June 26 - July 2

Days 1-5

Note: the format will probably change for future posts, since this is written fully in retrospect rather than covering my agenda as it goes. Still figuring how to present content out as I go!

Thoughts

I visited here a few years ago with my sister but wanted to come back before heading into Southeast Asia - partially because of convenient flights from the states, and partially to experience more of the city itself, rather than just the tourist sites. It’s also one of the few foreign countries where I don’t feel like I stand out. As an Asian-American who speaks Cantonese but defaults to English for anything beyond a 10 year old’s vocabulary, it’s a familiar culture but still friendly to my Western self. Anywhere mainland, even in the south, has standardized on Mandarin, and pretty much every other country just assumes I’m a Chinese tourist until I start talking.

For logistics, I was fortunate enough to have Jacob, a British friend that I met in Marrakech, move to HK recently and host me. It’s a rare but awesome example of being able to reunite with someone you met during travels. Travel friendships, especially those met while solo, can be fast and deep. You’re strangers passing by in the lobby one moment, and two days later you know each others’ life stories, have a whole host of shenanigans and inside jokes you’ve shared, and are probably headed to different countries, never to see each other again. 

While in the city, I spent time with a few distinct groups, which was a cool way to get unique perspectives of the same city. 

• Jacob and a few other expats

• a HK native friend who went to high school/college with me but went back for work, as well as a few of his banking/finance friends

• a HK local, born and raised

But for most of the time, I wandered around by myself, eating alone and hiding from the the stifling, damp heat as much as possible in the many shopping complexes. The city itself has a frenetic pace and not a lot of traditional tourist sites to experience as a solo destination, outside of eating and shopping. I do wonder what a staying in a hostel, which is how I usually solo travel, would have been like since I could’ve led people in social situations instead of being lost like I usually am. Rooms probably would’ve been bad though, given how scarce real estate is.

That’s not to say there weren’t notable experiences. Aside from food (which I could do a whole dedicated post on, to be honest), some highlights included:

Hong Kong History Museum

Surprisingly thorough, going from the formation of the island and biome through the country’s history, up until the (suspiciously abstract) exhibit on reunification with China. I spent like 3 hours here absorbing information and AC. 

Sai Kung -> Ham Tin beach

This was the first time I had visited the New Territories outside of the main city. I was totally not expecting to speedboat, beach, take a scenic (but sweltering) hike, and hop into waterfall pools this early into Asia. It was dope.

Tinder date in Kowloon

Yes, I Tinder pretty frequently when solo traveling abroad. More for conversing with locals and breaking up otherwise solitary days than strictly romantic pursuits, but I’ll write a future dedicated post on this, since people tend to have strong reactions or many questions. 

In any case, my Hong Kong date with ‘S’ consisted of a few bars, skyline views at a park, 7 Eleven wine, and over eight hours of conversation. I ended up staying in Tsim Sha Tsui that night, in no small part due to the protest on the anniversary of Chinese reunification leading to rioting where I was staying.

Day trip to Shenzhen

Visited a good friend in the area and ate, got a massage, and saw some dope city lights. At night their skyline practically turns into a Disneyland light show, with music/animations from different artists. The bullet train from HK takes < 20 minutes (though immigration a bit longer). It was cool to see the little bit of the ‘Silicon Valley of China’ that I could. All of the mobile/QR based payment and services is cool to see, but also meant I was totally helpless without WePay or a Chinese bank card.

Things I Learned

A compilation of things I heard during my stay. Note these are typically from a single data point and are my interpretations, not verbatim quotes, so take em with a grain of salt:

Expats/Wan Chai

On Sunday there are tons of Filipino women just picnicking on cardboard boxes on random (not particularly pleasant) streets and subway stops. Apparently they work as maids and only get Sunday off to socialize. Makes me grateful for SF parks and public gathering spaces.

I stayed the same area, Wan Chai, last time as well, but never realized before it was the red light district. There were lots of Southeast Asians in general, with every bar in the area featuring a  Filipino live band. One of the streets I walked past was filled with strip clubs with Chinese grandmas sitting out in stools soliciting people in. It was a lil weird to see women who could’ve been my aunt or grandma working that kind of job, but they likely don’t have the luxury of choice. Central island hosts most of the expats, and I definitely saw more than a few old white dudes in these bars, sometimes talking to afore-mentioned Southeast Asian females…

Banker Lifestyle

I know Asian work hours are notoriously bad, but it was still a bit jarring to see it firsthand. My friend mentioned working till 11 or 12 is normal during live deals, and two of his friends we were getting dinner with missed it because they worked past 10 (on a Friday too!) One guy had to ask for a computer at 1130pm to jump on work things mid-drinking. I can imagine this is similar for finance elsewhere too, I’m just too bubbled up in tech lyfe in SF though.

I also heard that club culture was very materialistic - I mean as a concept it inherently is, but with the crazy price of liquor in HK especially you have to spend a lot if you’re trying to table or go chasing ladies. I mentioned that this sounded like an unsustainable lifestyle, working endless hours just to drink off the stress on the weekends, but someone mentioned it’s one of the only ways (the other being real estate) to live a comfortable life in HK. 

The 1 bedroom we were drinking at also apparently was ~$5500/mo rent! It was in a nice area, but made me balk at how one person, my age, could afford that. I know HK also has crazy wealth inequality, but even those at the top are worked to hold their positions.

From the history museum

I go to a lot of museums when I solo travel. It’s nice to be able to linger or skip areas based on my own interest, and not worry about how others feel about pacing. That being said, I try to take at least a couple bullet points when I see interesting facts.

• Yue people originally, assimilated into dominant Han from North

• South generally more peaceful, many migrated there fleeing invasions in North

• HK was evacuated for 8 years during Qing dynasty

• 4 different native ethnic groups from different migration waves, including boat dwellers

• Trade inequity and restrictions were reversed with opium, its seizure+tensions led to war in 1840, China got rekt in all its major cities, signed treaty of Nanjing ceding HK, opening trade in more cities than just Guangzhou, paying reparations

• HK was one of the last Chinese cities (under British) to fall to Japan, was occupied for 4 years, ppl interned/imprisoned, Japanized, food shortage

• Post war industry grew in plastics, clocks, toys, flashlights

Reunification section was weirdly abstract, playing just a bunch of Chinese pop songs, video clips of happy children, and the recording of the British ceding the territory. They probably can’t take any concrete stances since it’s still a controversial topic.

From the date

From ‘S’ I’ll spare personal details, but I did hear:

• There are a mix of different schools offered, such as private, half sponsored, full sponsored, with each category requiring different tuitions and govt standards

• From her previous job, there’s a work culture of needing to hang around the office for the sake of being there, even if you have nothing to do. She didn’t see it really valuing creative approaches vs raw knowledge.

• Her Mandarin wasn’t great, but she did well in English, which she stated many people valued the most as an indicator of smartness

• TST is full of shopping malls where a lot of mainlanders come to. Apparently people buy a lot of baby supplies in HK because there was some controversy where one died from baby food in China?

• People protest on reunification anniversary day every year. This time was much worse with the breakins to the assembly chamber due to recent tensions.

Overall, I enjoyed my time in Hong Kong and was happy to have a chance to catch up with old friends and meet new ones, but the last day was a little tough with heat fatigue, everyone I knew busy with work, and nothing left I wanted to see in the city. I’ve considered living there before to reconnect a bit with cultural roots, but it would definitely have to be short term in such a busy, expensive city. The next time I visit will probably be with friends or family - there’s something that just doesn’t feel right eating dim sum alone :)