Monday, March 30: Hong Kong

Written by Nate Gordon

Of all the cities on this trip, Hong Kong was the one I was most eager to visit. I’ve read several historical novels set in Hong Kong, particularly the James Clavell books (Tai-pan and Noble House). 

The weather was clear as we flew at Hong Kong, with great views of the island and the harbor. After dinner we went to an open street market filled with all sorts of goods, mostly aimed at the tourist crowd. As a necktie aficionado I was looking for souvenirs to wear to school and chose two representative of our trip - one with dragons and one with pandas. Down another street we ran into a small protest against the government - featuring pictures with the heads of the HK government photoshopped onto dogs led by policemen. Since turnover from Britain to China in the late 90’s, Hong Kong has been a “Special Administrative Region” that is autonomously run in all areas except foreign affairs and defense. China agreed to this so as not to scare investment or cause a population flight away from the city. However, Beijing is able to impose controls over China that many people in Hong Kong are protesting. While all residents can vote in the elections, for instance, the slate of candidates are handpicked by the Chinese government. The protestors told us that the official slogan of “One China, Two Systems” was a joke. 

In the morning we took a tram to Victoria's Peak, the highest point in the main island. It's very steep, and there are high rise apartment buildings (many over 50 stories) with stunning views built at different points on the hillside. These are the luxury dwellings in Hong Kong (one penthouse rents for 250K a month) ... And also where the only private houses on the main island can be found - which make the apartments seem reasonably priced. We passed by Jackie Chan's house as well as the estate of the richest real estate developer in HK. The view from atop was incredible, although limited by the fog. 

Afterwards we made our way down to the sea where we walked the beach for a bit, and then took a sampan ride in Aberdeen Harbor. The water was surprisingly clean - they've made a major effort to clean it up. We passed by fishermen, tugs, luxury yachts, traveling lunch craft, and the boat people before getting to the restaurant for lunch. It was hard to believe that people could live in those boats, but Hong King is a city where most people (even the middle class) live in a condition we would consider to be on the edge of poverty. Real estate is so expensive here, the average person has 100 square feet of residential space. 

In the afternoon many of us went to the Hong King history museum, while others went shopping or to Disneyland. As a city with strong public transportation (one that DC could learn from) and many English speakers, Hong Know was the easiest city for us to explore on our own. Likewise we spread out for dinner and for exploring afterwards. I spent a lot of time exploring the second floor of the history museum (which covered the periods in the Clavell books), hiked back to the hotel, and joined a large group on the Peak for dinner (stunning view of the city at night, even in the fog). Afterwards some of us took the ferry back so we could take photos from the other side of Kowloon Bay and then rode the train back to the hotel for our last night in China.