Hong Kong

Last week, I finally went outside Taiwan for the first time during this trip. I spent 4 months in Hong Kong in 2006 doing my semester abroad exchange, and wanted to go back ever since. It is only an hour flight from Taipei to Hong Kong, with dozens of fairly cheap flights every day, so the trip can be done very easily.

When I arrived in Hong Kong for the first time in August 2006 from Europe, I thought of the city as incredibly exotic, felt that there are almost no foreigners, and that the level of English spoken by people is not very good. Well, when I arrived in November 2008 from Taipei, the city had a very Western feel, it seemed that there are foreigners everywhere and everybody was talking to me in English. Restaurants, convenience shops, random people on the subway. Strange.. Admittedly, I survived my time in HK back then easily with speaking English only, so I guess people spoke English even two years ago (with the exception of staff in the dormitories at the university). This time, it took me several days to get over the reflex to speak to everyone in Mandarin, which is the third language for most people, after Cantonese and English.

The fact that I had been to HK before allowed me to follow an itinerary slightly different from most tourists and visitors, and combine the very touristy bits with some uncommon ones, as well as the purely sentimental, which I shall introduce in a moment.

When approaching the HK airport from the East, one can be in for a great treat, if you sit on the right-hand side of the plane, as there is a chance of great birds-eye view of the whole city. Luckily, EVA air allows passengers to choose their seats, so i had the chance to do just that. Sandy was already waiting at the airport when I got there. Sandy is a former student of HKUST (or the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology), whom I met during my stay there, and we became good friends, along with Jirka / George, the other Czech student in HK at that time. Sandy visited Prague about 3 times during her exchange stay in Europe and I had to promise to visit her in Hong Kong as soon as I get the chance. She was also my host during this trip. Here she is.



Not ordered chronologically, some of the things I got to do in the "Fragrant Harbor" were:
The touristy ones:

Victoria Peak at night.
Victoria Peak is a hill / mountain directly above the Hong Kong Central district, which offers excellent views over the city. There are not many places in the world that can match this place in terms of urban scenery. While the mountain is usually packed with people, windy, and there's not much to do other than enjoying the views, taking pictures, shopping or playing computer games (in our particular case), it is absolutely worth the trip, even after several visits. The Peak is also noted for having some of the most expensive residences in the world.



Tsim Sha Tsui at night.
Also for the views of the city, except looking over the Victoria Harbor at the Hong Kong island, enjoying views of the scenery.



Lan Kwai Fong at night.
LKF is a party area. About 2 blocks packed with dozens of bars, clubs, pubs. There are only about 3 major places for a night out in Hong Kong, and this one is the biggest of them.

(The pic is not from LKF, but it's a bar anyways. Gloria, Sandy and Mavis at a wannabe Turkish bar - has a Turkish flag, shisha menu and a belly dancer - a Chinese one)



Mong Kok
This must be a place with the highest population density in the world, where the Hongkongers go for fun, shopping, cinemas, karaoke and all that.

The less touristy activities:

Cheung Chau Island
There are probably hundreds of small and big islands belonging to Hong Kong. This is one of the more quiet ones (which is appreciated after several days in HK), kind of a fishing village, which apparently only has one car (a police car), nice beach, sea food restaurants, opportunity to buy a house, with a garden - which is a big thing there (A joke that describes Hong Kong quite well: In Hong Kong, the rich people buy a Mercedes. The even richer people buy a Rolls-Royce. The richest people buy a lawnmower.)





Tai Mo Shan
The highest peak in Hong Kong, with an altitude of 958 m (that's a lot, considering how close to the sea it is). To get up, one can follow a nice trail about half the way. After that, it's either paved road or tiny road through scrubs and rocks to the radar station at the top. There are some stray cows wandering around, almost no people, nice views (if only there wasn't so much smog) and for me, the highest peak of anything has always a special magic.



A minute later, after walking around all the signs saying "Danger - radiation", one of the stray cows came running from behind a building. Chasing it was a tiny dog, with frenzy in his eyes, hunting instinct just awoken.



Malls
Not my favorite thing to do, but every mall in Hong Kong seems to have a special Christmas decoration, and the local people love to take pictures with them. Clearly, I couldn't escape.



Others

HKUST
The university is located far away from the busy city center, in a steep hill right by the ocean, has its own beach, incredible views and going to school from the dormitory means spending 15 minutes in the elevator. To me, it remains the most beautiful university campus in the world. We came here to observe and join the annual fall activities of recently graduated students - putting on their caps and gowns and taking pictures "with every tree and every stone on campus", as Sandy put it. I also met Sindy, a former exchange student at VSE - University of Economics in Prague (at the beginning of each semester, for about 2 years straight, I met Hong Kong exchange students at the first ESN Nation2Nation party in Exit Chmelnice. The returning students even started telling the new ones: At the first party, a guy called Borek will approach you, asking if you're from HKUST :)

Dormitory



Stadium



Sindy and Sandy, recent graduates.



Sushi
Normally, there's probably nothing too unique about eating sushi in Hong Kong. This one was, as the bill we got after dinner was about 40 HK Dollars, when it should have been 400 HKD. We even pointed that out to the waitress, and she still kept it at the original (low) price.

Since I like the intercultural differences, here are several random differences between Hong Kong and Taiwan that I observed:

• Before each meal in a restaurant, the staff in Hong Kong brings tea, which the people use to wash their chopsticks, cup, bowl and so forth. The Taiwanese don't do that - on the other hand, they often carry their own chopsticks with them and use them to eat out.
• Minibuses in Hong Kong have big digital displays, which show the current speed of the vehicle for the passengers to see. There is a sound signal when the speed exceeds the maximum allowed speed. The drivers don't care and enjoy the scared looks on the passengers' faces. Not so in Taiwan. Also, the big buses in HK are double-deckers.
  
• The current financial crisis seems to have quite a severe impact in Hong Kong. There are cartoons on the MTR (subway), designed to explain government steps to fight it and to calm people down.
• Speaking of the subway. It is called MTR in Hong Kong. In Taipei, the same thing is called MRT. The best one is in Singapore though. SMRT. The word 'smrt' means 'death' in Czech. Imagine walking around the city and seeing signs like this, all day long:
  
  // DEATH --> //
  
  That's what a trip to Singapore feels like to a Czech.
  
• For some reason, there are almost no scooters in HK.
• 7-11 convenience shops. Some products are the same as in Taiwan, some are different. No eggs boiled in tea, for example. Excellent example of the Global-Local strategy for the international marketing enthusiasts.