Still lovin' Hong Kong

Hong Kong Island

Few cities have a hold on me like Hong Kong does. And so I was looking forwarding to visiting, even if just for a day. I’m not sure what it is. Maybe it’s the familiarity of having been several times before, visiting with friends. Maybe it’s the dramatic topography—lush hills carpeted in green rising up like the body of a dragon. Maybe it’s the comfort of the city’s many English names—Victoria Harbour, Stanley, Aberdeen, and Salisbury Road—blended with a tinge of the exotic—Kowloon and Tsim Sha Tsui. It’s a city with a pulse.  

For more than 100 years, the Star Ferries have crossed Victoria Harbour

 

 

 

 

Hong Kong is warm and humid. It gets into your pores and tugs at your heart, luring you back. It’s a city of contrasts where unimaginable extravagance, like the Peninsula hotel’s $2200 (one-way) helicopter shuttle from the hotel to Hong Kong airport, brushes up against gritty and tired-looking apartment blocks home to cramped flats. Or where the remedy to the city’s frenzied pace is just a short ferry ride away to one of the many small and quaint islands nearby.

I exited the subway station at Tsim Sha Tsui and fell into the bustle of the city. I first walked to the harbour for a view across to Hong Kong Island, where the dazzling glass monuments to commerce crowd each for space against the backdrop of Victoria Peak. To be sure, more buildings have gone up since I was last here, but the view is as I remember. Stunning still even on a gray day.  

 

The guy on this boat was scooping up trash from the harbour

 

Like others around me, I captured the moment in my camera and then walked a short distance to Nathan Road, one of the city’s popular shopping areas. In some cities the touts harass you for hookers and camel rides. In Hong Kong, it’s about fake Rolex watches and suits. It didn’t take long for them to accost me. I kept walking, swatting them away like flies. One trailed after me, talking as I pushed on.

“Good suit for you...high quality, hundred and fifty dollars. We make nice shirts too.”

I kept walking.

“You know you’re looking for something,” he said before giving up on me and returning to the street corner chasing sales.

I thought about the profoundness of what he said. It’s true we are all looking for something. That day it just wasn’t a suit.

I turned down a side street, and then another before walking to the Star Ferry terminal, where I hopped on one of the iconic green and white ferries for the short trip across Victoria Harbour. At 2.50 HKD (33 cents), it’s surely the best bargain in Hong Kong. Even cheaper would have been the lower deck fare.

The Star ferries have been plying this busy route for more than 100 years. Decades ago, the only way to cross the harbour to Hong Kong Island would have been by boat. But even with underwater vehicle and train tunnels, the Star Ferry is still popular.

Wooden decks and wood varnished bulkheads give the little ferries that old world charm. I found a seat at the front, the humid air entered freely through the open windows. Nearby a young boy gazed out onto the harbour. I hoped that when he grew older he’d still look out upon Hong Kong with the same sense of wonderment.