After a fourteen-hour flight from Heathrow, I have to admit I was feeling fragile as my train pulled in to Hong Kong Central station. As I climbed the steps to the streets, my senses were assaulted by food smells. The scent of dumplings and noodles created an odd mixture of queasiness and hunger. I walked out into the Hong Kong streets like a bat blinking in the light.
When my boyfriend had suggested going to Hong Kong a month before, I was a little dubious. After all, it was an extremely expensive flight and I felt slightly alarmed at traveling further than I'd ever been before from my home in Dublin. He, the lucky beggar, had been in Australia for six weeks on a sabbatical and was busy sunning himself on Bondi beach while I was left to make my decision. Eventually, I decided to throw caution and credit card to the wind and I booked my ticket. I spent four excited weeks buying guide books and figuring out what attractions we could go and see. Then, the day arrived and I flew into London, feeling mildly annoyed that there are no Hong Kong flights from Ireland.
I have often wondered what it must be like to be American; to live in a country of such vast expanses. Ireland is such a tiny country (I think we would fit into Texas about thirty times) that we Irish are used to getting where we want to go quickly by car or train. It only takes three hours to drive from one side of the country to the other. As you can imagine, I'm not a frequent long haul flier and the prospect of fourteen hours from London was making me distinctly nervous.
It turned out my fears were justified: I was stuck in a window seat beside an enormous British soldier who kept his elbow in my face for much of the flight. Luckily, the wine kept me hazy enough to ignore the agonizing cramps in my legs. I'm not very materialistic but I do envy rich people their ability to fly business class! I spent an uncomfortable night thinking jealously of those smug business men sitting in the front of the plane in their super luxurious faux leather arm chairs!
When I finally reached Causeway Bay, the district where my hostel was located, all I could do was sink onto the bed and rip of my grubby clothes. That would have been fine, apart from the fact that the bed had the consistency of frozen concrete or possibly titanium. I resolved then and there to never throw myself onto a bed again without first checking the feel of it with my hand. My spine is still wonky.
Our hostel was about ten stories high and our room had a small window which looked onto a dingy alley of the kind where rumbles take place in Hong Kong cop movies. I could hear families chatting and dishes clinking as I drifted to sleep. The most unexpected surprise of my sojourn was the temperature. I had expected humidity of the tropical kind which makes it difficult to breathe and muggy heat drifting up from the pavements. To my annoyance, I found it was colder than Ireland! When I woke up the next morning, (C had arrived from Sydney by that stage), I struggled into my big woolly jumper, usually reserved for winter.
Apart from the disappointment of the weather, I was monumentally impressed with Hong Kong. The street scape of neon lights, skyscrapers and tropical trees was an overpowering vista. None of what I had read about it in my guide book prepared me for it. My favorite aspect of the Island is how even though modern buildings cover the shore line; it still feels wild and verdant. Although obviously touched by human hand, the close vicinity of the sea, the peak and the forests reminiscent of jungles means it retains its air of mystery. It's not just "another city". One of the problems of urbanization is that so many cities are uniform. However, this city has retained its individual character.
I loved riding on the ferry to Kowloon and Lantau. The journey to Kowloon only took about two minutes but the close up view of the harbor is impressive enough, particularly at night. The return journey from Lantau is spectacular: zooming in on ricocheting waves with the view of the Excelsior Hotel and other imposing buildings quickly approaching. My eyes were glued to the ferry windows, trying to drink in everything. C was looking distinctly green at this point as he doesn't sail too well and the motion of the waves was rocking our seats!
However, my favorite ferry ride of the trip was undoubtedly the evening cruise to watch the light show. The ferry sails out to the middle of the harbor about twenty to eight in the evening. It gently stays there rocking while tourists cluster around the edge of the boat. The light show occurs on both sides of the harbor and a start at eight pm. Music was piped out of the boat and the buildings lit up in time to the music.
