My Life in China

We are enjoying a week off from school this week as it’s a Chinese national holiday, which starts off with celebrating the national day. Now that is something which I think would be a good move in Sweden as well, a week of starting from the national day! I started my holiday with a trip to Hong Kong, travelling there from Guangzhou takes about 3 hours, depending on the amount of people who are going through border control. I stayed in a tiny Hostel in famous Chungking Mansions, a large apartment building that hosts loads of hostels.  The location is great, close to the river on Kowloon. Hong Kong can be said to be split into two major parts, Hong Kong island, where the business district is and most of the towering skyscrapers and the other part being Kowloon, the tip of the mainland, where most tourists stay as it’s cheaper. It takes about 6 minutes on the well known Star ferries to go from Kowloon to Hong Kong island.

I arrived at lunchtime on the Saturday, found the hostel, dumped a few things and went out to explore the town. There is something very magic about being in a major metropolis on your own or with one other person, a different feeling of freedom.

Yes, it was very bright, I’m not experiencing pain, that’s how I look when squinting.

I did a lot of walking around Hong Kong, both in Kowloon and on Hong Kong island on my first day. What I really like about HK is that it is “walkable”, compared to Guangzhou which is simply too big so that walking becomes difficult, plus the fact that there’s almost no distinct downtown in Guangzhou, there are several different centres. HK is walkable because the city centre is small but there are seven million people living in HK, resulting in one of the world's highest population density. Hong Kong has a totally different feel to it than any other Chinese city I’ve been to so far, it feels like the world metropolis it is and even if Guangzhou, Shenzhen or Foshan are bigger and have larger populations there is something that sets HK apart from them.

Apartment prices are not to be trifled with in Hong Kong!

As I mentioned, I did some serious walking while being in HK, I walked everywhere, I only took the metro once. I even walked up Victoria’s Peak which provides a stunning view of the city below. Especially at night:

Next day, Sunday, I decided to get out of the city to go see the 22 meter Buddha statue on the island of Lantau. The statue itself was impressive but I didn’t get that wow-feeling about it, probably because of all the tourists, me being one of them.

To get away from the crowds I walked out on a small path, named “the path of wisdom” which should’ve taken 15 minutes but it led me to the path up Lantau Peak (934m), and I thought I would just walk up a bit to get a better view but ended up climbing the peak itself. Small paths are dangerous, you never know where they are going to take you.

Inspecting Lantau Peak to the left.

Well, whence you’re up you realise you’ve got to get down somehow. My calf muscles still ache..

I spend Sunday evening going around Wan Chai:

Last day I went to the Aviary in Hong Kong park and also walked by the cemetery which is as crowded as the city itself. Notable is the fact that the Muslim and catholic cemeteries neighbour each other closely.

 

On the Monday I went back home to Guangzhou again, tired after the endless amount of walking but very satisfied with my visit! On Thursday I fly out to Yangshou, a spot which is suppose to have some incredible scenery. I will make a post when I get back. Take care all!