Did lack of proper prior planning result in piss poor performance? No, at least so far. I had no plan and my five full days in Hong Kong were fantastic! What an amazing… special administrative region (officially, it is neither a city, nor independent country). It is an incredibly easy place to travel, one that would make for a great academic exchange destination, with cheap departure and returning flights, and a variety of things to do. In fact, had I not gone to law school, I could totally see myself trying to work here for a year. I am now writing this blog post from an air-conditioned cafe on a scorching hot day in Bangkok with time to reflect.

Colin’s 12 Reflections

1 – Monster Density

One of my stops was the highly photographed “Monster Building”, a group of five connected buildings and featured in movies such as Transformers: Age of Extinction and Ghost in the Shell. There are 2243 units, housing over 10,000 people, with a typical unit estimated to be 360 sq. ft. If you do the math, each person living here averages 80 sq ft. Although the extent of the density across Hong Kong may not be as extreme as it is in the Monster Building, it is indeed still very high, with Hong Kong ranked as one of the more densely populated “countries”. Despite Hong Kong’s high population density, I found it to be extremely livable. Transportation is excellent, there is still outdoors space if you choose to seek it, and it seems like you are always close to life essentials. Could this be a model for Vancouver? Part of what I like about Vancouver is that it’s a city not too big nor too small, but just right, and so this has me at times feeling a little sad that it’s changing (yes, I recognize the privilege that comes with holding this view). However, my HK experience reaffirms that high density does not equal lack of livability, nor necessarily lack of enjoyment of a place. It’s a bustling place where there is still room to breathe if you want it.

2 – Social Seniors

The older population seems to be very socially active, in contrast with the same demographic in Vancouver. So many seniors are socializing, bussing from place to place, laughing, and yelling with their friends, at McDonald’s, restaurants, etc. It’s possible this is because those that are social are the ones going out, but then relative to every other age demographic, it seems to be much more equal. In Vancouver, for example, you tend to see mostly younger people socializing, especially at night. That is not the case here. I suspect they go out a lot simply out of necessity: they dont have any space at home! Nevertheless, older folks seem to be less stiff here, and in general happier. Could this be because they are socializing more? And could this be what is in store for Vancouver — a more social culture as living spaces decrease? And as a result, a happier retirement? I hope so!

3 – Look Up

No surprises, Hong Kong is also a very vertical city. On my first day, I had to get some work done and I spent a frustrating amount of time (in reality, maybe like 10-15 minutes) trying to find this Starbucks, which was the only cafe open early. My mistake was assuming street-level store signage meant the associated store was also at ground-level. Especially at shopping centres (something that Hong Kong has a lot of), signage at street-level has no relationship with where it is in the building. I quickly realized that if it’s not obvious it’s on the ground level, then it’s higher up. This Starbucks I went was on the fourth level. The lobby of my hostel was on the 2nd floor and my hostel room, for example, was on the 19th floor. Many McDonald’s are underground or on the “2/F”.

4 – Hostel Life….Again.

I am solo travelling and that comes with its own unique considerations. One such consideration is to plan your trip in a way that accommodates your social needs. I consider myself more introverted but I think I can go maybe maximum 3 days without meaningful socialization before I get anxious. One strategy is to participate in group activities, like planned tours. Another is staying at hostels. This trip, I plan to rotate between hostels and private room accommodation. Interestingly, my four bed dorm in my budget hostel ($30 CAD/week night) had two locals living there for months. I suppose this should not be surprising as affordable housing may be hard to come by; travel hostels IS an option, although not something that has crossed my mind before. I wonder if this happens in other places in the world. One of the local roommates seemingly worked a night shift as he came in every night at 5AM, turning the lights on and coughing waking everyone up. I spent parts of days hanging out with a young Japanese traveller, Larry, who also is starting his trip in HK – he wants to travel from Hong Kong to London in I think 6 months with as few planes a possible.

