03.28.06
A night in Hong Kong
3/23/06 2:27 AM, Hong Kong
After the chaos of Bangkok, Hong Kong is most impressive. Wait, amend that to simple ‘Hong Kong is most impressive’. From the airport to the highways, to the city streets everything is very neat, well organized, well signed and controlled. There are police, security guards and cleaning people everywhere making sure everything stays nice and tidy… for the most part.
The bus from the airport pulled into the Kowloon area around 9:00 PM, which afforded some beautiful views of the connecting bridges lit up with colored lights and of the night skyline. Rounding to Nathan road the scene was a sea of Neon and video boards. The Kowloon Hotel itself is very impressive; I was catered to from the moment the bus pulled up in this very modern high-rise. The room is small (specially compared to where I spent my last night) but well designed, like a ship with amenities tucked away in ingenious arrangements. There is a tight hallway with a sliding door closet on one side and a bathroom on the other, then a large and comfortable bed and a table with drawers that hide a coffee maker, mini-bar, fridge, fax/photocopy machine, safe and a flat screen monitor that doubles as in room computer and TV. Next to the bed is a digital console from which all lights, AC, alarm clock and light-signs signaling ‘do not disturb’ or ‘please make up room’ can be controlled. The Kowloon Hotel web page claims the hotel is well located, close to a shopping area, the bay and public transportation. In this they are being modest: There is an entrance to the subway directly inside the hotel lobby, a quarter block walk puts you on a busy commercial street and the hotel is a mere two blocks from the bay-side walk that has the Aerospace Museum, The Art Museum and much more.
After making myself at home and arranging for a ride back to the airport the next afternoon I set off up Nathan Road a bit stunned by the light show overhead. I immediately found out that while HK is a lot neater than Bangkok a lot of the same rules apply, I had barely cleared the corner from the Hotel to Nathan road when a woman grabbed my arm and though I did not understand her, obviously propositioned me for sex (her companion later made the same move on my way back and I caught the statement as being ‘I go with you’). Half a block later I had Indian peddlers aggressively trying to sell me watches, two blocks up it was back to tailored suits. The peddling is not as frequent nor as aggressive as it is in Bangkok but the lines are the same (’hello my friend’, ‘yes boss’, ‘where you go?’, ‘let me help you’, ‘where are you from’ and the occasional direct approach ‘real Rolex cheap!’). Most of the food and other street side vendors were closed though there were a number of open noodle shops. I wish I had been hungry as I would have loved to taste some Chinese food in China, but alas I was not. I did buy some Iced Tea for $9 HK (about $1.25 US) and compare prices; not nearly as cheap as Bangkok, but usually a bit cheaper than US.
Photographing Nathan Road showed just how much neon there is, my camera light sensor registered a clean 2.8 F-stop and had no inkling to turn on the flash. There is a haze over the whole city, I don’t know if it is pollution or fog, but with all the cars running around I would not be at all surprised to find out it is at least part pollution. I once a gain feel like I stand out, mostly because the people in HK (at least around the areas I saw) are very sharp dressers. Almost everyone, young or old, was fashionably done up with below the knee white boots on the girls and spiky messed up hair on the boys. I am also much taller than the local population, an effect that is accentuated by all the low hanging signs, awnings and ceilings that forced me to constantly duck.
