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Published: September 19th 2005
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Jen at The Peak
Me on The Peak overlooking Hong Kong Harbour Hong Kong - an exercise in controlled chaos!
Quirky Factsheet No 1 Hong Kong consumes more oranges than any other place on earth.
The territory has the world’s highest per-capita consumption of cognac (around 10%!o(MISSING)f the worldwide market) and highest ownership of Rolls Royces.
The Kwun Tong District in Kowloon is the most densely populated place on earth, with over 50,000 people per square km.
In Hong Kong, a betrayed wife is legally allowed to kill her adulterous husband, but only using her bare hands. The husband’s lover, however, may be killed by any manner desired... Tuesday 13th September After a long, but largely uneventful, flight I arrived at Chep Lak Kok airport on the afternoon of Tuesday 13th. This airport (a Motts job) replaced the old Kai Tak airport in 1998 - legendary for its heart-stopping landings. Chep Lak Kok is very clean, modern and airy and is connected by a highly efficient train service to Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. I was whisked from the station to my hotel in a very clean, efficient, air-conditioned taxi that cost less than a third of what a London black cab would charge. When
Panorama
View over the harbour I got up to my room, I made the mistake of going for a quick nap - this was a BIG mistake as I awoke several hours later and couldn’t get back to sleep when I was supposed to! I decided to go for a wander outside instead.
It was only upon leaving the icy-cold air-conditioned hotel lobby that I realised how hot and humid it was outside. The hot clammy air envelops you instantly and I would soon discover that it is possible to consume several litres of water a day there without needing to run to the toilet! During the day the temperature would hit around 35C, and would only dip to around 29C at night.
I went in to the nearest restaurant and surveyed the menu. I decided to forgo the “Deep Fried Vegetarian” in favour of the less cannibalistic option of sweet and sour chicken (boring, moi?). Seems the city here really doesn’t sleep - most shops are open till around 10pm and the night markets close much later. People scurry like ants around the bases of the skyscrapers.
Wednesday 14th September The next day, I wandered into our office in Hong
India Rubber Tree
Roots grow the wrong way! Kong to meet some colleagues, before getting the bus up to The Peak. The panoramic views at the top are amazing, and a path runs around the hill, just below the summit. It was a very pleasant walk, and the trees provided some welcome shade. India rubber trees are quite common here, and their roots dangle down from up high, creating a romantic dappled light effect on the path. I also saw some black kites (birds of prey) swooping and gliding effortlessly above the skyscrapers. I caught the vertiginous tram back down the hill - quite an exciting journey as it tips to about 45˚! Special scoops have been made in the aisles to help people stand up straight!
That night, I met up with my colleagues for a night out on the town. My company’s office actually seems to be in the seedy part (Wan Chai) of Hong Kong Island - no real surprises there! - and we ended up on a street that was populated almost entirely by girly bars. It was incredible to see the number of young, mostly Thai, attractive girls either with, or chasing after, fat, balding, ugly middle-aged European men in this district!
The Guys
My Hong Kong Colleagues! Money is everything here I guess! We went to Joe Bananas, which has, some readers may be disappointed to learn, got rid of its wet t-shirt/wet boxers theme, but is still cheerily tacky, before ending the night in Venus (far worse!).
Thursday 15th September The next day, feeling a tad delicate, I managed to hop on one of the quirky Hong Kong trams that rattle up and down the former shoreline (now several blocks back from the waterline) - a great way to view the Island and a bargain at $2. I then caught a Star Ferry over to Kowloon and walked along the “Avenue of Stars”, where film stars such as Jackie Chan and Jet Li have left hand-prints. At night, an audio-visual display is put on here for the vast crowds of tourists. It felt slightly odd sitting there listening to “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” tinkling over the speakers, drowned out occasionally by the Cantopop blaring out from passing ferry speakers, surveying the capitalist’s dream panorama of Hong Kong Island. The island’s very macho, slightly phallic style towers (every new one has to be that bit bigger than its neighbour!) are lit up in a blaze of
Joe Bananas
And they complain they don't get enough of a hardship allowance here! neon, and coloured searchlights create a dazzling, fireworks-style display from their tops. Fireworks are actually banned in Hong Kong. Quite what Mozart would have made of it all is anyone’s guess…
Friday 16th September Last day in Hong Kong! Took a trip out to Lantau Island (off to the west) to see the Big Buddha statue. I took the fast train out from Central then a bus over the hilly centre of the island. The Buddha is at Po Lin monastery in Ngong Ping (no I can’t pronounce it either). The Tian Tan Buddha is over 30m tall and made of 202 pieces of Bronze, and is perched 500m up on the hillside. It’s reached by 260-odd steps. Probably not the most sensible undertaking in the middle of the day here, but Noel Coward did base his song “Mad Dogs and Englishmen” on the colonists in Hong Kong! The rather large American family, who had lunch next to me in the monastery’s vegetarian restaurant, seemed to think better of it. It’s possible to walk inside the Buddha, through the plinth, but it’s a very sparse museum. There were a couple of relics inside. Apparently “relic”, in the Buddhist
David M
"I've got something in my eye, honest!" sense, refers to some tiny body-parts of someone who has reached full spiritual realisation - this is proved by them being multi-coloured on cremation of the body. Two tiny pieces of bone from the “real Buddha”, Sakyamuni, or Gautama Buddha, were received from Sri Lanka and placed in an elaborate altar on the upper floor. Buddha had declared on his death-bed that multi-coloured pieces of bone and teeth would be left on his funeral pyre, and should be distributed to believers around the world. The Buddha looks serenely northwards, towards mainland China (unusual in that all the other major Buddha statues face South), and his right hand is raised, bestowing blessings upon and removing afflictions from all who approach him. Ironic considering the suffering China has imposed on the Buddhist people of Tibet.
I had spotted a nice-looking beach on the bus journey up the hill, and decided to hop off there on the way back. It was next to a little village called Tong Fuk. Three bored looking lifeguards surveyed the empty beach and a solitary swimmer. I decided to go for a paddle in the Pacific (well, the South China Sea, to be more specific) - I
Tram
A Hong Kong Tram was actually shocked to feel warm seawater lapping my ankles for the first time in my life! The swimming area was protected by a shark-net, which was slightly alarming, though I’m told sharks don’t hang around there at this time of year.
My final night was spent having a couple of beers with my new found friends from the Hong Kong office, this time in the more up-market district of Lan Kwai Fong- this is where the ex-pats come to drink Bavarian wheat beer and to see and be seen. However, we all had an early night as the guys had weekends to enjoy and I had a very early plane to catch the next day.
(See my Hong Kong Gallery for the best photos)
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Gary!
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Greetings from (dull) Blightey!
Go Girl, Go! Looks like not a lot of work to be done over the next two years!!! Keep updating as I will check in regularly. Best wishes.