Perhaps the dismal weather had a role. It’s possible that I didn’t do enough study in preparation, or that I somehow, through no fault of my own, found myself lodging in the area of Hong Kong that is considered to have the highest murder rate. Who is to say. For some reason, falling in like with Hong Kong seemed more natural to me than falling in love.
Before I went there, several of my friends told me how much they like living in the city and how much fun they had there. They described it as the most incredible spot on the whole earth and said that they would move there if they had the financial means to do so. I went with the expectation that I would be astounded by what I saw. I was afraid that my life was about to take an unexpected turn. There were some bright spots; it’s not like I had anything against the city.
I went on a very fantastic walking food tour where I sampled local foods such as snake soup and the famed Portuguese egg tarts. It was a lot of fun. The egg tarts lived up to everyone’s expectations in terms of flavor, with a buttery, crumbly exterior and a smooth, creamy inside. I could see why everyone spoke so highly of them. Even though I had some reservations about trying the snake soup at first, I’m glad I did since it turned out to be rather tasty. On the tour, we had a great number of other meals, but these two stand out as the most memorable of the afternoon’s fare.
One of the things that I desired the most was to take pictures of the famous skyline from the water. I was only able to get a handful of them, but I must admit that the weather did create for some striking shots.
I even navigated my way to the beautiful and serene Nan Lian Garden, which was hidden away in the middle of the chaotic metropolis. I was fortunate enough to discover it on one of the rare days when there was a break in the rain.
When I was in Hong Kong, one of the most enjoyable evenings I had there was when I went to the Stone Nullah Tavern with some friends to have some drinks. The happy hour has a “beat the clock” theme, in which the price of each drink begins at 1 Hong Kong Dollar (around $0.13 USD), and then increases by 1 Hong Kong Dollar every twenty minutes. The objective is to consume as much liquid as possible in the shortest amount of time possible while avoiding passing out. Even though the servings were obviously modest and you couldn’t order more than one drink at a time, we weren’t grumbling about the price since each drink only cost thirteen cents.
I had a delicious meal on the adjacent island of Cheung Chau, which I visited on my excursion. It was a fascinating experience to go to such a tranquil tiny fishing island that was less than an hour away from the chaos that is Hong Kong.
What I wasn’t able to do, though, was visit any of the major tourist attractions, such as Big Buddha or Victoria’s Peak. It was too cloudy, it rained too much, and it was too miserable outside. The unfortunate reality is that there were no opinions to be had.
Do you think I should give Hong Kong a second chance? I really want to visit that place once again, and I’m hoping it won’t be too long until I can. I believe that if I were to go there when the weather was nicer, I could simply fall in love with it.