Loose in Hong Kong

The first thing I learned and that you’ll need to know about Hong Kong is that it is built into the side of a mountain. It’s as if someone scooped out the foot of the mountain and began to build a base of tightly packed high rises to make sure it remained propped upright. From certain vantages you look up and the high rises just seem to fade into lush greenery that adorns the peak. It is like nowhere I’ve ever seen before in that regard. I intend to show pictures of this but the smog was obstructing the shot this morning…stay tuned.

On the other hand, it is crowded, busy and alive to the point that it is as close to New York as any city I’ve ever been (eg New York is to Hong Kong as Boston is to Summit…you know what I mean). The drivers are aggressive and taxis seem to outnumber other cars 10 to 1. At 6:45 am this morning I hopped in one of those cabs outside my apartment, and attempted to provide the driver with my desired destination in the best Chinese I could muster (I figured I failed miserably because he looked back at me as if I had insulted his mother or kicked his pet gerbil or something). Thankfully, it turns out that I must had spoken what amounted to jibberish and he graciously broke the tension by asking where I needed to go in perfect King’s English. His diction would have made Ms. Bramhall proud. Now that we were all the same page, we cruised down the steep slope that leads right into the heart of what could be considered Hong Kong’s business district.

I felt more at ease when I was able to locate the office (took me all of about 2 and half whole minutes) and from there I decided to head out aimlessly to see what was around. Granted I patrolled a very isolated section of a rather large city, but only two words come to mind about the area: Malls and Parks. There is a park around every corner – some offering sanctuary for birds and others littered with locals engaged in their morning Tai Chi routines. There was even a park that boasted that it was home to the national tea museum (fascinating…can’t help but hope they’ve got an autographed picture of Christopher Hewett in there or something).

The malls seem to wind on forever and connect pockets of office high rises. It provides the luxury of commuting without exposing yourself to the weather. A very handy consideration in deed considering the proximity to typhoon season (which apparently starts in April) and for times like now when it is considered very cold. Which brings me to my next observation…people are bundled up here as if they were about to set off on the Iditarod. Everyone has on a thick jacket and bulky scarf. I personally felt extremely comfortable and walked around without warm clothing for hours. I mean, come on…it’s in the low 60’s. Wonder how the Hong Kongese would handle the winter we’re having in the Tri-State area.

The next three hours were spent mostly just trying to get lost. I was able to locate the edge of the harbor (HK is squeezed together with a harbor on one side, mountain on the other), a small street market and countless Chinese people wearing hospital masks. What I wasn’t unfortunately able to find was something that I wanted to eat and so I made my way back to my apartment and caught lunch at the local safe haven.

I have a feeling we’re going to be seeing a lot of each other…