Seven “Must-do”s in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is a very diverse city where you can almost get every kind of lifestyle you want. But as tourists, we can never finish all the beautiful sceneries. What are the “must-do”s in Hong Kong? Perhaps everybody has a list in mind, so I’m only going  to show you mine. Ready? Let’s start the adventure!

1.Enjoy the night view on The Peak

Night view from The Peak is probably the most familiar picture of Hong Kong for outsiders. Yes, a classic postcard picture. But only if you are actually on The Peak can you understand it is purely natural and real—it is a picture without any PS or high camera skills. You can see a million lights from the above and wonder how many stories are happening there each day. The happinesses and sorrows of millions of people in the city are all so small which make yours small,too.

BTW, the best way to go up to The Peak is of course taking the cable car which runs untill 1:00 am each day. So you don’t need to worry about the time when enjoying the view.One interesting thing about the cable car is its angel of inclination, which, according to my estimation, is at least 30 degrees. If you’ve always be longing for roller coasters but never dare to take one, this might be a good substitute!

2. Taking Ding Ding Bus shuttling acoss downtown

If you walk a Hong Kong street and suddenly a Ding Ding Bus pass by, you may have a feeling of time traveling. The Ding Ding bus is a typical transportation tool for Hong Kong people in the 30s of last century. The name “Ding Ding” comes from its sound when it stops. It is a sound for reminding the passengers to get on the bus. Nowadays, the sound of Ding Ding Bus still exist in the busy Hong Kong island. The total distance of Ding Ding Bus is 30 kilometers, with 123 stops. You don’t have to travel for the whole way, but who want to easily get off a time travel machine?

3. Taking Star Ferry from Wan Chai to Tsim Sha Tsui

Star Ferry is another traditional transportation that is still being used in the everyday life of Hong Kong people now. We all know that Hong Kong is made up with three main parts: Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and New Territories, in which Hong Kong Island is where most major businesses are located. So working in Hong Kong Island but living in Kowloon is a common lifestyle for Hong Kong people. Taking a ferry to work is definitely a convinient and romantic communiating way. My American friend say it’s like the ferry between Manhattan and Blookly, but where else could you find a ferry that is exactly the same as it was seventy years ago? I bet not easy.

4. Taking a walk on little streets in Central

They say the best way to feel the culture of a city is to walk on its old streets. So you can not miss the chance to walk in the Central area. I don’t mean the modern business center, but the streets like Wing Lee Street where citizens fighted to reserve, the place you can read the deepest secrets of the city.

5. Bagaining at Temple Street Night Market

Even you have always been shopping at supermarkets or department stores, baiganing is one thing you need to learn here in Hong Kong, especially in a traditional night market like Temple Street. In Temple Street night market, you can basically get whatever you want from those Asian movies: silk products, old records, beatiful Chinese style accessories… You can also enjoy Cantonese Opera Excerpts while shopping, because there are always Cantonese Opera artists perform there.

6.Having morning tea and sunshine Mido Cafe

No matter there are how many tea hoses in Hong Kong, Mido Cafe is the one you won’t want to miss in a relaxing ( and starving) Sunday morning. With a history of more than half a century, Mido Cafe has built its repuation as well as a large consumer base in the neighborhood. So don’t be mad if you are not lead to your table and be took care of considerately—they are pround because of their fame and food. When you go upstairs to the private table, try to sit along the windows, because the green and sunshine outside would make you think it’s a worthwhile experience, not to mention the various classic Hong Kong  food that coming up.

7. Experiencing “Chung King Mansion”

Located in  Tsim Sha Tsui, Chong King Mansion is a miniature of Hong Kong as an immigrant society.  It is said that residents in this building have over 120 nationalities with all kinds of identities: foreign merchants, backpackers, illegal immgrants… The building has the cheapest rental in Hong Kong–200 HKD can afford you the most luxurious room and 50 HKD can get a bed for you. You can easily see people holding a “LonelyPlanet” and looking for this place. In a word, for professional backpakers, Chong King Mansion is Mecca.

In the movie Chong King Express directed by Wong Kar-Wai, a famous local film director in Hong Kong, the leading man has a line:

” When I put on rain coat, I will also wear sun glasses, cause you’ll never know when it rains or when the sun comes out.”

