Hong Kong

Hong Kong............... where East meets West.
West says to East "how do you do?". East says to West "Néi hòu ma?". They stand awkwardly for a moment tapping the ground with their shoes, but then hug and kiss and decide they will live together. The year is 1699 and the British East India company sets sail with lots of gunpowder, limes and barrels of rum. After many a pole dancing and wet t-shirt contest sailing round Kavos on what was the worlds first recorded booze cruise, they reach China and begin trading. Britain rapidly increases its merchant trading through and with China. By the late 1700's, thousands of cheap Casio sundials made in China, were being shipped to Britain each month, fetching 2 sovereigns and a bottle of Gin each. But Britain loved (and still loves) exploiting people and places William Nilly. So, like throughout history, Britain started throwing its proverbial penis around and in 1842, after the Chinese defeat in the First Opium War, Hong Kong was ceded to Britain under the Treaty of Nanking. Unfortunately the Health Education Board of Scotland's "Drugs kill, choose life" campaign had not reached the far east and the Second Opium War broke out in 1856 and raged for 2 years [Plagiarism et al. (2006)]. By 1858 everyone was so high they started to talk. Britain was really munchied and thought that a wee bit of China looked good, and China was like "No way man!" but then Britain was like "Mate, just geez a wee bit, you've got loads. Then we can stop fightin" so China was like "Alright, alright, but just a wee bit. Fuck sake man." And so, Britain took formal ownership of Hong Kong in 1860 and kept it till 1997. What emerges from this history which I have abridged slightly for you, is a fascinating city. Wee streets packed with overhead signs of Chinese characters, hanging off old 10-20 storey tenemants which are sometimes worked on by men climbing up towering bamboo scaffolding. In certain areas you still see the sterotyoe street vendors selling live fish, meats, fruit and veg, people pulling carts in the street etc but then almost slap bang beside are skyscraping new apartment blocks reaching 40-50 floors high. With 20-50 floor buidings in the business district and several like Central Plaza, the Bank of China building and the IFC2 soaring above and up to almost 60, 80 and 90 floors. Hong Kong island has some really funky, stylish buildings and a colourful night skyline that has to be seen in person to really take in.
Wan Chai and Causeway Bay area of the business district on Hong Kong island.














Some pics I took last night looking across to HK island from the balcony of Kim's apartment. Unfortunately the two humungoid apartment blocks block a lot of the city out but its still an amazing view. Click on the image to enlarge. Go on, you can then zoom in more, its fun! Digital viewers press the red button.








Every night at 8, theres a 10 minute light show where all the main office towers change colour and flash to music with lasers firing off the tops of some of them. Cruise boats stop in the middle of the harbour and it is best seen and only heard from on the water so Ill need to see it properly. These pics give wont do it justice especially a lot of it is blocked. Last weekend there was fireworks too. To date only 3 planes have crashed because of pilot distraction.






































A better picture of the skyline