Hong Kong living

I want to move here.  I don't know if that's just because I have still a couple of days left before coming back to stress, studies, refugee crisis in Europe, late night writing, and I want to avoid it, or it's just the spirit of this eventful city, full of surprises. I am sitting here, on the beach of the island of lunnan, eating my corn and pineapple on a stick, I am wet from swimming in the ocean, and wishing that I could live like this for the rest of my life, but it doesn't work that way. I will have to endure a lot of stress to get places like I planned. But, then again, nothing did happen the way I always planned, so I might just go ahead and stay here. Why not? Close to all the interesting countries I have never been to, with budget airoplane companies, I am closer to Australia for visiting my cousin and friends, so why not? I never planned on living in one place till the rest of my life, anyhow. But, I already payed for my semester, my work is waiting for me, and people, too. And my family is going to go crazy if I move to another country, again. So, guess I am going to go. I still have a couple of days to enjoy and then take a long flight home. 

I could tell you how the people are here on this careless island. That is true, just 49 minutes ferry ride away from smoky Hong Kong, there is this paradise where cars are forbidden. You have bikes, your legs and a boat to get around and it is beautiful. The walking paths are clearly marked and the sights are easy to get to. Every now and then, you will see a map with the distance to the next important sight and lots of restaurants, food trucks with meats on a stick, beaches, trees and people. The Hong Kong living is fast, but here you can get away from it all. 

The most amazing thing is that people come practicing Tai Chi on the beach, so you can stand behind them and copy. That would seem a bit weird, so I skipped that, but I was seriously thinking about it. 


live long and prosper, I am off to Europe.

Soulful Hong Kong

Hong Kong literal translation is a port (Hong) full of scents (Kong), it got its name for all of the perfumed items  that the tradesmen were selling in the first period of its making. 

Suffering a great jet-lag, we got on a cultural tour of Hong Kong, organized by Stephen. I found it on the couch surfing events and was very excited to learn something new. The huge guide was sitting on the coffe table and was waiting to be picked up. I always like to hear a human voice rather than get digital or written information, and Stephen was just excellent. He showed us his city with a lot of emotion and answered every question.

So, let me try to show you the beauties that we saw.

We met Stephen at the Sheung Wan train station, where he explained the old city centre was. For the Chinese at time of the Opium war, it was hard to live in the very city centre where all the fighting has been done, so they started to move at the close area near by - Sheung Wan. Even today, those two areas are close to each other- just a station away by metro, but you could really see the difference. While the centre is modern, full of shopping malls, new age buildings, in the olden part the charming ancient spirit rules the streets: colorful signs advertising  everything from foot massages to dry fish, enchanting smells of delicious food coming from everywhere, as the local tiny food shops are very visited. Cars honking, lots of people chatting while rushing the streets in an unorderly manner, here I really felt welcomed to Asia. It's not that we didn't enjoy the central part, where we ran for delicious French made burgers the very second day (jet lag food), I really liked Hong Kong in the parts where the tall buildings ground themselves, at the very bottom where the colors, smells and people are. 

Stephen later took us through the dry fish street, that's of course the local name for it, I forgot the actual name :). It got its name for all the shops that sell dry products to make a soup, which funnily is as important as in Croatian culture- as a child you are not allowed to eat anything else before you finish the soup. Just the ingredients are a bit different: everything is dried or smoked for preservation and judging by the smell, the taste of it is amazing (still haven't had the opportunity to taste it). All the mushrooms, dried fish stomachs, nuts, noodles was so neatly stacked away and some of it still drying on the streets and had its own place in this seamed chaos.

 

Later we went to discover other wonders, but I don't think it would be fair to Stephen to revile everything, so I will stop there, and invite everyone who is once in Hong Kong to find him on couch surfing. 

The group later went to sightsee the Central part, but jet lag was sneaking up from behind, so I had to go take a nap.

The evening was spent just walking around the street unsuccessfully trying to find the dumplings place, but found a cute little restaurant and afterwards a bar. A little heads up: the beer in restaurants is way cheaper than in bars, so if you are on a budget, just stay wherever you were eating to drink the beer.

Me being first time in Asia, I came with a lot of prejudice (just finished readin Jules Verne: Around the world in 80 days IN FRENCH!!), but Hong Kong's beauty and soul blew me away. Sadly, the three days have passed and we have to leave this beautiful view on the harbor 

And go.

There are some photogrammas for you to see the city the way I saw it: