Hong Kong
After four hours with an over hyper group of Valium deficient kids on an Antarctic like airplane, I landed in Hong Kong with a sore throat, headache, and the beginnings of a sinus infection. Hong Kong: The world’s city. Too bad the custom’s agent took one look at my passport and another look at my braids, raised a bushy eyebrow, and asked me if I were related to Whoopie Goldberg. The look of disappointment was crushing, I felt like lying just so I wouldn’t get denied entry. As it turns out Whoopie has a fan who works at the Hong Kong International airport. Apparently Ghost is still a movie favorite in some parts of the world.
So after a mile walk through the airport that was once a part of the sea and unlike Tokyo's Haneda airport is not sinking back into the sea, I boarded a high-tech express train complete with TV’s on every chair to Kownloon. It was as the cab pulled out of the station that I caught my first glimpse of the real Hong Kong; the famed view that captures the traveler’s imagination. To see the night skyline of the island is to never forget it. Skyscrapers and multihued neon lights in the sky and shimmering on the water.
In
the morning we bought cheep sweet buns from a windowed bakery and boarded
the Star Ferry to Hong Kong. In the overcast sunrise as we sped across the choppy water, the large
cranes which littered the port harbor looked like crabs reaching into the
sea to for a treat. The city during the day was a high tech forest.
Trunks of concrete and glass reaching up into a canopy of cloud.
I spent a total of three days in
Hong Kong with my friends and
enjoyed every moment of it. The humid warmth of the
country was a welcome relief from
the icebox of my apartment. During that time I walked it’s busy, bustling
streets, peeked into stalls and stores filled with unclassified herbs,
fish, vegetables and meats. The food was a mixture of Chinese and
Western, with fish heads and two-storied Kentucky Fried Chicken
restaurants but one thing is certain, the availability of English menus
and English speaking wait staff won Hong Kong a permanent spot of
affection in my heart.
During my time there, we jumped on a narrow metal tram and got off at the end of the line and using only the flow of traffic made strolled back to our originating point. I road on a double-decker bus that traversed the city and headed up into the hills only to descend into what could be classified as a small paradise complete with a beautiful beach, a mile of flea market shopping, European ex-pats living in gorgeous apartments and driving European luxury automobiles. Back in the city, we took pictures of public housing buildings with cracked walls and clothes hanging out of the windows. The divide between the haves and the have-nots is vast in Hong Kong.
All-in-all, Hong Kong is a great place to visit because it’s easy on the eyes, easy on the
wallet, and for the non-Cantonese speaker. I can’t say that I will miss
the city, but I do know that sights, the sounds, and the smells of the
city as well as the adventures with my friends will stay with me forever.
