Hong Kong: I’ve Never Been More Overwhelmed by a City in My Life
Hong Kong is something else. It’s the only city that I had to take breaks from and recharge from its dizzying heights, towering mountains, and labyrinthine roads. There’s an army of 18,000 taxis commanding you to take a break from walking the steep inclines: 90s Red and Silver Toyotas never more than a minute away. The Subway arrives at every 2.1 minutes — each one full to the brim, rush hour or not. The skyscrapers are towering and never-ending, a fortress of dizzying heights, only outmatched by the steep incline of Victoria Peak overhead. The roads stack on one another, and the pedestrian paths weave in and out; often times one must walk a maze of stairs, escalators, through malls, offices, botanical gardens, and up the sharps inclines (and declines) of Hong Kong Island. Designer Malls, open-air markets, and Michelin-Starred restaurants flourish in a consumer utopia for China, Asia, and beyond. It’s a city contrasted by HK $40 ($US 5) beef brisket noodle soup delicacies with soul-crushing US $2,550 apartments for rent.
It’s a lot.
I think I liked Hong Kong. It certainly has made the biggest impression on me of any city I’ve ever been to. It’s faster paced than New York City and its heights more dizzying than Tokyo. It accomplishes this with a population of less than 8 million people. But it’s a city that I can’t even begin to wrap my head around — the pro-business mish-mash of the British empire clashing with the sheer foreignness of Chinese culture and Cantonese cuisine.
