Hongkong - Liebe zur Erde

Hong Kong - a deep break from Asia

First question: Is Hong Kong "China"?

Several things keep me busy here. First of all it is the pure relaxation after 2 months of China and its people. Scroll the sections to see again and again, how they run blind and without noticing what is right or left, never mind the consequences. And now to I am back in a relaxed environment! And that's quite an impressive statement, to describe an international financial center, tower blocks and shopping paradise as relaxing. But this is just as I experience it: the people here have an open view, the atmosphere is much more relaxed and free .

And yes - would you know it: Hong Kong is mainly a collection of intensely green vegetated tropical islands that are barely inhabited for the most parts. Wonderful bays with beaches strung together - and now, in October, is not one here . Presumably, these are some of the nicest and cleanest beaches I 'll see in the coming months : without noise, without any male local gaping around, without garbage or waste - just beautiful. One limitation, however there is: I would not swim here - the harbor is just around the corner and the Pearl River ends here, and this one surely not only carries pearls in its wake .

So you can either hang around in the cafes of the narrow alleys between the skyscrapers, go shopping to stores of all top brands of the world - or escape in less than an hour by ferry and bus to one of the beaches. Even mountain freaks get their fun: there are wonderful walks on the many hundreds of meters high summits. For those who are not so good with walking, the is a consolation: the main attractions are even accessible with bus or tram high

So here I start with the parts of Hong Kong which you usually will not notice if you come only for shopping or for "Businezz".









With the Star Ferry you get from one side to another, in our case to the financial center - for 25 ct. This partly 50 - 100 year old ferries are a major attraction for tourists (the managers take the metro, which runs underground and air-conditioned), because it has a wonderful view of the skyline: The ferries are still driven by disel like in the old time -  see the chimney smoke. Heavy ropes are catched by two men fishing them with hooks from the water and placed around the anchors.




There, the bus is waiting to Aberdeen: there are people that live on houseboats. When I arrived, was the tourist port empty and no one could tell where one gets a tour. But a ferry waited to somewhere - a 40 minutes boat ride for 1.1 €.

Aberdeen:

Sok Kwu Wan on the Lamma Island

is a small fishing bay. Here fishfarming is operated and people from the city come out here on weekends to fish out of 6 m2 pools to fish their meal themselves. All the houses have been extended to restaurants that hold little ponds in witch the living animals are waiting for consumption. But also a cafe with western styling, a round chair for 2 (unfortunately the 2 one is missing) and stunning Iced Macchiato invites to linger. In this little car-free oasis I hang out for a few hours .... If you do not want to take the same way back after, there is a ferry going back directlyto Central.

Click through the slideshow, you will also gain an impression of the living things that one gets there fresh on the table ...
...

Lantau

The peaceful Lantau Island harbors the new airport and other beaches and fishing villages as well as this great magnificent Buddha: perched on 500 meters altitude above the island, it is built on the Ngong Ping Plateau: the Tian Tan Buddha, which belongs to the Po Lin Monastery. The Buddha is very expressive, a wonderful work of art surprisingly recently. With its 26 meters it is the highest sitting Buddha of the time - and made of bronze..

The village of Tai O is a fishing village. Here some of the houses are built on stilts , and the crowds can watch the sunset, buy fresh octopus and other Seawaterlife in cups, and watch dolphins off the coast. The buses after sunset carting then the visiting masses back to civilization - as many buses go there until the place is empty, so do not worry, you do not have to stay back.

Soho

is another example of how surprisingly relaxed and comfortable can be skyscraper area: lined up in the small streets and alleyways are cafes and restaurants to eat and there is every food your heart desires. Here I discover a new way to reach cocktails, namely as a kind of iced slush that remains wonderfully cool. There are kind of Viennese cafes and I can relax from the flair of Asian food stalls. The financial district is located on a slope. A secure 1-km long escalator leads up there in stages. Finally, it's hot in here, and where you would end up if the financial manager would rreach his working place in the morning in a sweaty shirt? Accordingly, the escalator runs 6:00 to 10:00 downward and upward from 10.00 - 24.00.

A few of the glass facades by day and by night, including impressions how down in the streets life takes place like some 100 years ago - markets and bazaars, as elsewhere in Asia.

Another highlight is the two - storey trams - this also arouse a nostalgic memory of a past old Europe, when there were horse drawn carriages and the time went slower.

And of course, it may also not be missing, this sight: the Victoria Peak at 500 meters - the first and last images of this page are made there. For a one euro take a bus ride on the 522 meters tall mountain runs along the back of the island through beautiful countryside - or you can take the tram which is much more expensive, but spectacular, especially on the way back. Since it does not adjust the wooden seats in the driving direction, you will sit backwards on the way back - and the way is steep. .

I had many conversations here - especially with Hong Kong Chinese, but also with Westerners who stay longer fro work. Indeed, it is "Golden Week" in China - the National Week, in which the entire Chinese world for " Holidays" is heading out. And for the better-offs this simply means: shopping. Hong Kong is completely overcrowded and onerrun up to Sunday: in front of the stores of luxury brands there are long queues of Chinese, which for example, necessarily want to Cartier. A security guard is standing at the door and lets as customers in, as can also be served - the others must wait outside. The piers and other photogenic sights are overrun by mainland Chinese who have left their figure here in the photo and otherwise show just as they are here knows as "Mainland China." So there are the normal everyday opportunities to collide with Chinese which brings Westerner strangers make to look helpless to each other and gives the opportunity to get people talking. And I must confess: I 'm a bit surprised to hear that my "prejudices" obviously also match the conviction of the indigenous people here: the "Mainland Chinas" are not liked, for different reasons. Recklessness and "only dollar signs in their eyes," this are the major topics. Now, an international financial center is certainly not primarily a social welfare place. So here is possibly experienced by the " locals ", what I can recon in the way Mainland Chinese move and how different Hong Kong's people behave on the street. Even the Hong Kong's are targeted and also they are not just on a stroll - but they have a kind of relaxation and social perception that they can sometimes just by a few inches avoid oncoming crowds of people so that all can pass each other. In China, you can see on the streets just empty faces and eyes, a kind of  pure social Darwinism - or the whole existence is buried in the Smartphone: lost, lost in the crowd , going blind in times.
Just the fact that people also have a feeling observation here in their stroll, (special Western tourists are most pronounced it this and can be recognized by it) , I can make within this city a recovery They allow you to gauge how it actually looks like because behind the friendly facade in China.

China will remain a lasting trauma to me , is to be feared . But I come back to Hong Kong. And who is in need for a break from the surrounding countries - you can relax here.

My last recomendation is a book from Tiziano Terzani, "Fliegen ohne Flügel", 1995.