I recently visited Hong Kong. Here are my thoughts on the place.
- Getting there is really not bad, just a 12 hour direct flight. Looking out the window of the plane is very beautiful. You fly over the Pacific coast of Japan, Taiwan, and finally Hong Kong Harbor. Just try to be on the right side of the plane. Also, landing is cool too because the airport is a manmade island!
- It is not as Chinese as I thought. Originally I thought every sign would be in Chinese and no one would know English. It turns out it is very multicultural. Everyone speaks English, and you hear English, French, Americans... People from all over the world. I guess Hong Kong was a British Colony so it makes sense there is a large international influence.
- Not as polluted as I thought. Just very foggy(see photo)...You couldn't really see the sun. No trash on the ground. There were signs saying "No Hawking" which I'm assuming means spitting on the ground.
- I did not get to venture into China, but I would have liked to visit Shenzhen, where many Western Tech companies produce their electronics and other manufacturing. I am sure it would have looked very different. Apparently you can not get into China with a US passport, unless you have special approval.
- The city of Hong Kong is crazy! It is futuristic and old at the same time. The streets are very narrow and steep and there are skyscrapers all around. In the central part of the city, instead of having sidewalks, the streets are too narrow so you have walkways above the streets that just enter straight into the buildings. So you can just walk from building to building without ever going on the street. In other parts of the city, you have street vendors, and another part with bars and clubs. The streets are really steep at some parts as you wind in between tall buildings.
- Conclusion: Cool city!! I would like to try to live out here for 1 year to try it out. I hope to be back soon! Also I need to brush up on my Chinese...
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