In June this year, I went to Hong Kong to attend a conference. I have always been attracted to the oriental culture and I was excited about visiting such a place. However, upon reaching there I realized that it’s a great place but in no way does it mirror the Chinese culture. On the other hand, it looked more like a western country populated by Chinese people. So let me share my experiences about this wonderful city with you.
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Hong Kong Airport
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We (me with a few colleagues) reached Hong Kong in just five hours (What a relief ; I hate long flights). We boarded the Air India flight at 9 AM on a Sunday morning and by 2.00 PM (IST) we were there. However, it was 5.30 PM in Hong Kong. We had to travel within the airport in a metro ! So many escalators – Sometimes we were going up and sometimes we were going down. This happened so many times that I lost all sense of direction by the time we reached the counters. By this time I was sure that we had landed in Mars or someplace like that. It was all too unreal. Finally, we were out of that amazingly robot-like place and then we started seeing some people (at last !).
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Hong Kong, the city
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We sat in a bus which took us to Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in about forty five minutes. Amazingly tall skyscrapers which grazed the sky dotted with clouds and the vast sea beneath. The view was breathtaking. I immediately sensed that Hong Kong is very technologically driven. It was almost as if man is towering over nature there. Even the sea and sky looked artificial and man-made. Every little area is taken care of with a cold precision.
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Shopping
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We had been looking forward to this aspect. The first day we scooted off to Sogo’s (Japanese supermarket) which has ten floors. There was a floor for toys, one floor for men’s apparel, one for ladies’ apparel and so on. The next day, we were off to Diamond Hill Shopping Arcade where I managed to pick up some beautiful, exotic things (watches, toys, electronic goods etc.) for my family members. On hindsight I felt that shopping was slightly unnecessary since now we are able to get almost everything in India and a lot cheaper too.
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People
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The people in Hong Kong are very friendly and polite. They go out of their way to help you and I mean that literally. Once when we lost our way and approached a stranger to find directions to a place, he actually came along with us to take us to the place in question.
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Food and drinks
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You can find almost all kinds of food in Hong Kong. If you are the dining out types, you will find south Indian thalis, chinese noodles and spring rolls, american steaks and burgers, pizza, croissants, cakes, you name it. If you are the stay at home types (like me), then you can buy instant noodles (5 HK$ ; about Rs. 25) at the supermarkets and stay contented. All multinational food chains (McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Burger King etc.) can be found in abundance there. I visited Mc Donald’s once and to my delight, I found a Chicken McGrill burger just for 20 HK$ (about Rs. 100.) which was simple great.
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Weather
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In June, the weather was hot and humid, though we were not affected at all since everyplace that can be termed ‘inside’ in Hong Kong is air conditioned. So whether we were in a bus, in our rooms or in a shop, we were comfortable.
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Culture
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Though the language spoken is Chinese, the people in Hong Kong dress up like people in an american city. Sometimes we encountered language problems but generally, we managed well. Everywhere in Hong Kong we encountered efficiency and organization. There were no loose ends.
So, we had a great time in Hong Kong. We came back with wonderful memories of a city where life makes technology is a way of life and yet the people have the warmest hearts in the world.
An afterthought : I missed India terribly (I always miss India whenever I go abroad).