Hong Kong First Impressions

  1. Hong Kong is really REALLY big. It makes New York look like a small village. It has the most skyscrapers of any city in the world, twice as many as New York City. Additionally it has the most billionaires in the world.
  2. It is a city of contrasts. Lamborghinis drive by street food stands where you can eat for $1 USD. High end retail surrounded by traditional markets. Pharmacies with the newest drugs and cosmetics next door to Chinese herbalists practicing 3000 year old traditions.
  3. The city is situated primarily on three different islands with around 200 smaller outlaying islands. Because of this, residents rely on ferries, tunnels and bridges to get around.
  4. It is a very international city. There are banks from all over the world as well as cuisines from all over the world.
  5. 90% of all transport is done by public transport. They use ferries, subways, cable cars, street cars, busses and mini busses. Even still, traffic is horrendous.
  6. Gas is around $7.50 USD per gallon.
  7. Much of the city is built on “reclaimed” land. Meaning that they drudged the harbor to create more land.
  8. Even though it is technically and legally part of China, it feels very British. Were it not for the tropical heat and signs in Chinese, I would feel like I’m in London.
  9. It is one of the cleanest cities I’ve ever seen as well as ridiculously friendly. People go out of their way to help you. Just because they want to make sure you’re having a good time. I had a security guard who barely spoke English walk me around the block to show me how to get to the ferry that I needed.
  10. Hong Kong is a lot more expensive than I thought. Food is fairly cheap (most meals are less than $10 USD) but everything else is California prices with hotels being quite a bit higher than the US.