Hong Kong

Hong Kong-Hmm, where can i start? It's a mesh of Commerce, Fashion, Technology, Fake merchandise and the cheapest markets available. their taste in food would not really be easily compared to ours either(one example being the "sour cream doughnut" )

Because of this mesh, my first day in Hong Kong 2009 was a mix of confusion and amazement.

Landing in HK airport, my first site was of the large chinese letters which only represented small letters for the english. Thinking it was a bad idea to try my broken chinese, i ordered a beer in English, only to be brought back "Sapporo", a Japanese beer.

Taking the shuttle to my hotel, i encountered a parallel of buildings. The flats were grimy, full of graffiti and posters for tv shows, while the buildings used for business and office work shadowed them and gleamed in the sunlight.
looking to the top floor of this building, i was sure that in Hong Kong the worst job must be a Window Cleaner.

Progressing through Kowloon, we decided to have a look around the local markets.
these aren't like any ordinary markets. they take multiple streets, and the constant bustle of buyers combined with the overcrowding make them seem endless. Left to right there are sounds of “copy handbag” and “copy watch”. The other half of the markets include copy clothing and the usual (or unusual) trinkets that always catch the eye of the tourist.

If you look the tourist, you are most definitely going to end up being exploited out of your money, unless you know of the methods which they use e.g. “i have many children”, “this is the best quality” etc. Nevertheless, if you were to place yourself in their shoes, you would do the same. The highest prices in the market are still extremely low compared to any other more economically developed countrys.

Moving on to the highlight of my travel in Hong Kong, i was able to witness the waterfront; during the day whilst traversing between Kow Loon and Hong Kong on the ferry, and at night when watching the laser show at the Kow Loon waterfront. It was magnificent being able to see the lighting of the skyscrapers and the ships which went in and out.

The Hong Kong Star Ferry was a spectacle itself. It has experienced many changes since it was first established in 1888, but the most observable change since I came before was the increased presence of masks due to the swine flu.

While being on the ferry I was also lucky enough to be able to see one of the old merchant trader ships. Despite the fact that it looked like a pirate ship to me, the prescence of this ship in the modern day Hong Kong helps to highlight the many changes which the island has been through.

Observing Hong Kong at night, i did not only see the usual cityscape and commercial side, but i was also able to see the traditional way of life and the activities of the old Chinese. This was best seen when i found a band playing not for money, but simply for fun.Unfortunately, because youtube is so terribly slow in Australia, i was unable to upload the video.

Finally my most favourite part of being in Hong Kong was trying foods and drink that i have never seen before, whether or not they were Chinese. They heavily import into this country with all types of produce, most notably being the beer. I tried my best to look as refined when trying this beer but it always ended up like normal. My lips secured around the bottle

In the end hong Kong was Great. Certainly not good in the area of living conditions due to the high populations making the city over-encumbered, but on the other hand, Hong Kong and Kow Loon contained social and cultural norms which help to highlight the importance of tradition and diversity.