Don't Follow My Lead

As I sit in the International Hong Kong airport, all I can do is hope I can give Hong Kong a second chance.

Is a beautiful city, and very modern city.  Which for me, that means easy mobility around the city, no language barriers, and plenty of options.  After spending my last 15 days in Kuala Lumpur (last 6 days due to a minor but nagging injury) I was glad to finally be able to move again, and that my next destination was this little but well known city.

Hong Kong during the day from Avenue of Stars

Unfortunately I knew the downside of coming to HK, is an expensive city.  Not overly expensive mind you, but when you are backpacking on a $30 – $35 a day HK is a city that is best to skip.  I stretched my budget to about $50 a day, and was just experiencing the very low that this city had to offer.  

Hong Kong Central at night

I would walk down the streets, and some of the foods that I would see was just mouth watering.  But they were also 120 HKD ($15.50) at least.  I was able to find a soup for 25HKD and that was probably the best meal I had.  In other instances I went to McDonald’s and other local fast food chains for food.  Not because I was craving it, but just because financially was my best choice.  Not happy with myself about that.

Hong Kong is better suited with a larger budget, $60 – $75 per day I think would have open more doors for me.   But after 2 months of traveling and already being over budget in way cheaper countries, I couldn’t pull the trigger in this one.

Don’t get me wrong, this is not Hong Kong’s fault.  If I had my old job, and I was here just as a normal tourist, this would be a great town to feast myself in.   I was hoping to try Dim Sum that I love so much.  But being an unemployed backpacker, trying to stretch himself to see as many countries as I can, it requires certain sacrifices. 

For entertainment I did some urban exploration, Central area of Hong Kong was the best part for me.  If you go to the Sheung Wan area, there are some antiques stores and shops that offer unique artifacts and weapons.   The other end of the island, near the Chai Wan train station, offers a trail to Big Wave Bay Beach (try saying that 4 times in a row) that is challenging and rewarding.  I ran into a Dutch-Spaniard couple, and they convince me to keep going and I’m very glad they did.   The first part of the trail is a cemetery going up a mountain.  There’s very little shade, and the sun is just beating down on you.  I stopped to assess if I wanted to keep going, when the couple catch up to me, we started talking, and decided to keep going.    Glad they did, because the cemetery stairs is the hardest part of the trail and I already did it.

Big Wave Bay Beach not living up to its name.

Big Wave Bay Beach is nice little beach, and it doesn’t seem to get too crowded, less than a 100 people when I was there.   There’s an ancient rock carving in one of the cliffs, they don’t know much about it, but is believed is about 3,000 years old.  Sorry no pics of this, since I explore this cliff without my camera.  There’s no resort on the beach, so you have a green forest were the sandy beach ends, a very welcoming sight with all the concrete of the city.

Prayer hanging at Man Mo Temple. Beautiful yet small temple in HK

The only thing I could afford that I didn’t do, was the Tian Tan Buddha, is a giant bronze statue of the sitting Buddha.  I ran out of time on my last day, and couldn’t make it there on time.  To reach the Buddha there’s a cable car (expensive and with a minimum hour wait) or a bus.   It’s supposed to have some great views of the city. 

Hong Kong let’s do a re-do.  A start over?

PS.  Hong Kong is trying to answer the question if one mall per person is enough.  How many fucking malls do you need people?