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Published: October 30th 2010
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Our apartment
This is our home for the 2 months in HK... A serviced apartment on Queens Rd Central. I especially love the maid service three times a week :) Now my first week in Hong Kong has come to an end, I figured it would be nice to share some of my experiences..
I have seen so much in the past week, that it’s hard to decide where to begin - I am not even sure I remember it all. The trip to Hong Kong went smoothly - surprisingly, I did not feel too jet lagged and we were even able to explore our neighborhood a bit on our first day. Our apartment, which we had arranged beforehand based on a website and some pictures, turned out to be actually quite nice. It’s not very big, but all you need is there, it’s clean, and it’s relatively new. So that was a first relief. The location is great too - a 5 minute walk from the MTR, and on walking distance from Central.
The first thing that struck me about Hong Kong is how busy it is, all the time, everywhere. Not surprising, if you think about it: many more people live on a given square meter than in a city like Amsterdam or London, with mainly low rise buildings. The nice side effect of this is that
HK millennium plaza
One of my favourite spots in our neighbourhood, the millennium plaza, on a 5 min walk from our apartment everything you need is close to you: convenience stores, super markets, restaurants, etcetera, there is a large enough market. But the clear down side is that it sometimes feels a bit overcrowded.
Already after less than a week, I felt the need to escape from the city for a bit, a thing that apparently lots of Hong Kong locals do. Last Sunday, we rented some bicycles in the Tai Mei Tuk reservoir with friends of Stephen’s, along with many, many Hong Kong-ites. The view over the water and the mountains was lovely, and it was great to be outside of the city. Although the interesting routes were unfortunately all closed off for bicycles, the cycle ride was still challenging enough - try avoiding dozens and dozens of Chinese that have never ridden a bicycle before.
Another interesting, but at the same time obvious, observation is how Hong Kong is a true mix between China and the UK. Especially in Sheung Wan, where our apartment is, the Chinese teas, medicines, food and temples are abundant. And yes, people do not keep an elevator open for you when they want to go up, and there are no polite gestures of
HK Skyline at night
The HK Skyline of HK island, seen from the Kowloon side ‘you go’ - ‘no,you first’ when exiting. But people do line up, and stand neatly on the right side of the escalator so anyone who wants to pass can do so on the left. Oh, and talking about British influence - the amazing high tea we had with Stephen’s mom in the Peninsula made me forget I had ever been away from London.. May as well have been at the Dorchester.
Which brings me to another important theme here in Hong Kong: food! Loads of tasty dim sum, so far Maxim’s palace was my favorite.. The beautiful ‘ball room’ looking out over the harbour, with the grand chandeliers, the ladies with the little dim sum carts, and the great food.. I truly felt this was why I had come to HK (personally, I believe food is a much better reason to travel than school. Nowadays, with all that e-learning one can study virtually anywhere, but try e-conferencing some fresh dim sum in 😉..). Another great experience was the dinner we were invited to by a business partner of Stephen’s dad, a true traditional Chinese feast, with so much food that even I had to give up at some point.
Cycling at Tai Mei Tuk
Cycling at Tei Mei Tuk park, with friends of Stephen's (Wai and Erin), and many many Chinese people. Pay special attention to the little cycle carts, those things are dangerous, especially when driven by the Chinese!! I must admit that the nice fancy chop sticks posed a bit of a challenge to me, those cheap wooden ones are definitely much easier. But it’s not only the Chinese food that’s good, most Asian food is well priced and of decent quality. I love the Japanese sushi bars, where you can have a decent sushi meal for around 10-15 GBP. Fair enough, the quality doesn’t compare to the real thing in Japan, but it definitely beats anything you’d get in London for that price. And we have even managed to find a decent Italian place, somewhere in Soho!
..Reading back through what I have written, it seems as if I haven't done much else than eating and observing people.. Trust me, that is not true 😉. I promise to write a bit more about things we have seen and done in a next posting!
(PS: most pictures are and will be courtesy of Stephen)
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