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Hong Kong, SAR
I went out there in search of experience, to taste and to touch and to feel as much as a man can before he repents
It all started close to home at Newark International Airport when I was on line to check in for my first flight, a stopover in Detroit and part of a multi flight, 22 hour long trip to Hong Kong. It was then that I learned that my flight was cancelled, but that it was ok, I would go through Minneapolis Instead but I was now leaving an hour earlier than expected (always arrive to the airport early), although they ended up delaying that flight almost the full hour out of courtesy to all the people who were originally trying to go to Detroit. An inauspicious start to a series of flights that would see me stuck on an aisle (I lost all of my preferred window seats in the rebooking) and all three flights ended up delayed, including an awful delay that saw me stuck in a holding bin at Tokyo Narita Airport with nothing to do but sit and wait.
Of the three delays, that last one ended up being the most consequential. I landed (finally) at 12:05 AM, and by the time I cleared customs, I missed the last train to Kowloon. My only public transportation option left was the super slow, double decker N22 night bus, which I soon found out only took exact change. I did have 100 HK on me, but the bus was only 28 HK. My plan to run back to the terminal and buy the cheapest thing at the only open newsstand to get change ended up working, although the guy at the newsstand giving me all that change certainly wasn’t happy about it.
Anyway, this picture of Norman Foster’s beautiful new Ckek Lap Kok Airport starts the Hong Kong pictures, even though this was the very last picture I took there- the airport arrival pictures were all kind of dark and not nearly as good as this one.
This is probably the best view you can get of Hong Kong. There are convenient trams that take you right up to The Peak (or Victoria Peak if you prefer), where you can look north across the harbor to Kowloon and on a clear day, all the way to mainland China.
As for the buildings, the one with the white Xs on it is IM Pei’s Bank of China Tower, while Norman Foster’s HSBC Tower is visible if you know where to look and know what it looks like- it’s on the far left if you want to know where to start looking.
When you get up to The Peak you’ll find yourself face to face with The Peak Tower designed by British architect Terry Farrell. It’s an interesting enough building, but when I think of The Peak and architects, it’s hard not to think of Zaha Hadid and the now legendary Deconstructivist Architecture show at MoMA that was held back when I was in my second year of architecture (undergraduate) school. It was the first time I ever heard of Zaha Hadid, and her contribution was an absolutely beautiful drawing of a building on The Peak. Even though the drawing was absolutely beautiful, it was also insanely confusing, so I’m not even really sure if it was meant for this site or, to be honest, even ever meant to have been actually built anywhere at all.
As for the current, actually built building, it was certainly useful since it has a Movenpick Cafe inside, where a crepe and a milkshake cost me about the equivalent of 20 USD and was god but not 20 USD good.
Nicer than I expected on the inside (I've seen enough photographs of the outside to remain unsurprised by reality). Sir Norman's ground floor entry plaza at the HSBC (Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank) Building is completely vacant (with the exception of two see through escalators) in order to allow evil spirits to flow through the building and straight to the sea. It's a nice experience ascending the 30 to 40 feet up and into the building on the escalators, blasting through the powerful air curtain than hides in the concave glass ceiling/floor, and emerging into the atrium. This picture is from a higher floor, with glimpses of structure and that concave glass floor below.
New construction in Hong Kong is surrounded by insanely cool looking bamboo scaffolding and protective nets. This makes new towers kind of look like they are hatching in a cocoon, or it’s gestating and about to emerge and kill us all like the alien in Aliens.
It’s honestly a lot faster to take the subway between the mainland in Kowloon (where my surprisingly nice accommodations are) and Hong Kong Island than it is to ride second class on the Star Ferries, but the Star Ferries feel more dangerous which, by definition, feels more like the right thing to do in Hong Kong.
It may seem like I didn’t do all that much in Hong Kong, but that’s just not the case. I was all over the island and all over Kowloon, seeing everything I could, walking a hell of a lot, riding all sorts of subways and boats and buses, and remaining thankful for the outdoor escalators up to the mid levels. But instead of showing you my busy two days in Hong Kong, we’re leaving with a sunset harbor view as we head out to the airport and onward to our next destination.
