Hong Kong Revisited - U of T Summer Abroad 2013

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I spent four weeks in Hong Kong as part of the University of Toronto Summer Abroad Program, where I took a History of Hong Kong course at Hong Kong University from June 14 - July 12, 2013.

I came to Hong Kong for 10 days in February 2009 and loved it. Hong Kong had been one of my favourite cities, so I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to go back there for four whole weeks! I got to live at the Hong Kong University Residence at 109 Pok Fu Lam Road (Lee Shaw Kee Hall.)

Reading over my 2009 post, I realize the things i loved then about Hong Kong i still do, but having spent some more time there my opinions have changed regarding some of the things I wasn't too impressed by.

First of all the heat and humidity - the entire time in Hong Kong I had this attitude of "bring it on!" I really liked the heat and felt like everytime I left an overly air conditioned bus or mall, I was treated to a warm Hong Kong hug. I started to get really annoyed with other students in the program complaining about how hot it was all the time. As soon as some people break a sweat they start complaining, but I actually enjoy it. It's detoxifying and means your body is working properly to keep you cool.

It was supposed to be the rainy season, but there really hadn't been much rain. We had a few typhoon warnings but nothing major ever happened. Mostly, we had lots of sun and blue sky, and it was fantastic! I think I've learned to appreciate all types of weather though. I like the extremes. I love snow storms in Canada, and I love the heat and humidity in Hong Kong. You just need a hat, an umbrella for shade, and water and it's all good. Oh yeah, and sun screen and loose fitting clothing is a good idea too. Annoyingly, I often also had to carry around a sweater - the classrooms at the University were kept especially cold, I can't understand why. And it seems many stores have a policy of air conditioning the side walks. They blast it and leave the doors wide open. As nice as that air conditioning breeze can sometimes feel, such a waste of energy should be criminal.

Next is the music scene. I was determined to find some good live music in Hong Kong since the only live show I saw last time sucked. Well, i found it! July 1 I went to the Handover Hallelujah Live Music Festival at The Wanch (54 Jaffre Rd, Wan Chai.) There was no cover, and I saw some incredible bands, including Helter Skelter, Turing Apples and Shotgun Politics. I also had the chance to see some more live music during the Lan Kwai Fong Beer & Music Festival.

The other thing I did on July 1 was check out the democracy protests. Wow, the biggest demo I've ever seen by far. People were shuffling through the streets FOR HOURS!

Friendly locals is another issue I feel I need to correct from my last post. I found lots of super friendly people. This isn't Paris. In comparison to mainland China, I think people in Hong Kong are definately more polite. There isn't as much pushing in the metro or hoarking in the streets. And since people are so health conscious in Hong Kong, often wearing masks to prevent the spread of disease as encouraged by public ad campaigns which took off after SARS, they usually cover their mouths or noses when they cough and sneeze. You rarely see people do that in the mainland.

And apparently, according to my professor at least, people in Hong Kong do not think of McDonald's as American. They just love it because they do; if they don't even realize it's an American chain, they can't possibly only love it out of American fetishization as I speculate in my 2009 post. People say the food is completely different. I wouldn't know as I never went there. I find it hard to believe it'd be healthy, as it just wouldn't be McDonald's then would it?

I got the opportunity to check out a really amazing karaoke bar - CEO Karaoke at Causeway Bay. It's like a giant karaoke hotel! We were a large group so had a giant room. For $400HKD ($53 Canadian), we had the room until 5am (we showed up around midnight), plus they pushed in a cart with copious amounts of booze! Several bottles of Johnnie Walker with various juice for mixing, and lots of Blue Girl Beer. A lot of people went home with a bottle of whiskey because we weren't able to drink it all.

I frequented a lot of Chinese bakeries over my four weeks in Hong Kong. I just loved being able to go in, grab a tray and some tongs, pick whatever looks good and then bring back lots of delicious treats to my dorm room for when I get hungry later, for breakfast, etc. I don't think I gained any weight either, probably due to all the sweating.

I also ate a lot of sushi, because there's so many sushi places to choose from, and it's a nice break from greasy Chinese food. And I finally tried durian! Didn't get a chance to try stinky tofu but I now realize just because you think something smells bad doesn't mean it's not delicious. And once you've tasted how delicious it is, you come to appreciate the smell.




Here are some great restaurants I got to enjoy:

-Budaoweng Hot Pot Dim Sum, Pacific Place Mall

-Life Cafe, 10 Shelley St., SoHo. They have a nice rooftop terrace, and great vegetarian food.

-Wang Fu - 65 Wellington St., SoHo. Cheap dumplings and noodles

-Mak's Noodle - Leighton Rd., Causeway Bay. Another great spot for cheap dumplings and noodle soup.

-La Creperie - 1st Floor, 100 Queen's Rd. E. Crepes and cider from Brittany, delicious! We also had irish coffee with a dessert crepe - caramelized apples, salted caramel butter and ice cream, oh my.

