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Published: March 19th 2009
First let me start off by saying that I LOVE HONG KONG!! Seriously, what an awesome city, Hong Kong really sets the standard for international cities. And what a skyline! There's some website out there that ranks Hong Kong's skyline as the best in the world, and I would definitely have to agree. And do they ever know how to showcase it! Every night at 8:00pm, weather permitting, is the Symphony of Lights, a spectacular light show coordinated with music and a lot of the big buildings participating.
We spent 9 days in a 3 bedroom apartment in Kowloon, in a place called Olympic Terrace Suites. It's very similar to a hotel in that your room gets cleaned every day and your provided with soap and shampoo, but it can also be used for longer term stays. Also, it is a lot cheaper than staying at a regular hotel in Hong Kong and the rooms are much bigger. When we were searching for hotels, we had difficulty finding a room with two double beds - all the beds are single, and many hotels charge extra money for each additional adult. So for these reasons I would highly recommend the Olympic
Stanley Bay
Yep... still in Hong Kong. This is Stanley Bay, south side of Hong Kong Island. Terrace Suites. It's a short walk to the metro and markets, and as with everywhere in Hong Kong, the neighbourhood is very safe (Hong Kong is by far safer than your average North American city). My only complaint about the hotel is that I found a cockroach on our bed one evening - but besides that the place seemed very clean and I would definitely go back.
Staying with my partner and I in the apartment were our two friends, one speaks Mandarin, the other speaks Cantonese, and they both know Hong Kong very well. Being with them greatly improved the quality of our trip. Even though Hong Kong is the most English city in China, there are still a lot of people who don't understand any English - which can make taking a cab anywhere or ordering food at a restaurant quite the challenge.
Our friend took us to an amazing Dim Sum restaurant one morning for breakfast - we returned another day for dinner, but they didn't serve dim sum then so we had to order off the regular menu. It was the only place where I saw dog on the menu. My partner wanted to
try it, but he chickened out. If you are like me and you only like to eat breakfast foods in the morning, you will quickly get over that in China. The only breakfast food they have is a watery rice dish called conge, which my friends made sound so unappetizing I wasn't about to try it. So I did what I thought I'd never do - ate curry and beef and whatever else for breakfast. And it was fantastic. We would sometimes buy pastries in the morning too. There are so many Chinese pastry shops all over the place, it's really hard to believe that you don't see any fat people walking around - unless their tourists of course. Another thing in terms of the food is that it is very hard to eat a vegetarian diet while in China. There are some vegetarian restaurants around, but I don't think the Chinese do vegetarian so well because they don't use any lentils and rely a lot on mushrooms, the one food I dislike. We ate at a lovely vegetarian restaurant called Long Men Lou behind a waterfall in Nan Lian Garden that was pretty good. We had the set lunch
menu which was 4 courses, and one of the courses was fried glutton. It was alright, but I didn't have the desire to eat too much of it. If you want good vegetarian food, you need to find a Thai or Indian restaurant in Lan Kwai Fong - we ate at a very delicious, but empty, Indian restaurant there. Of course, there's lots of different types of ethnic restaurants all over Hong Kong, but I think they are particularly good in Lan Kwai Fong, and there seemed to be lots of good ones in SoHo too.
The chinese do fast food very well. It's actually good, nutritious food, but cheap! Hot noodle soups, fried beef and rice, that sort of thing. So I really can't understand how McDonald's can stay in business there. That's just insanity. I know that the McDonald's there don't serve the same food they do here in North America, but still - I can't see how it could even compare to the traditional chinese fast food places that actually serve real food, such as Cafe de Coral. It must have everything to do with this weird fetishization of anything American that I experienced while in
Bamboo Scaffolding
One of the many things I love about China is the use of bamboo scaffolding for the construction of new buildings. France as well. It causes people to believe that shitty american pop music is actually good.
