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Published: December 21st 2008
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For more of my photos, or to buy my book, please visit www.nickkembel.com Hong Kong: Island of Skyrises, Kung Fu Stars and Dim Sum
For the half year that I lived in Shenzhen (China), Hong Kong was my primary entering and exiting point for the continent as well as my weekend playground. Shenzhen is immediately adjacent to Hong Kong, and the two cities are intertwined with various forms of ultra-modern transportation. From my suburb there were High Speed Ferries directly to downtown Hong Kong Island or Kowloon, as well as express ferries to the Hong Kong International Airport on Lantau Island.
I could also catch the Shenzhen metro downtown and then cross the border and get the Hong Kong train right into Kowloon, the entire journey costing less then 5$. A final option, which only opened in the last year was a bridge connecting Shenzhen to the New Territories, the outer fringe of Hong Kong, and that bridge was walking distance from my apartment.
Hong Kong is a major success story in the world of international business and capitalism. It is a very rushed and expensive city, and to speak honestly I don't know that I
Hong Kong Island
Viewed from Victoria Peak would want to live there, but I love visiting it. It's inhabitants enjoy some of the highest standards of living in the world, and one of the only noticeable downfalls is the awful black air blowing in from the coal factories in Guangdong (Canton) province.
Hong Kong actually covers quite a large area on a number of different islands and a portion of the mainland. Downtown Hong Kong consists of the tip of the mainland
(Kowloon), where the traveler's area, cheaper restaurants, and grungier side of Hong Kong can be found, as well as the adjacent mountain backed Hong Kong Island, which is made up of solid skyrises, and overlooked by
Victoria Peak with it's famous lookout point.
There are also several outlying islands with remote beaches, fishing villages, mountain top temples, giant Buddhas, and a more traditional way of life can still be observed.
Lantau Island is the biggest, and also where the international airport and
Disneyland Asia are located. Finally, there are the
New Territories, a mountain and jungle filled area which borders Shenzhen Special Economic Zone to the north.
Hong Kong harbor is a stunning place to walk, and one can enjoy a beer
Incense Spirals
Man Mo Temple, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong Island while strolling the
Avenue of the Stars (a bit of a Hollywood ripoff) at night, and enjoying the view across the harbor to
one of the most famous and beautiful skylines in the world. For an even better view you can head up to the lounge of one of the fancy hotels, or cross the harbor on one of the ultra cheap passenger ferries or in the MRT that crosses under the bay and head up to Victoria Peak for an unparalleled view of the harbor. Also, en route you can start your uphill trek through the city on the
Central Escalator, the longest outdoor elevator in the world which snakes it's way through the city and up the side of the mountain.
During my days in Hong Kong I did a lot of wandering. Hong Kong Island is mostly skyrises and rushed crowds of business people, but there are a lot of interesting sites tucked away in the side streets. I observed rooms filled with worshipers and incense coils at the
Man Mo Temple in Sheung Wan, and traditional foods at the bustling
Graham Street Market. You can also catch a ride in one of the
old British Chungking Mansion
Hong Kong's shadiest and cheapest complex of hotels, Indian restaurants, and blackmarket goods style trolleys which navigate the area.
The waterfront portion of Kowloon, referred to as
Tsim Sha Tsui, is the grungiest, and in my opinion most interesting and comfortable part of Hong Kong.
Chungking Mansion is the core of the international migrant and travelers scene in Hong Kong, with over a dozen floors of cheap hotels, Indian restaurants, and two levels of international stalls with everything from Pakistani sweet shops and Afghan carpet stalls to African BBQ and cheap internet.
All of the main section of the Chungking complex is accessed by a single set of tiny elevators, with a perpetual lineup of foreign peoples, many of them dodgy in appearance, waiting to cram in and go up. Sometimes the lines were so long that one would opt for the
garbage filled and rat infested staircase.
Rooms in Chunking are all exactly the same. A tiny little box with 2 beds, no floorspace, a window if you are lucky, a TV, and sometimes even a miniature bathroom that sometimes even has hot water! Going as cheap as 10$ for 2 people, these are rock bottom prices for Hong Kong.
Outside of Chungking there is a perpetual mob
of migrant travelers loitering in the street, many of them of African, Middle Eastern or South Asian descent,
selling watches out of trench coats, hashish, and custom made suits. In the surrounding streets, you can fight the crowds and find spectacular Cantonese or authentic South Indian food, often very cheaply priced. On the fringe of Kowloon I also came across a large flower market, as well as an interesting
bird market at Yuan Po Street.
Casinos and Portuguese Architecture in Macau
That pretty much sums up my experience of Macau. Macau is a major casino destination, and supposedly pulls in
ten times as much money in one year as Las Vegas, aided by the fact that gambling is illegal in China and Hong Kong, so businessmen flock to Macau to spend money. But I have zero interest in oversized gaudy casinos.
What I did find interesting was the spectacular Portuguese colonial architecture which, combined with traditional Cantonese style shops and alleyways, leaves a very unique impression on the visitor.
The most famous site is the
Ruins of the Church of Saint Paul, where only one side of the church still stands as a picturesque testament to
a colonial past. I only spent one night in Macau, a city which was also extremely accessible from where I lived in China, but I quite enjoyed my stay there and left with positive impression of the city.
For more of my photos, or to buy my book, please visit www.nickkembel.com
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