The line is an assusation of the unpredictable weather in Hong Kong, an expression of the lonliness of individuals living in a city with seven million population . But more importantly, it is a compliment that this place can always have something out of your imagination.

The Third Impression of “ The Pearl in the East”

For the last century, Hong Kong has been regarded as “The Pearl in the East”. It is gifted with so many advantages that other places cannot match: a natural harbor, a great location facing The South China Sea, and mostly importantly, a diversified culture as a combination of Chinese traditional society and Western modern civilization.

For me, at first Hong Kong was a mysterious place that only can be sneak peeked from TVB dramas and songs from “Four Kings”. After visiting there twice, it was a great tourism destination and giant shopping center. But this time, I’m going to live and work here for two months, which means I have the chance to deeply merge myself into the local life and observe how PR functions here. For the next a couple of weeks, I’m going to record my life and work as a PR practitioner in Hong Kong.I’m pretty confident that this would be both meaningful and fun.

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Hong Kong is not a stranger to me, but someone I knew for a long time, met twice but didn’t really get the chance to make friends with. As imagined, Hong Kong has hot and humid weather, very good food and tiny size room. After living in Los Angeles for one year where no car equals no feet, I was surprised by how convenient life is here–There’s always a restaurants and a convenient store which open till very late night or even 24/7 within steps; the MTR (what subway is called in HK) can almost take you anywhere without walking out of the stations; the streets are crowded even at midnight so you don’t have to worry about being harassed by homeless people on your way back home.

(Picture: Hong Kong MTR 11:00PM)

However, I also got some new observations this time in trying to “localize” myself

” Everything here is FINANCE”

One of the world’s financial center is a major title of Hong Kong. Born with great location and raised with advanced transportation and information system, Hong Kong has as many banks, insurance companies, securities companies as convenient stores. People here cares about financial news more than those in of most other places. When taking MTR to work in the morning, I saw people primarily read two kinds of news: finance and entertainment.

Financial industry also creates a large amount of employments in Hong Kong. An obvious evidence is that in Hong Kong the streets are full of people wearing suits and ties during rush hours. Certainly, this phenomenon can be seen in other big cities like Los Angeles and Beijing, but only in business areas like downtown or Jianguomen CBD. Here, it is all over the MTR, not to mention in Central, where the major financial institutions are located. It’s like a huge runway of business wear.

I got to know Zane, a local young people who graduated from Hong Kong Polytechnic University with Master’s degree in Social Work, and ended up working in a bank. When asked why he chose to work in finance while his major was not so relevant with it, he said with a little frustration, ” You really don’t have many options, do you?”

“ Free but undemocratic”

Over the last week, the two biggest news in Hong Kong are: 1. The 23th Anniversary of June 4th Tiananmen Square massacre.2. The investigation and discussion around the luxury life of the Chief Executive Donald Tsang.

I was lucky enough to go to the memorial event for June 4^th Tiananmen Square massacre and observe on the spot. I cannot say I participated because I was just stood there and watched. However, it was exciting enough for someone like me who was born and raised where political demonstrations are barely seen.

(Picture: Victoria Exit, Causeway Bay Station, Hong Kong MRT, 19:40PM, June 4, 2012)

Crowded as it was, the event was pretty peaceful. I saw people holding signs and flags, wearing memorial T-shirts and marching along the street with the police keeping the order. Several stages were built by those who wanted to give speeches. I even saw a rock band performing in the middle of the street.

(Picture: young people quietly demonstrate)

News said that  more than 1.5 million participated in year’s memorial event in Victoria Park. In fact, over one hundred demonstration take place in Hong Kong annually, including several regular ones, which usually attract more than ten thousand participants.

However, reading the two news together seems ironic to me: Hong Kong people enjoy every kinds of freedom—free speech, free publish and free demonstrate, even so, corruption is unavoidable. Only three weeks are left for Donald Tseng’s term in office, why couldn’t they investigate earlier? A true democratic government should be transparent and fair, which Hong Kong government apparently isn’t at least for now. In Hong Kong’s case, freedom doesn’t equal democracy, and this place still has a long way to go.