-Jashan - Indian, 1st Floor, Amber Lodge, 23 Hollywood Rd., SoHo

-Woodlands - Indian vegetarian. Upper ground floor, 16-17 Wing On Plaza, 62 Mody Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon. Order one of the thali meals so you'll get a big metal plate with lots of small dishes, dessert, bread and rice.

-Tandoori Nights - 2nd Floor, 22-24 Cameron Rd, Kowloon. Get there at 8pm to enjoy the live music.

-Tai Cheong Bakery - 35 Lyndhurst Terrace - for the best egg tarts

-Maxim's Place, City Hall. We had our U of T Summer Abroad farewell dinner there. So much food, the dishes just kept on coming!

-Sweet Dynasty Dim Sum, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon

-Lin Heung Tea House

-Shek-O Beach BBQ

-Charlie Brown Cafe - 58-60 Cameron Rd, Kowloon. Good breakfast, coffee, smoothies.

-Ping Shan Traditional Poon Choi - again, copious amounts of food! We were a big table of people and we barely made a dent in the huge bowl of food they served us. See my before and after pictures.

- Ziafat - 6th Floor, 81 Nathan Rd. Halal middle eastern and indian food. Although the service was absolutely horrible when we were there, the food was very good.



Below are some great bars. I had a hard time finding a place with a good draft beer selection. I've tried some really great ciders though.

-Globe - 45-53 Graham St., SoHo. I ran into my professor here. He claims this is the best bar in Hong Kong in terms of beer selection. I was disappointed there were no local brews on tap; he told me that for some reason, Hong Kong's beer company, Typhoon, was not brewing any beer at the time so that's why you couldn't find it. There was a Cider Festival happening when we were there, so they had a great cider selection which I opted for instead. I wasn't too crazy about the British Pub atmosphere though. Everyone in the bar was white. I'm from Toronto, so when I find myself in a bar with all white people I feel oddly uncomfortable and suspicious - as if maybe i accidentally walked into a neo-nazi bar or something. Also, I find British people a little annoying, especially when they've been drinking. It was someone's birthday and a large group kept singing a bunch of stupid songs, I think which they had made up - they seemed to be singing from a script in unison. It was really annoying. I wanted them to stop so the music would go back on. Though it was awful Spice Girls at first, it quickly improved with much better British music, and some other stuff like Red Hot Chilli Peppers too.

- Pawn - 62 Johnston Rd. I liked the atmosphere of this bar a lot better, it was much more eclectic. It's in an old tenement house, and has a terrace overlooking the tram tracks. Good music and cocktail list, but Hoegarden was the only thing they had on tap. Again, i opted for cider instead - a really nice strawberry lime one. I also tried a nice lycee cocktail, the house specialty, called the Red Lantern (or Chinese Lantern, something like that.)

- Habitat - 29th Floor, QRE Plaza, 202 Queen's Rd. East. Happy hour 6-9pm, some ok views, comfy couches to lounge on.

- Wanch - 54 Jaffre Rd. For live music, see above.

- Dada - 2nd Floor, Luxe Manor, 39 Kimberley Rd (not to be confused with Kimberley Street, just one block over.) The interior of this hotel and bar blew my socks off. Inspired by Dali - my friend thinks some of the furniture is designed by him. Heart shaped chairs, live jazz. Incredible. Happy hour 2-9pm, buy one beer or house wine, get one free. I could spend hours in this place, it's so beautiful. Nice cocktails - I had some sort of strawberry infused with rosemary drink. They'll set you back $95 HKD though. I actually went back to this place three times, and it appears they only have two jazz DVDs which they play over and over. It would have been nice to go while they had a live jazz band playing.

- Utopia - 26th Floor, 7 Hillwood Rd. Happy Hour 4:30-9:00pm Monday-Thursday, and an amazing view with a little balcony you can go out and get some great photos from.




And here are some activities I highly recommend:

-Hong Kong Park - don't miss the aviary! There's also the Flagstaff Museum of Teaware, which is free, and the Lock Cha Tea Shop inside the K.S. Lo Gallery, which has really nice vegetarian dim sum and a large menu of tea.

- Zoological and Botanical Gardens

-Tsim Sha Tsui East Promenade - for amazing skyline views and a photo with the Bruce Lee statue. Everyone loves Bruce Lee! And every night at 8pm there's the Symphony of Lights.

-Lei Cheng Uk Han Tomb Museum - 41 Tonkin St., Kowloon. A burial vault that dates from the Eastern Han Dynasty, they uncovered this tomb by accident when they were removing some hillside to construct government housing after the Shek Kip Mei fire in 1953 left over 50,000 squatters homeless. The government felt a bit of pressure to build more housing after that. The bulldozer destroyed the entrance to the vault, so they don't know how it was sealed, and why they never found human remains.

