Adam Browne: HK Day One
“This is what Vancouver will look like in 50-100 years”
–Gonzo Tudela, 6:15am, today. Four kilometres into our run across the Hong Kong
seawall, we stop to stretch and look out across the harbour. We’re standing in
what used to be Stanley Park and looking across to the north shore. The British
Properties? How about the British Skyscrapers? Forget the Shangri-la. These are
skyscrapers. Hong Kong is the
quintessential metropolis and I’m enjoying every metre of our run.
There is
advertising everywhere, there are people everywhere; the city is alive at 6am
with runners, walkers, and tai-chi masters. The wind picks up and blows away
the humidity for a split second. Gonzo looks over at me, and we begin our run
back to the hotel.
In this city, for every immaculately architected office or
apartment building, there is an Orwellian housing complex with 250 square foot
apartments and external air conditioners for windows. Look down one alley:
Rolls Royce Phantom. Another alley: stray cats, crumbling brick, and exposed
pipes. Hong Kong is a paradox and I think that’s why I like it so much.
It’s
not as much a dystopia as mainland China (from my brief experience there of
endless lines for customs agents and totalitarian architecture in government
buildings), but it does have the same feel that I do like. Sure, China may be a
“nanny state” in many ways, but what I do like is the autonomy given to people
to make their own daily decisions.
I have never been on a flight that has
allowed me to sit on the floor of an exit row, playing cards loudly, or move to
the kitchen of the airplane and fix my own drinks and food. I have never been
on public transit with fully opening windows and bus stops built so dangerously
close to the road. But I like it. It’s a slight feeling of danger, but to me,
it feels more like adventure, because I believe that life is for living; not
for worrying about which laws I am breaking by minding my own business.
I am
thoroughly enjoying the feeling of Hong Kong and China. It’s an exciting region
to travel in because it is so different from where I am from.
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