Seeing Hong Kong

This will wrap up my report on Hong Kong.

More than through any other sense, the sights of Hong Kong most captivate the tourist, from seemingly endless perspectives. The photos below speak for themselves:

Next post on this magical mystery tour will be photos taken today in Jakarta, Indonesia. Unfortunately that post will have to wait until I can next access a WiFi hub so as to upload them from my laptop.

Tasting Hong Kong

On approach to Jakarta, Indonesia, this and the subsequent post wrap up my abbreviated pictorial report on our earlier visit to Hong Kong.

One can enjoy any style of food and drink in Hong Kong, pretty much any time of day, at virtually any price. The Lan Kwai Fong neighborhood pictured below is particularly popular with tourists and locals alike. A walk down any of the narrow streets in this area results in a plethora of ethnic epicurean choices. Asian cuisine, of course, is abundant, but so is Lebanese, Greek, French, Italian, Australian...even British. Ubiquitous Irish and English pubs also offer food and drink. And, they have branded rugby shirts for purchase at very reasonable prices...no doubt subsidized by the robust sale of alcohol.

For more information on the variety of food available in Hong Kong, I suggest browsing an authoritative and well-written guide book. Exploring the delicious descriptions of the wide range of restaurants from which to choose justifies the price of the book. Committed foodie that I am, at mealtime I was usually too busy indulging to take many pictures.

And, for post-prandial enjoyment and relaxation, one can usually find a Starbucks within a short walk of wherever you are.

Returning to Hong Kong

Almost two weeks and several thousand miles have passed since we left Hong Kong. I had promised to post some deeper dives into that magical city and its delightful blend of cosmopolitan panache with traditional Asian culture. Since Hong Kong assaults the human senses in a most appealing harmony, I meant to describe the experience in individual sensory reflections. Alas, unforeseen events and more timely impressions pushed that plan to the "pending" pile somewhere in the back of my convoluted mind.


Now we are in the Java Sea. At the risk of offering too little too late, I upload successive truncated posts to wrap up my Hong Kong report in one swell foop. I don't want to leave a job undone or a promise undelivered. Also, while in Malaysia I got my laptop to a WiFi establishment and uploaded a few photos -- a task that I cannot accomplish when underway. So this seems a good time to minimize the prose in favor of visual stimuli.


Our plunge into the deeper experience of Hong Kong begins with an auditory assault. Aboard a shuttle bus in Kowloon we eavesdrop on simultaneous conversations conducted in different languages. We hear French and German for sure, either Madarin or Cantonese, English with an Australian accent, and an elusive fifth language similar to but different from German. Perhaps it is a Slavish tongue. Wherever we go in Hong Kong similar mixes of languages and dialects provide background music to our explorations, a constant reminder of the international appeal of this city.


Other sounds punctuate our travels about Hong Kong. Traffic noise, hustle and bustle, birds, and bargaining. Active people living active lives. One feels ever so much alive just mingling with this crowd.

Tasting Hong Kong

Imagine sampling an exotic yet unstrange fruit for the first time. Perhaps something that resembles an orange but is not an orange. You may have even heard of this rare fruit or even seen pictures of it. Maybe you've read about it. Friends who have tasted that fruit tell you it's delicious, perhaps even rave about it. But even those less demonstrative say they look forward to tasting it again. No one calls it a bad fruit.

And now you hold that fruit in your hand. Would you plunge right into it? Bite off a big chunk like a familiar, delicious red apple, only half paying attention to aroma and taste?

Or would you study it for awhile? Hold it in your hand, feel its texture, perhaps admire its color? Put your face into it like a sommelier examining the nose of a fine wine? And then only when you felt duly introduced and familiar would you actually take that first cautious taste. And yet another. And another, as each successive bite released the full delicious flavor into not just your taste buds, but all your senses. Would you perhaps reflect that this may be the one and only time you get to taste this famously delectable fruit, so you would savor it ever so slowly?

Many things in life evoke that experience. A fruitful, healthy relationship with another human being may be the best example. But I'll save that thought for another time.

Visiting a renowned international destination like Hong Kong can be very much like relishing that exotic yet vaguely familiar fruit. Two days into this port, I find myself still in the early fascination phase. The little bit I've tasted so far makes a very pleasant blend. I suppose that any cosmopolitan city might have that effect on the fortunate world traveler, as experiences from other parts of the world replicate themselves somewhere you might not expect. Irish pubs may be the best example. What major city anywhere on earth doesn't have at least one?

Last night we hailed and farewelled some shipmates at the Dublin Jack in Lan Kwai Fong. That juxtaposition of a traditional Irish moniker with a Chinese phrase gives some texture to the rich mixture of cultures that makes Hong Kong so much like that exotic yet familiar fruit. To openly receptive ears a mix of languages plays a thrilling melody as peoples from all over the world mingle among each other. A stroll down a narrow street reveals a panoply of ethnic food choices to meet any taste. The visual panoramas evoke cosmic light shows. Hong Kong tantalizes all the senses at once.

And yet, like the skin or the nose of the exotic fruit, what I've experienced so far promises deeper enrichment yet to come. This city clearly offers far more than Irish bars and ethnic restaurants. I plan to savor that next layer today.

Con mucho gusto.