An old friend from uni was in town last weekend so I popped over the border to Hong Kong to act as a tour guide for a couple of days. I always enjoy exploring the city with its endless nooks and crannies to discover amidst the hovering neon signs all vying for attention at the bottom of the canyons created between towering buildings. There is something intoxicating about the endless spiral of growth and decay here where the old coexists in relative harmony with the new in as much a vibrant mix as the inhabitants themselves.
Here are a few more Hong Kong Moments from my wanders:
The lack of space in HK can lead to some unusual horticultural endeavours. Check out the woman perched on the ledge above the shop tending to her pot plants. What’s even more incredible is when you see a guy hanging off the side of a 40th-floor apartment to attach a new air-con unit sans-ropes. I hope those guys have life insurance!
Fag in mouth and knife in hand a man chops up freshly preserved meat for sale in the local market (Sheung Wan).
In the mid-afternoon heat, a shopkeeper waits for customers outside his shop selling expensive dried fish and fruits. Des Voeux Rd West has countless shops just like this which provide a living connection to Hong Kong’s rapidly disappearing past. Quite how you cook/eat these foods I’m not sure. If anyone could enlighten me I’d be most interested.
The Yat Tung Estate nestles on reclaimed land between the shore and mountains of Lantau Island (close to Hong Kong airport) providing an impressive backdrop to the otherwise fairly featureless apartment blocks. Where a man cannot build outwards he builds upwards and, while it takes a bit of getting used to living in, apartments like these can be quite pleasant (although I do miss having a private garden). As sea levels rise and the demand for habitable land increases these sorts of dwellings are likely to become more common around the world.
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