Posts tagged “Hong Kong”

More Hong Kong Moments

Posted on July 28th, 2009

An old friend from uni was in town last weekend so I popped over the border to Hong Kong to act as tour guide for a couple of days. I always enjoy exploring the city with its endless nooks and crannies to discover amidst the hovering neon signs all vying for attention at the bottom of the canyons created between towering buildings. There is something intoxicating about the endless spiral of growth and decay here where the old coexists in relative harmony with the new in as much a vibrant mix as the inhabitants themselves. Here are a few more Hong Kong Moments from my wanders: The lack of space in HK can lead to some unusual hortological endeavours. Check out the woman perched on the ledge above the shop…

A Symphony of Lights

Posted on May 6th, 2009

Every night at 8pm in Hong Kong the buildings along the Victoria Harbour waterfront are illuminated in a vibrant light show known as “A Symphony of Lights“. Even without this novel spectacle there is nowhere else in the world where you can see such a astounding scene of the same magnitude. I never get bored of gazing out over the water to the endless line of twinkling skyscrapers clinging to the edge of Hong Kong Island which appear so calm yet are a hive of activity for its 7 million inhabitants. There is something truly magical about this city which conceptually lies between East and West, torn by its turbulent history and aspirations for the future. Perhaps my Britishness and it’s colonial roots are…

Tiny HK Hotels

Posted on May 5th, 2009

After 10 days of wandering the streets of Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Beijing I’m back with pleanty of tales to tell and a few new videos in the works as well as lots of photos to share. Home to many a rich banker, Hong Kong is not a cheap city by any standard. A while back I saw a list of supposedly affordable HK hotels but at $1400 HKD per night I’m not sure who’s idea of “cheap” these were. For me budget options would be more in the $200-300 range (without it being a Chunking Mansions dive) of which there are plenty to be found if you don’t mind sleeping in somewhat basic accommodation. Based on the recommendation from a friend I recently stayed…

Flying Doraemon

Posted on April 24th, 2009

Whilst studying Japanese at university in 2004 I wrote a post about a hugely popular cartoon character called Doraemon. For some reason it caused such a stir that it’s still the no.1 most read page on randomwire.com to this day. This has always slightly irked me since it wasn’t exactly a scintillating post but I have since come to terms with the fact that a cute robot cat is infinitely more popular than I’ll ever be! With 133 comments (and counting) I can’t really complain. While wandering in Shenzhen’s mangrove forest on the southern coastline of Futian last weekend I was reminded of this feline from the future when half a dozen Doraemon shaped kites appeared in the sky as if they’d just flown in from Hong Kong…

WordCamp Hong Kong 2009

Posted on April 5th, 2009

For the second time this weekend I got up at an ungodly hour and took the Metro/MTR over the border to Hong Kong Science Technology Park for WordCamp Hong Kong 2009. Two buses and three trains later I arrived at the appropriately futuristic egg shaped conference hall and registered for the super-cheap price of only $10 HKD. The first presentation was by Matt Mullenweg, the founding developer of WordPress and founder of Automattic. He gave a talk about how WordPress got started, the underlying philosophy, and the where things are heading in the future. There wasn’t really any new content for anyone that’s familiar with the space but it was interesting to see Matt in the flesh and impressive to see how much he…

Cheung Chau Island

Posted on February 1st, 2009

It’s a little known fact that Hong Kong is comprised of 236 unique islands, the largest being Lantau Island and the second largest being Hong Kong Island which is the political and commercial centre of Hong Kong (where all the skyscrapers lie). During my short trip to Hong Kong last week I decided to head out to Cheung Chau island which is comparatively small at around 2.45 km² with around 30,000 inhabitants mostly clustered in the developed central area. Traditionally it was a fishing village but today the economy is mostly related to tourism. To get there you can take a ferry from pier 5 of the Central Piers on Hong Kong Island which takes about 40 minutes (there’s also a more expensive faster ferry) providing a pleasant trip…

Maxim’s Palace

Posted on December 10th, 2008

If Dim Sum is your thing then Hong Kong is the right place to go. On my last visit I went to Maxim’s Palace, reputably one of the best restaurants to sample this delicious delicacy, strangely located in the City Hall. As it’s so popular be prepared for a wait when you arrive – you’ll be given a ticket with a number on which will invariably only make you more hungry as you soak up the sights and smells from the enormous dining hall with a great view over Victoria Harbour. “Traditional dim sum includes various types of steamed buns such as cha siu baau, dumplings and rice noodle rolls (cheong fun), which contain a range of ingredients, including beef, chicken, pork, prawns and vegetarian options… Dim sum can be cooked by steaming…

Hong Kong Nights

Posted on December 2nd, 2008

Hong Kong is a magical place, especially at night when the neon lights come on. As if held by invisible hands the signs appear to float in mid-air advertising all manor of unknown things (to the foreign eye anyway). The light they give off creates a strange sort of artificial daylight to the streets below and for the most part they constitute the only street lighting. I could walk for hours here being drawn deeper into the narrow ravines between the decaying façades of shops and apartments memorized by this electric circus. Neon signs are made from luminous glass tubes that contain neon or other inert gases at a low pressure. When a high voltage is applied it makes the gas glow brightly. Somewhere there…

I ♥ MTR

Posted on October 24th, 2008

It’s no secret that I love system map design. There’s something intrinsically beautiful in being able to represent a complex network of lines, interchanges and stops in a simple map which just about anyone can easily follow. As I found out last weekend Hong Kong doesn’t have a huge metro system but it does have a very nice map which concisely represents both the lines and the land masses which it spans (encompassing two islands and soon to be connected to mainland China) as well as providing duel language labels (Cantonese and English). It appears to be based on the same design principles as employed to create the original London Underground map but has so far avoided the pitfalls which have ruined its older…

Hong Kong Moments

Posted on October 22nd, 2008

Continuing on from my previous posts here’s a collection of pseudo-random shots from my Hong Kong trip last weekend starting with a shot from the waterfront on the Avenue of Stars looking towards Hong Kong Island and the amazing vista of skyscrapers which line the shore. Later I’ll stitch all the photos together into a panorama. It’s quite a sureal sight for a newcomer to the city. On the tram… they travel so close together you could almost reach out and shake the hand of the person in the one infront! Travelling by tram is a great way to see the island, costs next to nothing ($2 HKD per trip), and has a certain charm to it compared with the bus or MTR. Weirdly enough…

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