Hong Kong is an incredible place. I’ve been to Hong Kong twice in the last couple months, the first for Chinese New Year and the second for work. Visiting Hong Kong is a very bittersweet experience. It’s great because it is so much bigger and more cultural than Singapore. At every corner you see something that is picture-worthy, or at least interesting to see. Throw all of that together with the fact that there is a lot of open space full of forests, mountains, and hidden beaches with crystal water and white sand, and it makes you realize that Singapore lacks all of that. Perhaps it just makes Hong Kong a great place to visit as the intense over-crowding and looming haze that constantly blankets the skyline might get on your nerves. Regardless I’m happy to go back anytime.
The center of Hong Kong is split into two main parts by a channel of sea. Hong Kong Island is an island that is split in half by a small mountain range. On one side lies the central business district that stretches along the water for what looks like an eternity of high rises and bright lights. On the other side of the range are small towns and higher-end condominium complexes winding along a hilly road along beautiful bays and beaches. On the other side of the channel toward the rest of Hong Kong lies Kowloon. I would call this the cultural area of central Hong Kong, and it’s certainly the iconic part of Hong Kong that you would recognize from pictures and films.
After grabbing our first Dim Sum lunch, we decided to walk. We literally walked around all of Kowloon, admiring all of the food shops and bubble tea stands, recognizing a number of familiar shops and goggling at those that sold random meat or seafood products hanging outside the shopfront, and weaving our way through about 6 distinct different markets. I feel like HK, in general, is like your intestine. It’s something that fits in such a small area, but if you walked all of the roads and alleyways, you would end up walking the distance to the moon and back. Depending on what you like, the markets in Kowloon are debatably the best thing about this part of the city. My favorite market was the bird market, which include all kinds of real birds. Some of them were large parrots that would talk at you, and others were small birds crammed into cages along with 50 others.
On the second day we decided to head over to HK Island to see what was going on over there. I didn’t have the highest hopes since this is the central business district, and I expected to find hoards of people in suits walking around sparsely dead streets while everyone was at work. However, it ended up being nearly as exciting as Kowloon. We were getting increasingly hungry and wanted to find some more dim sum, but as always when you’re traveling it’s hard to find the perfect place. We walked around looking for a place that wasn’t too Western, or too intimidating, or with an English menu, or for other stupid reasons that one of us would veto. Eventually, I made an executive decision and just walked into a random small place on the corner of where we were standing.
The place ended up not being a random small place. It was a traditional HK dim sum house and as we walked up the stairs, we encountered a huge room absolutely packed with Asian locals either sitted at crowded tables or standing waiting for one. As we looked around (probably with faces of absolute shock and horror at what the crap we were going to do) a man way back in the corner waved at us. I assumed it was a nice gentleman that would teach us the ways of this crazy place and help us make it out well fed and alive. In reality, he was just a nice old man that spoke absolutely no English but must have thought it was helpful to offer us a seat at his table. A waiter then came over and threw a few things on the table which included a couple bowls and glasses along with a bowl of hot water. The man then showed us what we were meant to do, which is to rinse the bowl and tea glasses in the hot water. I’m not sure if this means we were actually washing it, or if it was just for fun. We were then brought a pot of tea and our hot water bowl was taken away. Beside all of this sat a ticket, entirely in Chinese, with a lot of writing and boxes on it. So we sat there, looking around at the enormously crowded room loud with people sharing tables and walking around. I then noticed that a lady was pushing a cart piled high with the round wooden dim sum containers. People immediately crowded around her, looking over shoulders and lifting up the lids to see what was inside each container. Within about 30 seconds, her cart was empty, some people walking away with a few wooden dishes full of dim sum and others walking away with nothing. Seconds later, I saw another cart lady doing the same thing, so I grabbed the ticket and jumped quickly toward the cart. At first I patiently waited behind the crowd that had gathered around the cart to figure out how this whole thing worked. People would pick up the lids to the wooden dishes to see what was inside. Since the dishes were piled a dozen high, I wondered if each dish was different, but soon realized that each stack had the same item. I randomly grabbed a couple items that looked good and brought them back to the table.
It kinda felt like I had played my first hand at Blackjack and won, so I didn’t even sit down before I went back out for more. I then came back with a few more dishes and figured that was enough to start with. We started trying the items, not always knowing exactly what they were. The man at our table could probably see that we were talking to eachother about what one of the items might be, so he put his fingers to each side of his head to mimick ears and then made a “moooo” sound with his voice. So I guess we were eating cow. The mystery of the entire thing certainly added to it’s enjoyment, and this was the 2nd best meal I had while in Hong Kong. Partly because the food was excellent and partly because the experience was like nothing else.
