mental patterns and standards.
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