Our small taste of the music scene in Hong Kong was very disappointing. We got invited to a concert by a friend of a friend to see this band called Boxx. I think they are really popular because there were news crews there covering the show and the next day we saw one of the musicians on tv. The bar was packed full of hip young people but the music was absolutely dreadful. It was like elevator music, it put me to sleep. Kinda embarrassing since they ushered us Westerners into the front row (we were the only white people there) and I have never been so grateful for a show to end. They did play a couple more upbeat, rocking songs, which I understand were covers of songs from the mainland. They also did a couple of covers of western songs. That stupid "you had a bad day" song and something else really lame. But besides us, everyone in the bar was absolutely loving it! And nobody seemed to be drinking very much either. It was all very bizarre for me. Where
Carlsberg Tower
They didn't have any pitchers of carlsberg beer at this bar we went to in Lan Kwai Fong, but they did have towers, so that's what we got. I'm from, young people drink til their drunk and go to rowdy shows where the music is loud and fast, and people jump up and down or mosh. Not stand around listening to lame love songs they can hear in grocery stores. LAME. I certainly hope that wasn't a reflection of the music scene in Hong Kong at large. We couldn't even stay at this show to the end, it was so boring we had to leave. We went around the corner to where all the tourists were partying in the streets of Lan Kwai Fong and we bought some beers from 7 Eleven and drank in the streets with everyone else. The bars in this area are more expensive than elsewhere, but the party atmosphere is great. There is a bar for every country it seems. You can find the Canadian bar or the Irish bar or whatever. It's a good time. And not only can you buy alcohol for cheap at the 7 Eleven's on every corner of Hong Kong, but you can also pay with that alcohol using your transit card. Isn't that awesome! It's called the Octopus Card and it's great because it's so much more
than a transit card.
So here are some things I love about Hong Kong:
1. the transit system - so easy to use and so extensive, very modern system. The best - I can actually reach the top bar to hold on to in the middle of the subway cars. The Toronto bars are too high for me, but not only are the bars on the Hong Kong metro low enough, but they also have loop holds hanging all along this bar for those who are even shorter than me. Excellent.
2. bamboo scaffolding - it seems to make so much sense to use natural materials, and it looks way cooler than a bunch of metal bars.
3. high density living
4. lots of park space. Your in the middle of a giant metropolis one minute, and in the midst of serene nature the next. The best of both worlds.
5. the markets - it's fun to bargain.
6. the food!!
7. all the colourful signs, it's just impossible to feel bored while walking down any street.
8. all the laundry hanging out to dry from apartment windows.
9. the amazing archetecture
10. the landscape and surroundings - mountains
and ocean
11. it's not cold.
12. The aviary in Hong Kong Park
13. the pink dolphins
14. Lan Kwai Fong
Some things I don't think are so great:
1. I hope I don't offend anyone, but the Chinese can't exactly be considered very friendly. They're great people, but good luck trying to get someone on the street to help you if you're lost or in trouble.
2. the wretched smell in the streets from stinky tofu. I hear it's really good, but i can't eat anything that smells that gross. And i like tofu.
3. aggressive salespeople. i might have bought more stuff if i wasn't so turned off and intimidated by the aggressive salespeople.
4. that old man who was begging for money that came up to me and touched me. that wasn't cool. yeah, he seemed pretty desperate and i know i'm a "rich" tourist and all, but still. don't touch me.
5. i wouldn't be able to stand the humidity and the heat in the summer time. Even with those beautiful beaches - besides typhoons scare me.
6. the sun didn't come out very much, so you don't get to see blue sky very often.
Airplane
The pink dolpin watch cruise we went on went right by the Hong Kong International airport, so there were lots of planes going overhead. Or maybe we just had bad luck in the weather department? At least it didn't rain too much.
7. the barriers that prevent pedestrians from walking onto the road between street lights. Yeah, I know they are there for our safety and that traffic is kinda crazy. But when you want to cross the street you want to cross the street, streetlight or not. Although they are there for the safety of pedestrians, it somehow doesn't seem very pedestrian friendly to me.
8. the pollution and the over-development that is threatening wildlife such as the pink dolphins.
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