Hong Kong Impressions

Hong Kong is definitely two distinct places--the island and Kowloon, and these distinctions seem based on wealth.  As we walked about Kowloon, it was definitely a working-class place with lots of people moving about everywhere, hustling for everything they could get.

One thing I noticed distinctly in Hong Kong was smells. They were so rich and full and pervasive.  A typical walk down the street in Kowloon would find tea smells wafting out of one of the open front shops.  Then you walk half a block and you get knocked over by the enticing smell of something cooking--usually meat. Then you can wander through a market and get a snout full of raw fish.  We don't get the smell of raw fish even in our grocery stores and home.  Then you are walking along and an overwhelming sweet smell hits the nostrils, and you must be near a temple where they are burning incense.  There was only occasionally a bad smell, and it's usually something pungent cooking--probably squid--, or the smells associated with birds in the aviaries.  I learned to find places based on smell.  I was looking for a bakery, and I knew one was nnear by the smell.  Interestingly, the only odors that seem to come off people were cigarette odors.

I was also fascinated with the use of bamboo in construction.  I had only ever seen scaffolding made of bamboo in Jackie Chan movies.  It was everywhere in Hong Kong, and I watched as a crew set it up outside a building they were working on.  That's real sustainability, but I'm pretty sure OSHA would not approve in the U.S.

The wealth differences were manifested in lots of ways.  Consider the differences in the boats that were in the same harbor.

The contrasts are one of the things that makes this place interesting.

Drinking water is an issue.  We never drank the local water, and the island can only provide 30 percent of its water needs even though they have created several big reservoirs.  As a consequence, much of the water comes from mainland China, or it's delivered.

Travel was very easy in Hong Kong.  Streets were well-marked, and public transportation was easily available.  They also make it easy for walking with elevated walkways and wide sidewalks.  The extremes  that provided the contrasts of Japan and Shanghai were pretty averaged out.  You could eat on the streets, but very few people did.  Most people waited for traffic lights, but not everyone did.  Restaurant prices were reasonable or not.  Where we were accosted by money exchangers and fake Rolex hawkers in Shanghai, we were accosted by custom suit makers right off the boat in Hong Kong.  We definitely had to learn to say "no" repeatedly, and it helped  that I manufactured a story about my personal tailor that I was going to visit in Vietnam in a few days. 

Each of these countries prepares us in some ways for our next ports.