It
is 5 pm and the excitement comes over me. I am in Hong Kong, former
British colony and today enjoying its status as a special
administrative region (SAR) within the People's Republic of China. I
hop on the bus that will take me to the city from the airport. The
massive skyscrapers make their appearance and it is hard to imagine
that this was once a small fishing village. We cannot wait and go to
the city center. The city vibrates with energy. Although the sun is
already gone, Hong Kong continues illuminated. A feast of colors on
all fronts, flashing and dazzling greens, blues, yellows, violets
etc. The lights adorn the entrance to every single business and
restaurant, and make impossible for the eyes to avoid swallowing
thousands of ads. The Gran Vía street in Madrid or Piccadilly Circus
in London will from now on look like dead isolated places to me.
People flood the streets making of Honk Kong the place where “lively
city” takes on the height of its expression. Street markets,
restaurant terraces, karaokes and hundreds of stalls where people go
for someone to read their future. We walk through a street consisting
of dinning places and pick one. Forget about having a table for
yourself, the whole street is packed with thousands of other hungry
groups, making of Spanish street life a mere beginner.
After a
delicious dinner, we go in search of a good club with a local friend.
We see some cool places but they are basically empty. I am thinking
it is 10 pm and Thursday, most people will work or have class
tomorrow and i suppose there is not that much of a partying culture
here. I couldn't be more wrong. We were told those places would get
full in a few hours, that it was still too early! At this stage i was
really wondering if i had perhaps mistaken the flight and i was in
Spain, were people are famous for their sleeping abstinence. We made
our way to another street were there was literally a different pub or
club every second meter. At first i thought of small Jomfru Ane Gade
in Aalborg, Denmark, taken in Hong Kong to an extremely larger scale.
But since i don't remember too much of my experience in Aalborg due
to their wonderful “free drink” tickets, i thought of trying to
get some Madrilian districts like Argüelles, Moncloa, Chueca and
Huertas into just one street. This comparison is just to get an idea
of the number of clubs and people in that street in Hong Kong.
Anyway, think of a very busy street in any European city, full of
clubs and you will get a glimpse of what i am talking about. Lots of
clubs with beer, wine, cubatas, cocktails, Djs, exorbitant prices,
massive black bouncers, drunk girls dancing on the disco bar and the
mainstream music you can listen to anywhere in Europe. I would have
thought i was in Europe if i hadn't had, despite the large number of
foreigners, Asian-looking guys accounting for 90% of the people
around me.
We finally made a move to those places i talked about
before to realize that indeed they are full. These are smaller,
darker places, alternative to the “mainstream” clubs, where we
enjoy other types of music, just as they happen to be in Europe. It
is 5 am and as we walk through the streets i can only think that the
expression “The city that never sleeps” must have originally been
used for Hong Kong. After a delicious “good night” snack, we go
back to the flat to sleep, and on the way we see many locals, mostly
above 50 years old, who start up their day by doing some excercise
and streching in the parks. We leave a vibrant, boiling city behind,
and the sun rising. Not bad for a first day in Hong Kong.
The
next days in Hong Kong were just as exciting and interesting as the
first one. Thanks to the wonderful advantage that my princess is now
living in Hong Kong, i had the opportunity to meet quite a few locals
and share some of our time with them. If you ever go to Hong Kong, i
think you will love the food and the variety: Chinese, Nepalese,
Korean, Japanese, Thai, Indian...and this is real stuff, not the
fake, although tasty, things they tend to cook in Europe. It was
interesting to meet young people from Hong Kong. They were all quite
excited about meeting and having westerners as friends. Some had
already been to Europe and others could not wait to going there. I
had to face some questions like “what are women like in Spain?”,
a question i never got to answer properly i suppose. I was told by a
girl that women in Hong Kong are still too submissive and not
independent enough and that many still expect to be supported by
their husband and just ask for money and stuff. I was also asked how
things are in Madrid regarding homosexuals and I answered i believe
Madrid is a very open place regarding sexuality and other things. I
was told in Hong Kong gays are still quite not accepted, at least not
well seen. I was also told there is hardly place for art in Hong
Kong, that it is an absolutely bussines and consumer oriented
organism and as such, art has no value and place in society. That for
this reason, homosexuality and other “different” options also
have difficulties to make their way in their society.
It is not my
purpose to judge all these things on my post, this is simply what i
was told. They also talked about the established idea that they must
work very hard in order to get a flat in Hong Kong which, by any
standards, is inhumanly expensive. I was told the first year of work
people do not have paid holidays and the maximum they can get is 14
days a year, after almost 10 years working. I can imagine that taking
a two week-vacation in such a bussines environment may be a
career-killer in many cases. We talked about the prices and size of
the flats and I understand why people stay with their parents home
until their late 20s or so (another thing they share with the
Spaniards). Of course i just met a few locals, and this small sample
is pretty skewed since thay are all university students or people who
have been working in Europe and/or have visited other places, such as
a guy i met who works as a flight attendant. It was still
interesting. Another interesting thing is that i was told people in
Hong Kong are very religous and have strong beliefs, being buddhism
by far the most embraced religion. I always found fascinating the
contradictory path that many people take by defining themselves as
very religious. This was, to me, a very good exaple. How Buddhism
can be so apparently spread and important in a consumerist city which
is considered to be the world's freest economy, with all what that
implies. Meanwhile Buddhism is rising in Europe in an attempt to
escape from materialism.
We
ended the second night by going to Victoria Peak, offering an
incredible view of Hong Kong. This panoramic view was accompained by
a mixture of feelings. I must admit that although i liked the food,
the vibrant city center, the street life etc. of Hong Kong, i was
shocked from the beginning with all the malls, advertising, shops,
skyscrapers and materialistic attitude that has flourished there. I
will not forget the first metro i took, where probably >80% of the
people have their heads immersed in their phones, ipads and other
devices and where there are screens constantly broadcasting ads
(Europe is definitely going towards that). I was there at Victory
Peak watching the whole of Hong Kong, million tones of steel and
concrete, dazzling lights, the massive harbour and the coastline with
its hills, and despite all that thinking of a materialist society,
market, business and bla bla bla, i have to say the view was amazing
and something i had never seen before.
But
just to recover from such an incredible view, we headed next day to
the coast line of Hong Kong, where many walking paths welcome those
who want to do a bit of excercise either running or simply hiking,
and those who want to leave the city and enjoy a bit of beautiful
nature. We slept on the beach where we could finally enjoy a sky
filled with stars. I do not know whether it is smog from pollution,
or simply the high humidity, but do not expect clear skies in Hong
Kong city center either during the day or at night. There is this
weird mist which really, i don't know if it is mostly due to
pollution or simply the weather. The coast line and hills of Hong
Kong are beautiful and I strongly recommend to go there. You will
also see locals doing one of their favorite things: barbecues. There
is no camping or fire restriction there and the coast is filled with
many tents of people who want to spend their weekend there, chilling
and making barbecues. One thing you really need to have clear in Hong
Kong and mainland China is that it is almost impossible to escape
from the crowds.
But
after a little taste of what Hong Kong can offer, I need to move on
and this is when the real adventure comes: mainland China...
