My Visit to Hong Kong: Part 1
October 7th, 2008, by Jeremy Krygsman
Famous view of Hong Kong
from The Peak
A bridge near Lantau Island
A few weeks ago, I embarked on a trip halfway around the world to visit the city of Hong Kong, which is a major world city. It was especially significant because my girlfriend Seychelle and her family are from there. It was a great experience, and it has definitely changed my views about how cities should be planned.
Hong Kong is rarely what you imagined, and nothing like you see in the pictures. It is extremely, almost inconceivably, different from anything you’ve ever seen in North America or Europe. It is simply the ultimate urban machine.
My first experiences of the city was rather surreal. We took a bus from the airport, traveling through many different environments. The first was the highway between the mountains and coast of Lantau Island, which is relatively undeveloped compared to Hong Kong Island. You can refer to the map below if you’re not sure where it is.
Map of Hong Kong: View Larger Map
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Port Facilities in Hong Kong
Wet market in Kennedy Town
A shantytown
Seychelle’s apartment complex
Next we passed through outer Kowloon, and the absolutely massive port facilities of Hong Kong. For a Canadian context, it handles 14 times more container shipping than the Port of Vancouver! Warehouses in this port are 15 storeys high. The area is a mess of highways, with apartment complexes fit into the remaining spaces. The highway took us past the International Commerce Centre and into the western harbour tunnel.
We emerged into what seemed to be a completely different city, the Kennedy Town district of Hong Kong Island. Kennedy Town is filled wall to wall with apartment towers, their bases lined with small shops. The shops are arranged like a mom-and-pop store would be in Canada, except they are very open to the street. I was actually shocked at the dirtiness of the area though; many buildings appear to have undergone little to no maintenance since they were built.
Along the way around the eastern edge of Hong Kong Island, we passed through several different areas. The rich often live in very large residential developments, which can be located right next to very poor areas. [picture of slums]
At the end of our journey, we arrived at Seychelle’s apartment complex. It consists of 32 towers, each between 30 and 40 storeys high. That may sound crazy, but that sort of development is everywhere in Hong Kong! The complex is extremely well planned out, however, with lush greenery, waterfront promenades, and a shopping centre, and ample transit access.
Then, jet lag set in and it was time to sleep! The story continues though, so stay tuned!
More items related to Hong Kong
Yes, it is in reverse, strange for Hong Kong peoples’ thirst for leisure area or any kind of less dense recreational space. We may spend money just to leave the dense area for a while.
And I love your wording in describing my home city. An urban machine running 24/7, well connected and well planned. And I think we are the densest for residential sector but with decent housing (not a slum).
yes, it is so convenient for accessing shopping mall by mass transit. I am proud for our mass transit also. It is supreme compared to other cities.
But our problem is the nibbling of public space, lacking neighborhood interaction and unreasonably expensive land cost for supporting low tax.
Glad you liked the article! I’m still working on a third part to it, as well as a photo gallery, but that’s a little sidetracked right now because university studies are very busy!