“Albert is so amused at me having got the
island of Hong Kong,” wrote Queen Victoria when Britain won the
territory in the Opium Wars.
At the time, it was “a barren island with hardly a house upon
it! It will never be a mart for trade.”
(Lord Palmerston)
A year after my trek through Africa and my return to the Fareast, I had to do my first visa run from Taiwan. I was between jobs, my residence was coming to an end and a fresh application for residence would begin too late. I had just been issued a brand new passport by the South African Liaison Office in Taipei, and this trip would officially launch said passport.
I have always remembered my brother’s
description of flying into Hong Kong, when he returned to South Africa from
Australia some 17 years earlier. He
detailed the way the plane came in to land between the buildings, so close that
he could see people hanging their washing.
To my dismay, that was a thing of the past. A new airport had been built on land
reclaimed from the ocean, to the west of the city. It cost HK$160 billion (US$20 billion), and
was at the time one of the biggest civil engineering projects undertaken
anywhere in the world. I had seen a
documentary about it, and it was truly amazing to see what can be accomplished.
Hong Kong!! I had no
idea. It has always been one of those
places whose names conjure up feelings of other-worldliness, places like
Shanghai, St Petersburg, Iceland and Papua New Guinea. Hong Kong is as dense as New York – though
I’m sure, smaller; … and more beautiful than Cape Town. Like Cape Town, it’s all mountains, ocean,
and spectacular high viewpoints.
Politically, it has 18
municipalities, but as far as it affects the traveler, there are four main
sections: Hong Kong Island, Kowloon Peninsula, the New Territories, and the
Outlying Islands. The territory is
located on the Pearl River Delta. I
stayed on Hong Kong Island, and my adventures were limited by the 2 days I had
available. My tiny room was affordable,
and it was in a hotel called Alishan, named after one of the tallest peaks in
Taiwan. Its owners were indeed
originally from Taiwan. I saw quite a
bit of the island, and got over to Kowloon in the afternoons.
Hong Kong is a veritable concrete jungle. When I think back to the diversity in the
rainforests of Uganda, the variety of plants and animals, I notice a
similarity. It may seem strange to
compare 100-year old trees and fresh air, on the one hand, with glass, tar and
traffic, on the other, but in their variety, they are remarkably alike.
Hong Kong Island is almost entirely mountain. There is a narrow (perhaps 500m) flat plain
on the north coast. From there the city
stretches ever higher up the steep slopes.
One can take the Peak Tram (in truth, a funicular railway) almost to the
top of Victoria Peak. Built in 1888, a
cable hoists a tourist-laden tram at a 45° angle up, up, up. At times, ascending, you don’t see the city,
just rocks, trees and other natural beauty.
Other times you pass skyscrapers that make you think you’re in Pisa:
they’re all “leaning” – at about 45°!
The first one I saw shocked me, but then I realised it was I who was crooked!
From the top, the view is
phenomenal. Architecturally, Hong Kong
is hugely diverse. And between these
buildings, a maze of roads, flyovers and underpasses, twists and turns – it’s mesmerising. The streets are clean,
there is a HK$1500 (US$190) fine for littering, and people pay attention to the
rules of the road. Even the pedestrians
wait, for the most part, at the crossings, until the green man hails. When he does, two armies march at each other,
though the name of this game is to avoid any contact, as far as that is
possible. There are so many pedestrians,
it took me right back to London’s Covent Garden or Oxford Street, or anywhere
in central London; and it made me realise that the cities in Taiwan are
really quite small, with the possible exception of Taipei.
One can take the Star Ferry
across Victoria Harbour to Kowloon, or the bus, or the underground train via a series
of sub aquatic tunnels. From those
shores, a look across at Hong Kong Island is truly a sight to behold. If you stand gazing at the island at 8pm on
any night, a laser show is performed, a joint effort by at least 10
buildings. There is even a narration and
music on the promenade where everybody gathers to watch the spectacle. (My luck, the narration was in Cantonese the
night I was there. Interestingly, though
the various languages of China are quite different, and most use far more complex
tones than Mandarin, which is the official language of all China, including
Taiwan, they all seem to use the same characters. I was able to read the Cantonese on some of
the signs and understand what they meant.
It is not at all necessary to read characters, though, since everything
is also given in English.)
A walk through
Kowloon offers many entertainment options, including numerous sexy massages
offered as you walk by. There are
restaurants, cheap and expensive, pubs, movies, and, of course, shopping. There are also museums, and I got to visit
the Museum of Art (not terribly exciting, since I’ve seen the one in Taipei,
which is one of the top three in the world), and the Space Museum.
Public transport is fantastically convenient. There are ferries, buses, over-ground and
underground trains, a high-speed rail to the airport, and loveliest of all,
trams. The magnetized Octopus card
stores one’s prepaid fees and can be used on all forms of transport. The card fits into one’s wallet, and as one
passes through the turnstiles, one simply brushes the entire wallet over the
sensors – no need to take out the card!
The trams run east-west along the northern shore of Hong Kong
Island. They are slow and their windows
are always open, so they offer the very best way to leisurely take in the
sights without having to exert oneself on foot.
And they cost a flat rate of HK$2, whether one rides only one stop on,
or travels the entire length of the line.
(I did a lot of walking, anyway, and my legs, buttocks and back paid
dearly. As I said, the slopes are steep,
so if one wants to walk south of the tram line – to, say, Soho or Lan Kwai
Fong, where one can find trendy eateries – one must be prepared to get one’s
daily exercise at the same time, and to arrive dripping in one’s sticky
sweat!)
The Taiwanese office caused me
instant distress when they were unsure they could provide a visa. They had become rather strict because many
foreigners were teaching illegally in Taiwan, and many of them visited Hong
Kong with made-up stories or bogus student registrations, in search of visitors’
visas to re-enter for the umpteenth time.
I knew this before going and was a little worried. On the other hand, I knew that my record was
clean, so I was not too concerned. In
the end, they gave me 60 days, more than I’ve ever had from the Taiwan Liaison
Office in South Africa.
(I
say ‘Taiwan office’ because it is not an embassy. China does not recognize Taiwan as a country,
as is the case with most of the world.
But luckily, they tolerate this office and only one other, in
Macau. Actually, Hong Kong is called a
Special Administrative Region, or SAR – ‘One Country, Two Systems.’ It has its own constitution which was drawn
up by the British and Chinese before the hand-over in 1997. Hong Kong residents need a visa to visit
China, and vice versa.)
During
one of my meals, I picked up a local newspaper to catch up on the news, and
received an education about Hong Kong politics: the views, the laws, the
criticisms. I was fascinated by one of
the briefs. It was about Philip
Rabinowitz, a.k.a ‘Rabinoblitz’, a.k.a ‘Flying Phil’, a South African
100-year-old man who set the Guinness record, at the Mandela Park Athletics
Stadium in Cape Town, for the fastest 100-metre sprint in his age group!!
The city blew me away. I hope I have the opportunity to go again one
day, perhaps next time with a travel partner to share the experience.