Eventually we decided it was late enough in the day to head up to The Peak. Directly behind all of the crazy alleyways and enormous skyscrapers of the CBD sits a large mountain that rises far above everything else. The Peak is part of a long ridge that acts as the spine of Hong Kong Island and is connected to a number of trails that scatter throughout the odd remoteness that occurs above the city. Very similar to a San Francisco cable car, the packed tram takes you up the mountain at sometimes scary gradients along with what feels like far too many other people that should be able to safely fit within this small moving capsule. The tram drops you on the bottom level of a tall but small mall, and you’re forced to go to all the way to the top level to the viewing deck which is included with your ticket. Since we wanted to wait until it got a bit darker, we grabbed a hot drink and then explored the area around The Peak mall.
The views toward the city were spectacular. All you could see, as far as you looked, were high-rises after skyscrapers after high-rises. It was like a sea of buildings that never ended; partly due to the thick haze that permanently hung over the city. Looking the other direction, however, provided views of quaint seaside villages nestled into bays along the coast with beautiful beaches dotted along the way. When looking at the spine and ridges of the small mountain range, you would never know you were literally seconds from one of the largest and most crowded cities in the world. It’s quite incredible what they have been able to create and preserve in a wilderness area so close to the city. We walked along some of the trails around The Peak, and sat for a while to enjoy the marvelous views in all directions (and so we could rest from carrying around the bags of shopping we had picked up after lunch).
Eventually, we made it up to the viewing deck just after sunset. The city slowly lit up as the sky got darker which provided an even better view to the already stunning cityscape. As always, most of my views were blocked by my camera as I took picture after picture of the endless views and perspectives. Each picture seemed to change dramatically as the city lights became more prominent. It also became to grow rather cold and before long we were forced inside by numb hands and running noses. It was definitely worth the trip up to The Peak, without a doubt.
The next day was the start of holidays for the Chinese as it was Chinese New Year. This means everyone enjoys 2 extra days tacked on to a weekend so they can do Chinese New Year things. This includes creating a lot of smoke around temples, dancing in the streets while dressed as a dragon, and apparently eating nothing but McDonalds or Starbucks since those are the only things open (ok, that’s a big exaggeration but it helps for dramatic effect). We had decided to use this day to get out of the city since we expected most things would be closed. I had chosen a hiking trail recommended in guide books and a friend, but not after grabbing some McDonalds for breakfast (for obvious reasons mentioned above).
Most people are extremely surprised that Hong Kong is actually quite remote and wild in areas. Much of the island has a mountainous landscape which restricts building and development, which is why areas that are conducive of creating livable habitats are extremely crowded. Much of the coastline, however, is actually quite wild and when beaches do dot the ruggedness, they are remote and often reachable only by foot. After our 2 hour journey to the trailhead, we arrived on the Sai Kung Peninsula and the Maclehose Trail. The trail started near one of Hong Kong’s largest reservoirs, High Island Reservoir. Unfortunately, the reservoir itself is about 5 miles long, and along a restricted road. Apparently this road is not restricted to taxis, so occasionally we were passed by a taxi carrying happy travelers along the long road that we were walking. Had we done that, we could have enjoyed more of the wilderness area, but the road along the resivoir was still quite nice and definitely remote. For some reason, I always have a fascination with standing on dams and we got to walk across two of them so that was pretty exciting.
I had never been to a dam that kept a resivoir from going into the ocean, so that was a cool site to see. We stopped here for a nice lunch and then ploughed on knowing that we had far too much trail left to finish before sundown. Immediately after we crossed the ocean dam, the trail started and became to climb. Before we knew it, we were on a ridge that separated the resivoir behind us and what looked like endless mountains and coastline in front of us. We eventually made our way all the way back down to the sea where we found a beautiful and isolated beach glowing in the late afternoon sun. Few people were there, probably because it was winter, but also because it would have been a decent hike from any direction (even if you had taken a taxi). There was a church camp (compound) situated just in from the beach, but it was entirely shut for the winter and there appeared to be no road to the area.
Since we were pushed for time, we kept on hiking which took us abruptly up a mountain on the other side of the beach. The afternoon sun definitely made it a sweaty climb, but eventually we got to a small ridge with a pagoda resting hut which was the perfect place to admire even more views of the now surrounding mountainous terrain and coastline. However, we soon noticed that the trail continued uphill to the top of the nearest peak, so we trekked on admiring the views and becoming increasingly aware of the late hour in the afternoon. We summited the next peak and then made our way down to the next secluded beach to meet the trail that either continued on or shortcutted inland. I was able to snap some incredible photographs of the surrounding mountains, coastline and resivoirs from above as the sun set. By the time we got all the way back to the resivoir, it was completely dark and we were lucky enough to find an available taxi heading along the “restricted road” that we grabbed and took back to the nearby village instead of a bus.
One of the highlights of any trip to Hong Kong is the Star Ferry. The ferry takes you from the Kowloon side of the channel to Hong Kong Island. The 10 minute ride costs the equivalent of about $1USD and provides some of the best views you'll get of Hong Kong.
