hong kong heaven
After a very stylish Philippine Airlines flight, I'm now hanging out in the not-exactly-China part of China, Hong Kong. Hong Kong is an SAR (Special Administrative Region). This means that it has it's own laws, judicial system, legislature, currency, and financial system. China takes care of defense and foreign policy, and Hong Kong takes care of business. It's a decent enough arrangement.
(For those who aren't up on the politics, this is different from Taiwan because Taiwan doesn't consider itself part of China. In fact, Taiwan is part of the ROC - the Republic of China - so in a sense, it thinks that it is China. The whole story is quite interesting. I suggest looking it up.)
Anyway, Hong Kong as a city is a lot like Taipei, but it's better. It's faster, cleaner, taller (except for 101), and has MUCH better food. There are actually people here who are not from East Asia. Indians and Pakistanis abound. They sell a lot of suits. Africans are also quite prevalent. Of course, I'm staying near a mosque in a really mixed tourist neighborhood, so the impression of diversity is higher than the reality. On Hong Kong Island (the business district), for example, about 90% of the faces you see are East Asian (presumably Hong Kong people). Still, it's an amazing change from everybody looking the same, and it reminds me how important it is for me to live in a 'real' city.
One of the most surprising aspects of Hong Kong is its desire to keep everything happy and in line. There are tons of public service announcements about how to clean your drains and empty your flower pots to prevent mosquito infestation and dengue fever, and even more about chickens, spitting and washing your hands to prevent avian flu. Apparently spitting and feeding birds carry fines here. Also, The level of organization is amazing. The subway is very efficient (albeit expensive), and the streets are *GASP* labled. There are sidewalks that are not dominated by scooters. In fact, there aren't many scooters here at all.
Perhaps the best part of Hong Kong is the architecture. Compared to any city in Taiwan, Hong Kong's architecture is top knotch. It's unbelieveable to compare I.M. Pei's Bank of China Building to most of the crap in Taipei. Certainly there are a lot of eyesores, but some buildings are just beautiful. Further, there are actually MANY big buildings in Hong Kong, and they're close together. This is key in creating a cityscape. The skyline in Taipei is completely nonexistent. Taipei 101 is really far off from the rest of the sizable buildings (which arent that big), which takes away any comparison and makes it's own size meaningless. Hong Kong is like New York or Chicago, with a real downtown and a sense of - I don't know - composition?
That's all really hauty-tauty but whatever. Hong Kong is a great - if expensive - place to spend a few days. I highly recommend it. Although there are no monkeys here to make things exciting, sometimes a few days of walking around anonymously in a real city with big buildings are different kinds of people is better than anything.
(For those who aren't up on the politics, this is different from Taiwan because Taiwan doesn't consider itself part of China. In fact, Taiwan is part of the ROC - the Republic of China - so in a sense, it thinks that it is China. The whole story is quite interesting. I suggest looking it up.)
Anyway, Hong Kong as a city is a lot like Taipei, but it's better. It's faster, cleaner, taller (except for 101), and has MUCH better food. There are actually people here who are not from East Asia. Indians and Pakistanis abound. They sell a lot of suits. Africans are also quite prevalent. Of course, I'm staying near a mosque in a really mixed tourist neighborhood, so the impression of diversity is higher than the reality. On Hong Kong Island (the business district), for example, about 90% of the faces you see are East Asian (presumably Hong Kong people). Still, it's an amazing change from everybody looking the same, and it reminds me how important it is for me to live in a 'real' city.
One of the most surprising aspects of Hong Kong is its desire to keep everything happy and in line. There are tons of public service announcements about how to clean your drains and empty your flower pots to prevent mosquito infestation and dengue fever, and even more about chickens, spitting and washing your hands to prevent avian flu. Apparently spitting and feeding birds carry fines here. Also, The level of organization is amazing. The subway is very efficient (albeit expensive), and the streets are *GASP* labled. There are sidewalks that are not dominated by scooters. In fact, there aren't many scooters here at all.
Perhaps the best part of Hong Kong is the architecture. Compared to any city in Taiwan, Hong Kong's architecture is top knotch. It's unbelieveable to compare I.M. Pei's Bank of China Building to most of the crap in Taipei. Certainly there are a lot of eyesores, but some buildings are just beautiful. Further, there are actually MANY big buildings in Hong Kong, and they're close together. This is key in creating a cityscape. The skyline in Taipei is completely nonexistent. Taipei 101 is really far off from the rest of the sizable buildings (which arent that big), which takes away any comparison and makes it's own size meaningless. Hong Kong is like New York or Chicago, with a real downtown and a sense of - I don't know - composition?
That's all really hauty-tauty but whatever. Hong Kong is a great - if expensive - place to spend a few days. I highly recommend it. Although there are no monkeys here to make things exciting, sometimes a few days of walking around anonymously in a real city with big buildings are different kinds of people is better than anything.
posted by bethany at 23:36
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