5 – A Social Trip

Although I am travelling solo, not once did I feel like I was solo travelling in Hong Kong. Almost everyday I saw a familiar face. I met up with Juan Alvarez from high school and UBC Sauder, Jack Wells from Allard, Michelle Wong and her sisters Kristi and Stephanie. I probably socialized more with people I knew in Hong Kong than if I had stayed the week in Vancouver. Lots of fun and don’t think I will see many people I know any other city on this trip.

6 – I Wish I Learned Cantonese

Hong Kong has three geographical regions: (1) Hong Kong Island, (2) Kowloon, and (3) the New Territories, each with different atmospheres. I am happy I stayed in Kowloon, which looks and feels more authentically old-school chinese. It seemed to me that the deeper I went into Kowloon (and further away from Hong Kong Island) the less people spoke English. Not once did people assume I only knew English, so to order things, I had to ashamedly say “I only know English” and just point at what I wanted. Honestly I felt a bit embarassed and ashamed. I wouldn’t have enjoyed it, but all that time I spent learning [insert anything], probably would have been better served becoming fluent in another language.

7 – Octopus

The public transit system in Hong Kong is amazing! It’s frequent, clean, and modern. You get around using the Octopus card, a name I find really fitting. I found that using public transport can be a lot pricier than in Vancouver. The cost structure is honestly still a little confusing to me, but it seems like it’s because you are charged per use (every time and you tap it) and not by time (i.e., in Vancouver, I can use it an unlimited amount of times in a certain zone without being charged more). This probably wouldn’t matter if I was living here, but as a tourist, I used it a lot going quickly from place to place in a day so the costs added up and the thought of wishing it was a time-based system crossed my mind.

8 – HK Hikes

I wasn’t expecting HK to be a good hiking destination but it is! No, there is no massive multi-day hikes like in BC and I guess that is what qualifies a place to be a good hiking destination, but there doesn’t seem to be a shortage of accessible great bang for your buck day or half-day hikes. Of course as a hiker, I try to fit in a hike travelling when I can but I had difficulty in choosing which one to do here. I ended up doing the very popular and easy Dragon’s Back (pictured above), but there are plenty that end up with impressive views of Hong Kong’s epic skyline.

9 – HK Helpers

Multiple times this trip, I heard “she’s my Helper” or some reference to being a “helper” in conversation. I didn’t inquire further, but was curious what this meant. Presumably this refers to what Wikipedia calls foreign domestic helper and according to Wikipedia, about 5% of Hong Kong’s population are “Helpers”, almost all of whom are women. Helpers live at the homes of the family’s that employ them, and perform household tasks such as cleaning, cooking, and dishwashing, and childcare. This is like 400,000+ people. Now that I think about it, this is something I also observed from my semester abroad in Singapore, and I don’t feel the need to dig into this further for now, but it gets you thinking…

10 – Egg Tarts

God I love Chinese bakeries, the smell, the egg tarts, the soft bread, and how many there are. I love it and I will miss my daily morning eggtarts.

11 – Mom

One meaningful part of my HK stay was visiting the village my mom grew up, Fung Chi Tsuen. What remains from her time here between 1961-1967 is an old temple, which I walked into, and a “big tree”. Despite not having much to see there and not having any relatives in Hong Kong that I know of, it was still special being on the same land my mom grew up on before moving to Canada. It’s made me appreciate a little bit more about my identity/roots/cultural background.

12 – Recommendations

What are my recommendations for your future trip to HK? Other than catching up with friends, I spent a good chunk of one day at Lantau Island (Cable Car, Bid Buddha, Tai O Fishing Village), I spent another doing a hike (Dragon’s Back and hanging out in Shek O area) and checking out various buildings on Hong Kong Island, and I spent another walking around Kowloon, including the Avenue of Stars both at day and night. I also rode the STAR ferry, did a Pub Crawl in Lan Kwai Fong, and took the tram to Victoria Peak. Admittedly, I didn’t nearly do as much “fun” eating as many others do but that wasn’t a priority of mine. I think doing the same activities I did will give you a good taste of what Hong Kong has to offer.