Hong Kong

Excerpt from my story "CHINA"......... The last stop of my journey was Hong Kong; around those parts they say: "one country, two systems". The first question I asked myself on arriving at the airport was: "is this China or isn't it??". Different customs, a stamp in the passport, a different currency but above all......here we're on another planet!! Even this time it was already late evening when, collecting my bags, I wondered whether I would ever make it out of that enormous, ultra-modern, glittering airport. Stepping outside.....nothing like Beijing, here it was 20 degrees and it felt divine. A taxi and then off, towards Kowloon, the peninsula overlooking Hong Kong bay where I had my hotel. The taxi ride was great fun, little traffic and the driver speeding along bridges, elevated roads, underpasses etc...made me feel like I was on a roller coaster.

Along the way I saw the port with its containers and cranes...my goodness this is what you call maritime traffic....arriving below my hotel on Nathan Road, the street lights lit up the night and the number of people walking in the street disoriented me, one of the most densely populated areas in the world was welcoming me with its frenetic pace. Coming from quiet Yangshuo I felt a slight sense of fear....let the night pass, tomorrow we'll see. On waking I plunged into the city traffic, and after settling in my visit began. First I went to nearby Lantau Island with its temples and the "Big Buddha" on the hill, then back into the City, to Hong Kong Island to go up the Peak on the typical Peak Tram to see the city and its bay from above; lovely the view by day but in the evening....even more so.

The financial district, how elegant with its skyscrapers of glass and steel, Victoria park for all the sporting and other activities of ordinary people. The following day I decided to go to Ocean Park, it was the only way to see a Panda for the first time.....so cute!! In the afternoon back in Kowloon, in the Mong Kok district, sports gear, clothing and technology, everything available for the most unrestrained shopping. I was dazzled by the beauty of this city, it surprises you with its organisation and the progress left as a legacy by the old British rule; transport and services in general are of absolute quality; at first it might disorient you but it takes just a moment to get inside its system.

In the evening then, you can gaze at the outline of its illuminated buildings from the Avenue of the Stars or from a Star Ferry boat, but either way, you can only be captivated by the charm of Hong Kong.

My conclusions are truly positive; this trip to China gave me so much, and it would have so much more to give given the vastness and variety of its territory. To me China is like a time machine, you move within a single country but you can find yourself catapulted into truly different eras. One thing above all will stay with me, in fact the experience of Yangshuo will always be kept in my drawer of most beautiful moments.