Work trip to Hong Kong, China - 21st to 24th March 2007

The second leg of the Asia work marathon took me to Hong Kong. I had been there before, in 2000, and didn't really like the place at all. I hated the fact that the streets seemed to have no pavements, and people walk instead along on walkways one floor up. I found it impossible to get decent food - lots of it was completely unidentifiable, and almost all menus except for McDonalds were in Chinese only. I found it amazing what the Chinese are willing to, and actually enjoy, eating - chicken feet, beef tendon, cartilage, all sorts of things that sensible people throw away.

Generally, I found the place and its people bewildering, intimidating, and just plain weird. Hopefully, this was an opportunity to go back, spend some time with locals and people that know the place better, get shown around, and have an altogether better experience.

The majority of the daytimes were spent in meetings in my company's office, and at clients, which meant lots of zipping around town in taxis, and seeing the sometimes crazy pace of things. Particularly pleasing was the fact that, just around the corner from my office, was a very well-named street - the obligatory Arsenal Street - so I got to walk along that several times.

On my first day in Hong Kong, I was taken for some amazing Dim Sum for lunch. Some of the stuff was what can only be described as "strange", but most was lovely, and the best stuff was simply incredible. Obviously elsewhere, much of the food was dubious looking, and probably of dubious origin too - very strange parts of animals seem to be the order of the day all round (and vegetarianim is not much of an option). A restaurant that I went to for dinner on the same day, had the obligatory pet shop at the front, with a room full of fishtanks, which basically formed the menu - choose a fish by pointing at it, and have it for dinner.

After the work was over, I took the chance to go for some sightseeing, basically sightseeing in Hong Kong means looking at the harbour from various angles, looking at a multitude of tall buildings (the skyline is really something special, especially at night), and getting into the busy heart of the city to see what is going on. I started by going up The Peak, the big mountain in the middle of Hong Kong island, and looking at the view from the top. Hong Kong island is very strange, with a small strip of flat land facing the mainland, onto which as many tall buildings as physically possible are crammed. Then behind that is a massive mountain. The buildings cling onto the side of the mountain until about halfway up, when it gets really steep, and they give up trying to build any more. There are even escalators up the side of the mountain, to help workers get back to their apartments uphill.

After that, I went for a sea-level view, from the Star Ferry, which runs between Hong Kong island and Tsimshstsui in Kowloon on the mainland. This old wooden ferry has run continuously for ages, and it still costs exactly the same as when I was last here over 6 years ago. $1.70 for the lower deck, $2.20 for the upper deck. Considering there are $15 Hong Kong dollars to a pound, it is an utter bargain. For the 8-10 minute crossing, you get a brilliant view of the skyline on both mainland and island - it really is the best way to see the city rising up all around you. You feel very small, sat on a boat in the harbour, with massive skyscrapers all around you on land. The skyscrapers themselves have incredible flashing lights in a whole range of colours - it really is like a Christmas light show, just looking at the buildings.

This Hong Kong experience was much better than my previous visit. I'm still not 100% sold on the place, but it definitely seemed more endearing this time around. The fact that I had some help to navigate Chinese menus, and some help to get around the place, definitely helped I think. But the city grew on me in other ways too. The skyline and lighting of the buildings at night is amazing, and the way the buildings are crowded onto small areas of flat land, makes it an incredible place. You can be in the most crowded place in the world one minute, then look up and see the almost empty Peak, covered in trees. I'm starting to like the place now.