I had just written a lovely expose on the city of Hong Kong, but for whatever reason everything was deleted before I could post it out. So I'll attempt again....
For some reason unbeknownst to me, my company decided I was valuable enough to fly to Hong Kong for the week (as in last week). So without questioning the decision making, or questioning my worth at work, I found myself once again in a plane flying off to venture around a new city. In reality, I had been to Hong Kong before with my family several years ago, however under the guise of a tourist bootcamp. This solo journey would certainly entail many more views of cold mugs around an open air bar than of the harbor from Victoria Peak. Tourism takes on a different meaning when you're seeing a place for enjoyment and visiting friends.
Although my current stay in India has been brief, traveling to a developed city such as Hong Kong really puts into perspective the contrast to what we read of India as a "developing and emerging" economy. It was a bit of a reverse culture shock stepping off the plane, and in my somewhat biased opinion at the time, I felt that the Hong Kong airport was the most perfectly constructed building. Everything was laid out conveniently, and the best part was I could take a metro from the airport all the way into Hong Kong island. It was almost too easy and comfortable. My appreciation and reverence for a developed city could only be garnered through the contrast of the airport to downtown travel between Mumbai and Hong Kong. A train that quietly glides along the pristine coastal waters of the South China Sea versus a bumpy, jammed road sprinkled with showers and horns blaring on all sides. I'll take Hong Kong, thank you.
After hopping off a smooth 25 minute ride to downtown I had to question where exactly I stood. Was this China proper? No, the cabbie spoke pretty decent, broken English. Yet, the billboards of cutesy Chinese girls with obnoxiously large round eyes gazed at my with that same mindless stare, and many Chinese characters broke the surface of the foggy haze that is my ever waning recollection of the language. The defining line between colonial and modern Hong Kong was clearly thinning at every turn, but the most noteable aspect of the city, which I'm sure has been true since its founding, is the harbor. It is the center of the city; economic, physical, and psychological. Residential and commercial towers on both the Kowloon and Hong Kong sides are jammed into arrangement; concrete flowers all stretching and leaning to catch a glimpse of the water. People move in response to how they are positioned to the harbor. I found myself cautiously avoiding anything more than a five minute reprieve of figuring out the location of the harbor. Buildings pile up the hills, one on top of another, in order to keep their gaze directed on the waterway.
I often found myself meandering around the alley ways, in reality more like staircases, that intersect the roads that wind up the hill. At night these areas brought out the incandescent shop signs gleaming with Chinese characters, and the crowds that hopped from pub, to bar, to club in the greatest attempt to fulfill all types of epicurean dreams. It's hard to pass on joining in as the aroma of night time (mis)adventures wafted around every turn. I can't say my time was exclusively spent sauntering about late at night, but the general theme was to relax and enjoy time with friends. During the day, outside of work that is, I spent time roaming the streets with my friend Nacho who just moved there, or relaxed by the hotel pool. The dinner options were seemingly endless, and I attempted to fill my longing for a mix of international cuisine every night. Not that you can't get beef here in India, but I've more or less avoided it, so one night I indulged in a spectacularly large, juicy burger that I won't soon forget.
To harp a bit more on the contrast between these two cities, I can certainly say that India brings out my appreciation for developed and what I would deem "easily manageable" cities. Being back in Mumbai I'm falling into a routine, which actually helps to keep me sane. I'm noticing that Mumbai is a city of people simply living. Their comfort level with the status quo inhibits physical improvement of the city, but the difficulty to get anything accomplished, especially on a large scale, is almost insurmountable. Enjoyment comes from human and social interaction, be it friends, family, or just strolling the streets amongst thousands of other unknown people. The desire for Western retailers and consumer goods is obviously growing, but people here simply like to be around other people; have a cup of tea or go out to eat, and through personal interaction the obstacles of daily life and impediments to create a picturesque city fall by the way side. The sense of individual is sometimes too foreign to grasp, and I'm learning quickly.
