Hong Kong

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I flew into Hong Kong on the 21st October 2010 and have to say its one of the better airports to fly into, although nothing in comparison to the old one (apparently). The views of the skyscrapers and mountains surrounding are stunning, if not clouded slightly with a combination of smog and haze, typical for the time of year. I was excited to be visiting HK, not only because of the vibrancy of the city, but because my second cousin Jill lives there, and has done since 1985. Although I have been to Australia 4 times prior to this trip, I have never flown a route through HK, much to Jill’s annoyance, and in hindsight and with what I now know about the place, mine too. It was great to see Jill waiting for me at arrivals, not only because it was a familiar face, but because it was a member of family and I hadn’t seen many of those during the past 11 months! Due to her locality and her job - she is the CEO of the charitable organisation Animals Asia - we usually only get to see each other at Christmas time and had been a couple of years since our last encounter, so I was really looking forward to catching up. She took me for dinner in Sai Kung, which appeared to be a heavily ex-pat orientated community and I had a burger - my first in a while, and a couple of beers…so much for the detox after Langkawi! We were also joined by Jill’s ex-husband, John, who has remained a close friend of hers and we spent the evening listening to him tell stories in his very eloquent Yorkshire accent before heading back to her place for a decent kip!

The next day I woke up to an amazing view. My room (or should I say Jill’s office) was on the 2nd floor, overlooking a lake and was easy to see why Jill had bought the property and made this room her office! That Monday we took a taxi into town, to where the Animals Asia office is and I was introduced to her colleagues. It was the first time I had been in a corporate setting for a while and felt somewhat out of place in flip flops, shorts, and my curly mop! I got some advice from a couple of people in the office of where to head for the day and took myself off into town, where I dropped in my passport to the Vietnamese embassy to attain my visa before wandering aimlessly trying to get to grips with the city. HK is far bigger than I thought and I had in my mind drawn parallels with Singapore, a thought that I would rapidly change…for the better in my opinion. A lot of the streets looked very similar and was quite easy to think you were somewhere you weren’t, but I like that about places, never really knowing where you are and stumbling upon things accidentally. I generally find I have quite a good sense of direction once I have been there once, so was never unduly worried. I came across HK park, which was a nice little walk around and found the start of the escalators - a series of escalators that take you from the lower business area of Central, through Soho, to the upper levels close to the botanical garden. I stopped for some sushi before walking back towards Jill’s offices, where she was knocking off early so she could show me some sights. Due to a meeting over-running the sightseeing was put on hold, however we did have time to pick me up another camera at a shop she knew well, before we headed back to Sai Kung for a curry!

Jill is my Mum’s cousin and we had a really good night chatting about her memories as a child, about my Mum and Dad and also about my Nan, who died in 2007. I wont embarrass Jill by mentioning how old she is, but she really does act and behave a good 15 years younger and by the end of the meal I felt as though I was talking to a close friend as opposed to somebody I only see every now and again. It was great talking to her on the same level and told her things about me that even some of my mates don’t know. I think the bottles of Sauvignon Blanc may have helped this, but I had a cracking night and didn’t have to worry about getting up the next day, unlike Jill who had to fly to China for work!

The next day I went back into town, this time making the hour journey there using a combination of the public light buses - cream and green mini buses that zip the locals around once full, picking up and dropping of along a certain route - and the ever so efficient MTR (subway). I retraced a lot of my steps from the previous day so I could take photos, going all the way up the escalators and to ’The Peak’, via the tram. The Peak is basically a lookout point over the entire city and gives an impressive panoramic view of the city skyline. I just wish the sky had been blue and not the dull grey, but you still get the idea from the pictures. Again I just wandered around, taking photos and soaking up the city as best I could. Usually I am not a fan of big cities but there is something about HK that is really appealing. It is as busy and chaotic as you would expect an Asian city to be and is filled with Chinese restaurants and shops with people who cannot speak a word of English, yet at the same time has this air of Western organisation that is so often reassuring. I’m not sure how I would fare in the heat and humidity of a HK summer, but at the time I was there (late November) it was more than comfortable to walk around in shorts and a t-shirt with virtually no humidity whatsoever - very comfortable for sightseeing, although some of the locals thought it cold and indeed dressed so!