-Mai Po Marsh and Nature Reserve - www.wwf.org.hk. You can't just show up, you have to book ahead of time. Entirely worth it, especially if you can go during one of the bird migration periods. I didn't, but still thought the boardwalk tour we did was really cool - we got to cross the barbed wire fence into Shenzhen to walk on the floating boardwalk, and there were lots of little crabs. Sitting in the hides and watching birds while you sweat copious amounts is fun. Just don't try to put on sunscreen when your drenched in sweat, it doesn't work so well. And bring lots of water!

-Hong Kong Wetland Park - If you can't do a tour at Mai Po, this is the next best thing. Mangrove boardwalks, mud flat hides for birdwatching.

-Ping Shan Heritage Trail, Ping Shan - in the New Territories, this one kilometer trail includes historic buildings, an ancient pagoda, ancestral halls, temples and an old well. Try to find the Ping Shan Traditional Poon Choi restaurant listed above.

- Kowloon Park - Although the aviary at Kowloon Park isn't as good as the one at Hong Kong Park, this is still a nice escape from the city. There's lots of flamingos and turtles, and an Avenue of Comic Stars!

- Signal Hill Garden - The trek uphill is worth it for the view

- 10,000 Buddhas Monastery, Sha Tin - DO NOT give the Buddhist monk any money for the cheap bracelets he's handing out near the entrance. Right after you pass him, you will see a sign telling you to ignore Buddhist monks asking for money, as it is not a very Buddhist thing to do. It's incredible how every one of the golden monk statues have unique facial features. And the view once you get to the top of the steps is amazing. There's a multi-story pagoda you can climb up and colourful shrines. Very nice spot.

- Hong Kong Heritage Museum - a trip to this museum pairs nicely with the 10,000 Buddhas Monastery. The Heritage Museum is an especially great place for kids, there's a whole section devoted to children's play.

- Victoria Peak - the old tram that takes you up the steep incline to the Peak is really cool. This is by far the best views in Hong Kong, just try to go on a clear day.

- Chi Lin Nunnery - beautiful Chinese garden and a nunnery. There's a pretty decent vegetarian restaurant behind a waterfall too.

-Hiking! Go find one of the many wonderful trails in Hong Kong and hike! Lamma and Cheung Chau Island are nice places I hiked, but there were a lot of trails I wanted to get to and just didn't have time for. School got in the way. Check out www.hkwalkers.net for hiking guides.

-Beaches! The beaches in Hong Kong are beautiful! Take a double decker bus to Shek O, Stanely, Repulse Bay or Deep Water Bay. If you can, sit at the seats at the top of the bus, right at the front. It's like an amusement ride! Take a ferry to check out the beaches at Lamma and Cheung Chau too.

Shopping:

-Li Yuen Street east and west - two alleyways linking Des Voeux Rd Central with Queen's Rd. Central. Inexpensive clothes, etc.

-Chocolate Rain - for some super cute, but unfortunately not cheap, stuff like wallets, umbrellas, laptop bags, etc.

-Chun Yeung Street Market, North Point

-People's Recreation Community - 1st Floor, 18 Russell St. Leftist bookstore. I found a good little book on Chinese propaganda art.

-Stanley Market - nice market to walk around, but beware - it's overpriced compared to other markets.

-Granville Rd - Kowloon, factory outlet stores so stuff is really cheap. The downside is none of the stores will let you try anything on, even though they have change rooms.

-Mongkok Ladies Market and Temple Street Night Market. You really need to barter at these places, which I hate doing. The easiest thing to do is ask how much something is, then walk away. The price will drop drastically, or they will ask you "how much do you want to pay?" Pretend you don't really want whatever you're haggling over that much, and go to walk away a few more times, and you will get a good price. I hate this though because it's a waste of time, often over a piece of junk. Remember these people don't make very much money, so sometimes it's a good thing to pay a little more and save your time.



While Hong Kong is an amazing place to visit, I think it has to be said that it's not such a great city to live for average people. Although around 50% of apartments are government housing, it is still not nearly enough because there are no rent controls in the private market. According to my professor you can tell the difference between government housing and private housing by whether or not laundry is hanging to dry outside the windows. Private complexes would never allow such an "eye sore." To me, the hanging laundry is part of Hong Kong's charm. Anyway, the waiting lists for government housing are 10 years long, and many are forced to live in wretched conditions - even the government housing is pretty cramped, and sometimes infested with rats, cockroaches, in need of repairs, etc. I saw a documentary on tv where they were showing how whole floors of some buildings are partitioned into illegal little closets which people pay a lot of money for the privelege to sleep in. They are suffocating during the heat of summer, and a huge fire hazard. So as long as the problem of housing is left unresolved in Hong Kong, it's bound to remain off the lists of most livable cities despite all the beautiful park space and amazing transit system. Hong Kong should take note from Shanghai, where rent controls do exist and the government enforces policies to keep market speculation in check. But in Hong Kong, free market capitalism still rules supreme, making it hell for those of poor or modest means. I think it's important that tourists enjoy the place with their eyes open to this reality.

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