September 2010 - Hong Kong

I am on a short visit to Hong Kong for a work trip and what a great city it is - i am so amazed at the number of sky scrappers fighting for space that it seems like every inch of HK island is covered by these steel giants!

Although I visited 5 years ago, the city seems so different when you're there for work. You have to fight the same morning commute as the hundreds that ride the MTR. My office is only 15 mins or 5 stops from Central where I'm staying. I marvel that I don't even have to leave a building in order to get to work and back. Having said this, I look a little forlornly at a tree beyond the glass walls and start to miss the outdoors.

It is also typhoon season and there are ominous signs everywhere optimistically predicting the size of the typhoon that is supposed to hit HK. Unfortunately for me, my very first typhoon blows over HK and choose to harass Macau instead.

I'm distracted by the shops that stay open until 11pm everywhere and my credit card is getting a workout. Fortunately, it's Friday and there are drinks to be had. I have to rush to meet up with some of my dear uni friends who are all movers and shakers in HK's legal scene. I meet up with Martin and Angie, Ann, Mel and Michelle at Alfie's. Alfie's sounds like an English larger pub but, like everything in Central, is a polished and fashionable bar that is set atop the glittery, golden Dunhill store. After a few cocktails, we head out for some food. At my request for good, Cantonese food, my friends opted to take me to Yong Kei's, a Michelin starred Cantonese restaurant in Lan Kwai Fong. The goose is golden there; the century year old eggs are nice and smelly; the pigeon is crunchy and there is also some strange fried milk (go figure).

I spend the Saturday wandering around Central and ride the famous mid-levels escalators from Central to Soho. Being so steep, i gather that everyone must have formidable quad muscles but sore knees! The mid-levels were full of wonderful boutiques and trendy cafes filled with expats having brunch. As I walked down the steep slopes back towards Central, I pass traditional wet markets and these stalls selling little lions and lanterns.

I have a flight to catch home that evening and even if I didn't get to try hiking on the other side of HK island (where there is real greenery), I vow to leave that for my next visit.