Prior to coming to Hong Kong I had images of skyscrapers, thousands of people, fast pace of life and then all that topped off with loads of noise. Well, after six days here, most of that appears to be accurate but there are also other wilder sides to the whole place too.
I hadn't expected so many delightful beaches and gentle seas within easy access of the city. Thanks to the very well planned and connected public transport system we have been able to take combinations of trains, buses, ferries and trams to visit picturesque beaches on Lamma and Lantau Islands where we were the only people there, apart from the lifeguards. Today, our last full day in the city state, finds us at the inaccurately named Repulse Bay on Hong Kong Island which, despite being overlooked by lots of housing, is a broad sweep of sea and sand with well postponed trees for shade.
I also hadn't expected so many well-planned walking trails in and around the hills which could keep explorers and outdoors people busy and exercised for many weeks as well as providing good ways to walk off the energy of Lawrence children.
And then the whole place is clean. There are well used recycling and waste bins everywhere, street sweepers and cleaners, public toilets everywhere and signs reminding you to keep the place spick and span too, including a smoking ban on beaches. Some might even argue that Hong Kong is a microcosm of Disneyland, which the Lawrence Clan visited on Wednesday. We went by easily connecting and rapid train, the last leg of which was on a disneyfied set of carriages with slightly tacky Mickey Mouse shaped windows. Next we paid small fortune to go in, before becoming part of the show for a day that included various stomach churning rides that children loved (and this adult realised that he didn't) oohed and aahed at parades, shows and fireworks and then departed on back on the Mickey express.
Fortunately Hong Kong is not totally Disney. Yes it feels very expensive having come from Kuala Lumpur, especially when you compare the prices of eating out here with KL and it also feels packed in with our rooms being just big enough to fit in the right number of beds and a one square metre bathroom. It was quite a shock looking at the price of rental accommodation: we could just about afford a 700 square foot apartment here for the price of our KL house that is four times the size.
Fortunately the wild side of Hong Kong is not just a natural one. Chungking Mansions, where our guest house was, was filled with a pleasing array of excellent Indian and Pakistani curry stalls, a not quite so necessary broad range of money changing stalls and mobile phone sellers, somewhat irritating accommodation hawkers, and other interesting characters. Outside the place each morning and evening I was gently accosted by the earnest and the dubious all seeking to make a living. Their opening lines ranged from "How about a suit for you, Sir?", via "Watchescopyhandbags?" To the slightly worrying and amusing "Anything for you, Sir."
Overall it has been a good few days here and definitely the right time of year to visit.