After winding through more of Hong Kong Island and visiting one of the older temples in the area for some fortune telling, we made our way to the free Hong Kong Zoo and Botanical Gardens, situated slightly up the mountain behind the CBD. It's not the biggest zoo I've ever seen, but it was a nicely manicured area which has amazing views of the city as well.
The biggest anticipation of the day, however, was the Chinese New Year fireworks show that evening. We decided to head back to the Kowloon side and try to find a place along the water to watch the big show. By the time we got there, an hour or two early, a large portion of the area had already been blocked off due to the amount of people in the area. We were still able to grab a good spot and we sat in the cold while we waited for the show to start. To my amazement, it was probably the best fireworks I have ever seen. The fireworks were launched from 5 different barges on the water, all synchronized with eachother, creating a fireworks show that spanned a couple hundred yards long. One barge would have been an impressive show, but combined it was enough to cover the city with a cloud of smoke and possibly create it's own weather pattern. Once I realized how many fireworks were actually being shot off at any given time, I figured it wouldn't last that long. But the music and fireworks continued for what seemed like an hour. It was crazy.
Horse racing is apparently Hong Kong's favorite pastime. We decided to make a trip out to the largest of two main horse tracks in Hong Kong to watch the Chinese New Year races. It was a full day races, and it was quite an experience. Pretty much everything at the stadium proved to be confusing. There were tons of lines for everything. Tickets, food, beer, betting, bathrooms, finding a seat, even leaving the stadium. So just imagine a packed stadium full of Asians, very few signs or instructions in English, and trying to figure which random betting slip of paper to fill out and how to complete it correctly. We tried asking an information desk what slip to complete and how to do it, but she clearly wasn't much help because after waiting in line to place our bets, we were told about half of them were incorrect. We eventually figured out how to place some minimum bets on every remaining race for the day, got our receipts, and headed out to find some seats.
Our last day in Hong Kong was a short one as our flight left in the evening, but it started with a run along the channel. Despite the haze and the large number of people at all places at all times, the area along the water is a really nice place to run, especially if you get there early enough. And what better way to enjoy a post-run meal in Hong Kong with some award winning Dim Sum!
Some research led us to a small little place in Kowloon called something in Chinese. It's known as the cheapest Michelin Star Restaurant in the world. That's a pretty big credit to have and an obvious reason to visit for people who don't normally get to enjoy quality food at a good price. However, this does mean that pretty much everyone else in Hong Kong, locals and visitors alike, agree with this outlook. We eventually found the place somewhat hidden in the maze of Kowloon and it was easy to spot with the dozens and dozens of people waiting around outside. It all seemed a bit unorganized, but we told some random lady standing behind a clipboard that we needed a table for two and she gave us a classic Dim Sum menu and a pencil to note what we wanted. She also gave us a number, although I immediately realized it wasn't going to do much good because every time they called a number it wasn't in English. Luckily, Asians have this magical power where they are able to remember everything about white people. This means what they look like, what their names are, even what they order if you frequent a place often enough. So between that and the fact that I attentively watched who was getting called in and noticing who was there before us and after us, they found us pretty quick when it was our turn. This was after we walked around, grabbed some Starbucks, and waited for well over an hour.
As expected, the wait was well worth it. Once we sat down, I counted the number of seats that the tiny packed place had, and I counted 32. As always, we ordered far too much food, yet it wasn't a problem finishing it all up. The crazy thing about Dim Sum is that they just start randomly bringing things out when it's ready. So you never really know what you even have, let alone what is left to come. It also doesn't really come out in any order. So things like soup that you might thing will come first might not come until the end. Regardless, you just tend to start eating as things arrive, and eventually you start to get full. And more full. And more full. And things just keep coming. Just when you think you're finished, another dish will come and then you stop and think "oh yeah, I forgot about that one" and then 5 minutes later the same thing happens.
The two most spectacular dishes that stick out of my mind during this meal were the baked pork buns and the dessert. These buns were baked at some stage of their preparation which gave them a light and harder outside with a traditional inside. They were perfect in every way and in all honesty I could probably eat a few of them every day for the rest of my life. I nearly ordered a few dozen to take with me after I saw the table next to me do the same. The dessert was strange, in fact to this day I really don't know what it was. It was basically Jell-O with some things in it. But the texture and flavor was far better than Jello-O and the things in it were something you'd never get in grandma's Jello-O salad. So if you haven't already drawn the conclusion, this was my favorite meal of the trip and I would definitely return despite the long wait and crowded yet cozy interior. An excellent experience in every way.
And that was about it! I visited over a couple months later for work which was a very different trip, but I was able to meet up with an old childhood friend who I found out was teaching English in Hong Kong so I was able to have a little fun too. Until next time, thanks for reading!