The next day I decided to relax at the house for most of the morning, going into town in the afternoon to look at the city from the Kowloon side of the river i.e. the side of the river facing the city, just so I could get a different perspective on the place. The city definitely needs to be viewed from here, just in order to give the sheer scale of the place and to see how far along the river the city actually runs. Very impressive. I then went into town to meet Stuart, the PR guy at Jill’s work, who had kindly offered to take me out to dinner. Stuart has lived in HK for a couple of years with his wife and took me to a restaurant he eats at once or twice a month; a typically Chinese place where you sit on plastic chairs on the side of the road and eat deliciously authentic meals. Stuart, being a vegetarian, ordered a range of vegetable based dishes, all of which were very tasty and also very different. Jill, also a vegetarian will be pleased to know that no meat passed my lips that night!

After dinner, I was met by another member of staff from the organisation, Claire, who had offered to take me to the races with her partner and some of his colleagues from work. The horse race stadium was slap bang in the middle of town, which meant you had skyscrapers and high rise flats/apartments as the backdrop, making for a really unique setting. Being on a travellers budget, I only ’gambled’ in two of the races, winning an each way bet in the second race, accumulating the equivalent of circa £1.25...the last of the big spenders!

The next 3 days were pretty much written off as the Ashes had started and I was particularly keen to watch as much of the test series as possible, regardless of the fact I was away travelling. Luckily, John was as keen as I was to see it and he arranged to pick me up early on the first morning, along with 24 tins of cold Heineken and we went round to his Australian mates place to watch the day unfold. Long story short, it was a good couple of days with a lot of laughs, although humorously disturbing to see a group of late middle aged blokes enjoying lager in quite that fashion! I ended up suitably plastered both days and made the most of Jill’s hospitality, having left me with numerous ready meals from Marks & Spencer…somewhere I don’t shop when I’m at home, let alone in HK! It was bloody good to have a Ginster’s pasty again though!

Jill was due back on the Saturday evening and I had planned to meet a guy I had met at my mates wedding in Brisbane back in September. Sam was over from Japan on business and his plans tied in nicely with mine. We had a few beers, caught up on each others lives during the last couple of months and recalled stories from the wedding. It was good to see him again! Jill had text me to say that she was knackered from her trip to China, so I carried on with Sam for a few more, trying to be as quiet as I could when I got home…which is usually more hazardous after a few sherberts!

On the Sunday, Jill and I went into a part of town I had not yet been and she took me around Stanley Market. I don’t think I was as enthusiastic as I could have been about the market, but then again, I am a guy with almost zero interest in shopping. I was keen however, after a brief look around the area, to sit outside the front of a pub, next to the water in the late afternoon sunshine, enjoying a pint or two of cider. (Sorry Jill, straight to the pub next time…haha). Perfect! For dinner that night we went to a local Thai restaurant and ate way more than was required, but was so very good!

Next day Jill was back in the office in HK and I went into meet her just after lunch. Together we went to see the Big Buddha, which is a cable car ride away, about 45 minutes outside of the Central part of the city. The cable car was an experience in itself, allowing for spectacular views of the surrounding area, the airport, over a lot of surrounding water and into the mountains - impressive. At the top, the temperature was much cooler than below, but what was in store was well worth it - a giant Buddha with the sun going down behind it. OK, so it didn’t mean much on a religious level for me, but was still very picturesque and provided a couple of my favourite pictures to date. I was glad we got up there - the cable car ride alone is worth the effort.

From there it was back to Sai Kung for my last meal in HK before we both flew to Vietnam the next morning where Jill was planning to show me around the sanctuary she has set up in the Tam Dao National Park, which rescues Moon (and Sun) bears from bear farms around Vietnam, where the bears are held in horrendous conditions, in tiny cages, to have bile extracted from their gall bladder to be used in Chinese herbal medicine.

For me, HK had exceeded expectations and I thoroughly enjoyed my stay in the city, a place I will certainly revisit…and soon!. It also provided a great opportunity to get to know a member of family so much better than I had previously and I am grateful for the time I got to spend with Jill. We had a lot of laughs over the few days together, feel like I know her a whole lot better and are certainly much closer. With a lot of what she told me, the importance of family was reinforced, which is a poignant subject considering the length of time I am away. I don’t necessarily miss England, but I do miss family and friends!


For more information about the organisation and the Animals Asia charity, please follow the link: http://www.animalsasia.org/index.php?UID=HK616A9D8P3A

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Photos

Chinese Restaurant...
...interesting being the only white bloke in there!

Jill & Me...
...near Stanley Market