Jetting abruptly skyward at the water's edge the dense stand of high-rises--a manufacturer forest at its finest--spreads up onto the hills of the island's interior. Landing at 10pm, a 24 minute ride on the light-rail put us in city center where we hopped in a cab and headed for our hotel. As the cab twisted and turned through the trunks of concrete, steel and glass my gaze was affixed out the window at the forest's canopy. The sheer number of illuminated rectangles, offices and dwellings, stacked on top of each other far into the night sky was maddening, and of a scale that made the whole scene seemingly unreal.
The place has a long history of shady dealings and big money. The British won control of the island during the first Opium War (1839-42) and subsequently used the port to bring the massive amounts of the drug to the mainland in years to follow. In 1997 the British relinquished control of the colony and the city-state became a
special administrative region of the People's Republic of China--your passport gets stamped out leaving mainland China and you get a different visa upon arrival. Largely at the request of the British, China has maintained a "one country, two systems" approach to governing Hong Kong--the city has it own laws, political system and currency (issued by HSBC). Low taxation, free trade and a natural deep-water port have fueled Hong Kong's elevation to one of the world's leading business centers.
My thirst for a Chinese mega-city experience was quenched by the visit.
The world's most vertical city
The view from our hotel room
Hong Kong is one of the most desenly populated places on earth, known for insanely small dwellings that rent for exorbitant rates.
Nature making it happen amidst the hardscape.
"the walk sign is on"
Seven million people and the limited space of an island has pushed the development of public transit, which 90% of its citizens use, the highest percent of any city in the world. The subway system is China's most established.
Double-decker buses--90% of the city's residences use public transit, highest in the world.
Cable Cars
The city is set on a hill, walk the stairs down and a serious of escalators will being you back up.
Riding the escalators from bottom to top takes a half hour
The corporate culture works hard and plays hard--downtown there are endless western style bars and cafes that open onto the streets.
My father, brother and I.
The scene is a world apart from mainland China and was a bit reminiscent of home--wine bars and B&J's
Ah yeah, we took advantage of some of the western favorites we'd been missing--with the Brooklyn Brewery Pils it might as well been NY, it was that good.
Most people in CA haven't heard of Boonville and have probably never tried this beer...I was pretty stoked to come across it halfway around the world, finally some hops!
The go local movement--commonsense of the past undergoing a hip new reemergence globally.
I've come across "organic" restaurants in every country I've been, most of which don't clearly define what the label means. They seem to concentrate in areas of wealth, some are done well with heart while others seem to be an excuse for over-priced inferior quality offerings.
Kowloon Flower Market
Kowloon Bird Market
High-speed ferries depart every 15 minutes for the hour long run over to the island of Macau.
Macau was a Portuguese colony and like Hong Kong it is a special administrative region with different laws than the mainland.
The major draw to Macau is gambling, and while the Chinese city isn't the visual spectacle of Las Vegas it dwarfs Vegas's bankroll many times over.
