Hong Kong - bigger and busier than New York
Hong Kong, China
We met Sylvia Shive, yesterday, and took the ferry from Kowloon, where we are actually staying, to Hong Kong, which is an island off the coast of Kowloon, China. Both sides of the harbor are lined with very modern, well-designed, high-rise buildings. This is the largest city we've seen on the trip - almost 7,000,000 people live here. Sylvia said that about 60% are ethnic Chinese. It is a world center of business and banking. Everyone is in a hurry. The majority are dressed in blue business suits and everyone is "plugged in" with things around their heads or necks.
The city is located in, on and among a mountainous area, so the streets (like San Francisco) are quite steep. Many have stairs instead of sidewalks and there is an escalator to take you up the hill in the center of central Hong Kong. We took it part of the way up then walked around some of the streets, going into some of the shops. From that vantage point, it was possible to see several "layers" of Hong Kong, with older, six-story tenement buildings being dwarfed by 1960s style 15 story office/apartment buildings and both of them being dwarfed by the skyscrapers. It appears that many of the smaller buildings are being torn down.
Sylvia said that the apartment units themselves are quite small and the majority of people, despite the fact that this is a wealthy city, live in 750 square feet. (Based on the size of our hotel room, we can well believe that!) The wealthier people live higher up the mountain.
We took the cable car up Victoria Peak but the city was misty so we could not get a good view of the harbor.
We took a train with Sylvia to where they live near the university, toured the university with Glen, and had dinner with them. They are living in university housing which is very spacious.
Incidentally, you buy a card called "the octopus" for traveling on public transportation. You swipe it on a screen on the buses, trains, etc. We were able to buy passes in the category known as "elderly."
Tomorrow, we head for home. I miss everyone and I miss my own bed. It will be nice to be home.
Love,
Janet
We met Sylvia Shive, yesterday, and took the ferry from Kowloon, where we are actually staying, to Hong Kong, which is an island off the coast of Kowloon, China. Both sides of the harbor are lined with very modern, well-designed, high-rise buildings. This is the largest city we've seen on the trip - almost 7,000,000 people live here. Sylvia said that about 60% are ethnic Chinese. It is a world center of business and banking. Everyone is in a hurry. The majority are dressed in blue business suits and everyone is "plugged in" with things around their heads or necks.
The city is located in, on and among a mountainous area, so the streets (like San Francisco) are quite steep. Many have stairs instead of sidewalks and there is an escalator to take you up the hill in the center of central Hong Kong. We took it part of the way up then walked around some of the streets, going into some of the shops. From that vantage point, it was possible to see several "layers" of Hong Kong, with older, six-story tenement buildings being dwarfed by 1960s style 15 story office/apartment buildings and both of them being dwarfed by the skyscrapers. It appears that many of the smaller buildings are being torn down.
Sylvia said that the apartment units themselves are quite small and the majority of people, despite the fact that this is a wealthy city, live in 750 square feet. (Based on the size of our hotel room, we can well believe that!) The wealthier people live higher up the mountain.
We took the cable car up Victoria Peak but the city was misty so we could not get a good view of the harbor.
We took a train with Sylvia to where they live near the university, toured the university with Glen, and had dinner with them. They are living in university housing which is very spacious.
Incidentally, you buy a card called "the octopus" for traveling on public transportation. You swipe it on a screen on the buses, trains, etc. We were able to buy passes in the category known as "elderly."
Tomorrow, we head for home. I miss everyone and I miss my own bed. It will be nice to be home.
Love,
Janet
posted by Mel and Janet Muchnik | 7:46 PM
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