Upon arrival, the clouds above Hong Kong are like none I’ve ever seen before, with sunset beginning behind the voluptuous clouds that are standing majestically like large mounds of snow, gleaming in the sunlight. Large buildings on grassy islands sprouting from the sea. High rises look like towering twins and siblings, looking related and similar. It is hard to make out what is smog and what are clouds. A gray brown color fills my window. I see nothing…. The stench of industry fills my nostrils. Disgust and curiosity as we break the clouds revealing beautiful landscapes adorned with buildings. Lights turning on at the start of the evening/ Massive buildings with pools, aglow in the night. So many islands with boats crossing every which way. Their world glows green, industry making its mark on an area most certainly a paradise a century ago. Just landed, a feeling that I know this trip was worth it sets in. Even the colors are different. The atmosphere transports me to another time where I am a space traveler, entering a new planet, wide eyed.
I find myself in a crazy anthill of passengers. Time seems warped as I stand still amidst people sprinting in every direction, itineraries in hand.
I manage to get myself to the subway, Airport Express, that will take me to a bus station that can drop me off around the corner from my hostel. I get there with ease, but not quite able to replicate that ease when finding my hostel. I knew in advance that my hostel was next to a Rolex store. So when I found a door I walked in, rode the shoddy elevator up 13 stories and started looking around. It appeared I was in a set of apartments, the settled heat, stifling, only confusing me more. I knocked on a door; it was a man in his small apartment room, watching tv. I forgot people in Hong Kong live in notoriously minuscule quarters. He told me the hostel was next door. There was a closed one on this floor. I decided I must have the wrong spot, so I went back downstairs; I was able to find it next time. The hostel is small but there are people hanging there. I joined up with them to go out to the Nathan road market (ladies?), which shouldn’t be considered a tourist attraction, and was disappointed. It was just like a swap meet, people selling garbage no one wants that is the same as the things being sold by the guy two stalls over. There seemed to be 3 types of salesmen. Those who approach you, those who are doing their own thing and don’t give a shit, and lastly those who just play with their kids. Ended at an overpriced western style bar and McDonalds, I’ve failed as a tourist. But nothing else was open at 12 am…. I’ll do better next time. I did learn locals tend to just buy beer at the corner store and roam, there are no open container rules like here in the tyrannical united states.
Due to poor consistency in writing in my journal I am writing to fill in the rest of Hong Kong before moving on to my notes from Myanmar.
I apologize for missing some of the cultural impressions that I gained or any lost stories due to my memory and two weeks of time before I can write this down. While abroad, I treated my time as dedicated to seeing new things and meeting the people there. This led to a lack of downtime I expected. In fact, I am happy that happened because I was able to socialize on what otherwise was and was expected to be a very lonely and introspective trip. Things change and deviate from the “plan”, which is one of my favorite things about life. A wise man[1] once said something like “The only certainty is change”. This fact has yet to prove itself wrong…[2]
Sorry…. I’m talking about Hong Kong.
I took the subway out to the Big Buddha,. You ride up a massive gondola that would terrify anybody who suffers from acrophobia, especially the glass bottom option (tourist trap for more $$$). Once you reach the top there is a little tourist village waiting to sell you more stuff. The Buddha is on top of a hill at a little temple, across from a monastery. The views are incredible. A short walk off can get you to a great hike, which I didn’t do.
Speaking of hikes, the hike up to the Buddha is something I want to do someday, it looks awesome. Mostly because the stone steps are very beautiful…I have a strange obsession with cobblestone, seems more historical and meaningful.
I did have the chance to walk off the beaten path and got to a large rock where I had a perpendicular unobstructed view of the Buddha’s profile, but an even better view of the bay below. Upon returning down the mountain, me and my fellow travelers [3] rode a bus down to a fishing village where we caught the ferry back to central. The red head left and the Kiwi and I went to a noodle place that my friend David recommended from when he studied abroad there. It was pretty tasty. We walked around and headed back to the hostel. Nothing big happened in between until a group from the hostel went to ozone bar. At the top of Ritz Carlton in Kowloon with a beautiful view of Central HK and spectacular modern decor. Colorful lights accenting the darkness, minimalist furniture and over decorated cocktails. The perfect formula for a ridiculously overpriced bar on a fancy hotel.
[1] This concept has been used by many people over the course of human existence and should never be attributed to one single person. In this era of Google, however, I probably could find the most famous of these quotes.
[2] Side note: perhaps the appearance of change is something we view as inevitable but when you zoom out in time far enough you see that the pattern is replicated over and over and, in fact , all is stagnant and there is no change. This would be a great discussion for my new blog I am trying to create with my cousin. We could explore how if there was no change maybe we don’t exist or hit other wild philosophical topics that many people have thought about.
[3] There were two: a read head who lives in Vietnam with her local boyfriends she is trying to bring back to the states, from DC I think, and an cool Kiwi guy who is going to study econ in Belgium)