Hong Kong: Crowds, Consumption, and Cuisine

Total Miles Traveled: 29,002

Ask Lisa what she thinks about Hong Kong.  (Lisa: I love Hong Kong!!)

For those who haven’t been, Hong Kong is a bit like New York but in Asia – it’s a melting pot of people from Asia and the western world.  You can find many different types of cuisine including delicious Asian food, high-end shopping featuring all of the top brands you’ve heard of (and ones you haven’t), nd its super crowded – every square inch of land that can support a building is claimed, and it’s unusual to find a building less than 20 stories tall.  In fact, over the years, Hong Kong has expanded, but not up the steep hillsides it’s built on – it’s expanded in to the water, yes, the water, on artificial (aka reclaimed) land.  No worries about earthquakes here though, there are none.  Phew, right?

To start, take a look at the view from Victoria’s peak, a required (and worthwhile) tourist stop for a visit to Hong Kong.

So when we asked ourselves how do we describe Hong Kong?  We came up with a few words: crowds, consumption, and cuisine.

Maybe it was because we were there on a weekend and everyone was out and about, but there are a TON of people in Hong Kong.   I guess since homes are so small, it just feels good to get out, much like it works in New York. Here’s the crush of people going in and out of the Times Square Building in Causeway Bay.

Here are some shots that give you an idea of how big and how crowded some of the shopping centers were – shop till you drop baby! Just about every brand you know is in every mall. How this is sustainable, I have no idea. Sorry Hong Kong friends, it feels like a bubble just waiting to burst to the lay visitor.

You don’t have to be shopping to find a crowd though. On Sundays in the Central business district, you’ll find crowds of (mostly) Filipino women sitting in groups on the floor anywhere there is shade provided by the concrete jungle. During the week, they help Hong Kong families cook and clean and on the weekends, this is the way they relax.  Below is a photo of women sitting in the middle of what is normally a busy street on a weekday, taking advantage of every inch of shade available and the natural breeze cause by the gap in between the tall buildings.

Fortunately, even though Hong Kong is a crowded city, the public transportation system is awesome, modern and efficient (one of the reasons why Lisa is in love with HK.)  In fact, they have what might be the world’s longest escalator that carries people up the hill in to a residential area called the “Mid Levels”. Streets with bars, restaurants, and stores intersperse each escalator segment which makes for fun exploration.

And if shopping during the day wasn’t enough, there’s the Temple Street night market where you can find knockoff brands like “Praga” and “Goach” and straight-up (bad) counterfeits of D&G and Jimmy Choo.

Then, to grab a drink, you head over to Lan Kwai Fong (pictured below) or SoHo to hang out and mix with the locals as well as ex-pats, of which there are many.  Here’s a beerfest celebration:

Next up, we’ll get to the food and other fun photos — sorry you’re just going to have to wait!

For now, good night from Hong Kong: