Hong Kong – I Love This City!

Since the first time I touched down at the old Hong Kong airport as I child, I have been fascinated by this place.  The question is why?  After thinking about it during our past 9 days here, I’ve tried to come up with some answers for myself.

First there are the obvious; this place is a shopper’s paradise.  There is something for everyone, and no matter what time of day it is here the consumers are always on the prowl, dangerously keeping you in the shopping vibe.  I’ve been the victim of Hong Kong’s shopping culture many a time, buying things from the likes of Marc Jacobs and Shanghai Tang and returning home, never to wear them.  We haven’t really shopped at all for the past 5 months but we willingly succumbed here.

This place is also a foodie’s paradise.  I admit I am partial to Cantonese cuisine as that’s what I was raised on, and no where does it better than HK.  This is my favourite place to enjoy the bounty of the sea, as the seafood is as fresh as it gets.  We had a meal in Sai Kung where we were picking our live shrimp, fish, shellfish and a bunch of other things that I don’t know the English name for right from the tanks out in front of the restaurant.  A few minutes later they were on the table, piping hot, uniquely prepared, and absolutely delicious.  All over the streets you can find great noodles, BBQs, congees, the list is endless.  And that’s just the Cantonese offerings.  There are also fantastic options from all other regions of China and the world.  We had a wicked steak dinner of imported Wagyu beef at a steakhouse in Central.  We also had a couple great Japanese meals, and if time allowed I’m sure I could have added every great cuisine to that list of tasty meals available in HK.  A lot of the big New York, Paris and Tokyo chefs have opened restaurants here, and it’s no secret why.  Oh and two more words: Dim Sum.  Nuff said.

In my opinion Hong Kong also has the most beautiful high rise skyline in the world.  Nowhere is this more noticeable than when you’re at the Peak looking down, or on the ferry in Victoria harbour looking at the Hong Kong side buildings.  The modern architecture is stunning here, and every time we come back there are new design gems somewhere to be found.  This time it was The Upper House on top of the Marriot hotel.  The contemporariness of the design and architecture is part of the reason this city feels really international in comparison to other neighbouring cities (like Taipei haha). 

Ok those were the easy ones that can apply to everyone.  Now for the ones that are more personal to me.

My parents roamed these streets as children and youths, and my mom especially really enjoyed her time here.  My grandparents on my mother’s side also love this city.  From my childhood to present day they would tell stories about their life in HK.  All the stories were of happy times and good experiences, so that must have rubbed off on me somehow.

During my university years I spent at least a couple weeks every summer here, and some of the best times I’ve ever had were during those summers.  There were first the days of Manhattan and ING when we would go on Thursday nights to try to get the girls to get us free drinks (Ladies could drink free on Thursdays).  Then the days of raving took over in the late 90s, and yes they were awesome.  In the early 2000s everyone started to have high paying jobs and everyone worked around Central, so our Lan Kwai Fong (the nightlife district) days really hit their full stride at this time.  We always hung out in LKF since my first year of university in 1997, but we were students with student budgets.  By 2001 and on, most of my friends here were young investment bankers on top of the world, which translated into a lot of fun in the clubs of LKF.  I will also include the quintessential karaoke nights in Causeway bay into the night life mix as well.  Yes I admit it, though I wasn’t much of a singer, the right mix of nostalgic songs and drunk friends made for great evenings (which usually morphed into mornings).  My tribute to that would be our above picture.  For those in the know, Di and I are singing the Jacky Cheung and Regine duet “In Love With You”.  I am also trying to re-rock the middle part hairstyle for this pic.

We were here for 9 days because we had to apply for our China and Indian Visas, and the Indian Visa took 8 days.  During the past 9 days we have pretty much met up with a different group of friends every night.  It’s great to return to a city where you still have a lot of good friends, most of whom are from Vancouver and/or went to UBC with me.  Those university days were fun for everyone, but it’s pretty hard to not have fun as a student, especially when the bulk of us were lucky enough to travel halfway around the world during our summers just to play.  Now that everyone is kind of “grown up” my friends that moved here are all succeeding.  And when I use that term succeeding I don’t only mean in a professional manner, most have great personal lives as well and are very happy people.  Coming to a place where everyone made it really ups your opinion of that city.

Though the Middle East and Africa are amazing, I am extremely happy to be back in Asia.  It’s nice to be in a metropolis where everything works, seemingly as efficiently as humanly possible in comparison to most of the places we’ve been.  I feel like that old woman paying with a cheque at a grocery store when I use cash here to pay for something at a 7-11 as everyone just uses their instant-pay Octopus card.  There’s also a definite entrepreneurial spirit in this city; a spirit that I haven’t felt anywhere else in our travels.  Cities like Istanbul and Cairo have their unique versions of energy, but it’s definitely different than here.  Also compared to our previous destinations, Hong Kong is refreshingly very secular.  It’s nice not having to talk about religion after 4 months of having it in your face.

Being in unfamiliar cities for the past 5 months has made me really appreciate returning to a place where I don’t need a map, guide book, or translator.  Apart from Calgary (my hometown) I can’t say I’ve visited a city as much as Hong Kong since 1996, the year I left home.  This gave me the luxury of watching its evolution (albeit as an oft- returning tourist and not as a citizen) from the handover back to China to present day.  Since then the city has had its downs, namely SARS and the financial crisis.  However, it has recovered with more energy, spirit, and confidence than ever.  It holds on to its heritage, yet is nimble enough to roll with the changes of the world and what’s coming in the future.  Hong Kong is punching well above its weight (literally, look at how small this place is), and I’m loving the fact that it is.

I felt like I just wrote a junior high essay on the topic of why I love Hong Kong.  Hope I passed.