On that note, I'm off to meet a coworker (albeit expat from out of town) for dinner in South Bombay.
For some reason unbeknownst to me, my company decided I was valuable enough to fly to Hong Kong for the week (as in last week). So without questioning the decision making, or questioning my worth at work, I found myself once again in a plane flying off to venture around a new city. In reality, I had been to Hong Kong before with my family several years ago, however under the guise of a tourist bootcamp. This solo journey would certainly entail many more views of cold mugs around an open air bar than of the harbor from Victoria Peak. Tourism takes on a different meaning when you're seeing a place for enjoyment and visiting friends.
Although my current stay in India has been brief, traveling to a developed city such as Hong Kong really puts into perspective the contrast to what we read of India as a "developing and emerging" economy. It was a bit of a reverse culture shock stepping off the plane, and in my somewhat biased opinion at the time, I felt that the Hong Kong airport was the most perfectly constructed building. Everything was laid out conveniently, and the best part was I could take a metro from the airport all the way into Hong Kong island. It was almost too easy and comfortable. My appreciation and reverence for a developed city could only be garnered through the contrast of the airport to downtown travel between Mumbai and Hong Kong. A train that quietly glides along the pristine coastal waters of the South China Sea versus a bumpy, jammed road sprinkled with showers and horns blaring on all sides. I'll take Hong Kong, thank you.
After hopping off a smooth 25 minute ride to downtown I had to question where exactly I stood. Was this China proper? No, the cabbie spoke pretty decent, broken English. Yet, the billboards of cutesy Chinese girls with obnoxiously large round eyes gazed at my with that same mindless stare, and many Chinese characters broke the surface of the foggy haze that is my ever waning recollection of the language. The defining line between colonial and modern Hong Kong was clearly thinning at every turn, but the most noteable aspect of the city, which I'm sure has been true since its founding, is the harbor. It is the center of the city; economic, physical, and psychological. Residential and commercial towers on both the Kowloon and Hong Kong sides are jammed into arrangement; concrete flowers all stretching and leaning to catch a glimpse of the water. People move in response to how they are positioned to the harbor. I found myself cautiously avoiding anything more than a five minute reprieve of figuring out the location of the harbor. Buildings pile up the hills, one on top of another, in order to keep their gaze directed on the waterway.
I often found myself meandering around the alley ways, in reality more like staircases, that intersect the roads that wind up the hill. At night these areas brought out the incandescent shop signs gleaming with Chinese characters, and the crowds that hopped from pub, to bar, to club in the greatest attempt to fulfill all types of epicurean dreams. It's hard to pass on joining in as the aroma of night time (mis)adventures wafted around every turn. I can't say my time was exclusively spent sauntering about late at night, but the general theme was to relax and enjoy time with friends. During the day, outside of work that is, I spent time roaming the streets with my friend Nacho who just moved there, or relaxed by the hotel pool. The dinner options were seemingly endless, and I attempted to fill my longing for a mix of international cuisine every night. Not that you can't get beef here in India, but I've more or less avoided it, so one night I indulged in a spectacularly large, juicy burger that I won't soon forget.
To harp a bit more on the contrast between these two cities, I can certainly say that India brings out my appreciation for developed and what I would deem "easily manageable" cities. Being back in Mumbai I'm falling into a routine, which actually helps to keep me sane. I'm noticing that Mumbai is a city of people simply living. Their comfort level with the status quo inhibits physical improvement of the city, but the difficulty to get anything accomplished, especially on a large scale, is almost insurmountable. Enjoyment comes from human and social interaction, be it friends, family, or just strolling the streets amongst thousands of other unknown people. The desire for Western retailers and consumer goods is obviously growing, but people here simply like to be around other people; have a cup of tea or go out to eat, and through personal interaction the obstacles of daily life and impediments to create a picturesque city fall by the way side. The sense of individual is sometimes too foreign to grasp, and I'm learning quickly.
On that note, I'm off to meet a coworker (albeit expat from out of town) for dinner in South Bombay.
