Hong Kong Reminiscence

Of all Asia's large cities I've visited so far, Hong Kong is my favorite. In July of 2006 a connection made between Frankfurt and Tokyo at Hong Kong's airport graced me with a sneak peak early one summer morning. Sunrise had illuminated an eastern portion of mainland China below the plane, then a coastline, followed by a bit of sea, and suddenly Hong Kong emerged--islands with peaky hills draped in tropical green encompassed by sandy beaches and plunging cliff-lines or else marinas and "serious" harbors. The vertical lines and elongated rectangles of skyscraper cityscapes glistened in the crytalline morning light, stretching skyward from an array of valley pockets. By the time the plane touched down on the runway, I had added Hong Kong to the list in my mind of places to go/places to see. Still, not until November of 2009--Thanksgiving Break--did I finally arrive in Hong Kong for a true visit. My first glimpse of Hong Kong took my breath away; my first authentic experience with Hong Kong rendered me a devoted fan.

• How can you not love a city where a building structured with a lengthy horizontal expanse must have a hole designed into the middle so the dragon that dwells in the mountain behind it has unencumbered access to the sea in front of it! For, don't you know, in China all mountains have a dragon, and certainly common logic would suggest that messing with dragons is surely a fool's game. (A guide shared with us that feng shui informs the layout of Hong Kong and the design of its buildings.)
  
  
• Hong Kong is hustle-bustle and in your face, a style I find exhilarating. And Chinese--both Mandarin and Cantonese, apparently--is often spoken heavy on volume. "Dulcet-toned" would not generally apply as a descriptor for street conversation in Chinese, a fact I first noted the summer I taught English in mainland China.
  
  
• Hong Kong today is a facinating hybrid, fashioned by its traditional Chinese heritage, by a lengthy British occupation and its influence, and by its place and history on the world stage.
  

• In addition to the kinds of markets typically found in many Asian cities, Hong Kong has a gold fish market, a place where one can purchase goldfish--and other aquarium varieties--on display already packaged in a take-away plastic bag! There is a bird market, too... and I'm not talking about the market where one buys fresh poultry for consumption. This bird market sells birds to house in these cool bird cages that include porcelaine food containers. (Never a real pet-bird enthusiast, I was more enthralled with cage design and dishes than birds.)

• Hong Kong boasts cuisine to satisfy any palate (hey, I even found Mrs. Field's Cookies near two different underground transit stations), is easily navigable with a rather fun range of transport, offers lots to see and do both city-style and grand-outdoors-style, and has this amazing setting--resplendent and memorable.