The Breathtaking Essence of Hong Kong: Photos and Stories
Have you ever wondered what a place is really like, beyond what the travel guides tell you? Our Boots on the Ground reports give you real stories from travelers around the world. Below Sarah & Eric, co-authors of the travel blog Chopsticks on the Loose, shares some of their favorite places in Hong Kong:
Dynamic, dense and delicious, Hong Kong is a sophisticated fusion where East meets West. From the towering futuristic skyscrapers in Hong Kong Island, to the brimful vivid spirit of Kowloon, and finally the rural tranquility of New Territories; Hong Kong truly is one of the most dynamic cities we’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing.
No matter where we travel, we always set ourselves the task to photograph what makes each location unique - we like to call it ‘capturing the essence’. Our photographs not only serve as a visual diary about the adventures we’ve taken, but we also hope they can inspire others to get out and explore all the wonders we’re so lucky to have in this world.
For us, Hong Kong has truly been one of the most challenging places to capture. It’s not as simple as snapping a picture of the Big Buddha and calling it a day - we wanted to convey the emotion of really being here. With that in mind, we spent the next year immersing ourselves into the metropolis, and here are some of the stories we’ve had along the way.
Fa Yuen Street Market
If there’s one thing you notice as you arrive in Hong Kong it’s that it’s a city that never sleeps! The fast-paced, restless appearance has become an undeniable characteristic. Packed with so many people in such a small island, it comes as little surprise then that Hong Kong features in the top five most densely populated territories in the world.
The best place to experience the hustle and bustle is none other than in Mong Kok. In Cantonese, the name even directly translates to ‘busy corner’! As soon as we exited Mong Kok MTR station, it became blindingly obvious how this name came to be. All we could see were hundreds and hundreds of heads bobbing up and down, trying to navigate their way through the streets. There was no time to pause - like penguins we shuffled along with the crowd, completely helpless to the direction we were carried.
Influenced by the energy radiating from the surroundings, we weaved in and out through the masses as we tried to capture the experience as best as we could. With large neon signs illuminating overhead, Cantonese music blaring in the background and the aroma of smelly tofu lingering in the air; the whole experience could only be described as a sensory overload. It wasn’t long before we realised it was just too manic down on the streets...we needed to find higher ground!
We scoured the area, scouting out buildings which may potentially offer a better elevated view. Finally we came across a pedestrian footbridge which presented a spectacular view onto Mong Kok’s Fa Yuen Street Market. Here the market stalls lined along the street stretching as far as the eye can see! It was the perfect spot for people watching, and so we setup to capture a timelapse of the flow of activities taking place below.
Choi Hung Estate
Hong Kong is a city which is not afraid to express itself in colour. Spend the afternoon down Central District and you’ll notice a copious number of vibrant murals decorating the streets. Even the underground MTR stations have been carefully colour-coordinated.
We stumbled onto a place which by far displays the most encouraging use of colours found in all of Hong Kong. The discovery happened whilst we were on the minibus one day. As we passed by Choi Hung stop, our gaze shifted to an unusually colourful estate which stood across the road. True to our nature, we decided to postpone our remaining plans for the day and headed towards the building to find out more.
What welcomed us when we climbed the last set of stairs could only be described as a beautiful sequence of colours adorning the otherwise simplistic buildings.The fading lick of paint worn from the sun hints that the building might be long past its former glory. Nonetheless, it was clear the shades represented a rainbow, and that’s why it is so fitting for it’s name - Choi Hung Estate (Rainbow Estate).
Sandwiched between these residential buildings was a huge area featuring three colourful basketball courts. From here we were able to witness the local residents going on about with their daily lives. Mothers hung fresh laundry around the courts whilst the kids ran around playing chase with each other. The elderly strolled through, pausing every so often for a gentle stretch. It was a heart-warming scene to see all the generations living together in this close-knit neighbourhood.
The locals here say that the government initially chose the colour scheme to lift the mood of the residents and those who visit; it surely brightened up our day as we left with a smile on our faces!
High Island Reservoir
Ask us what one thing surprised us most about Hong Kong - the answer would be the sheer amount of greenery which covers this island! Did you know that nearly 75% of Hong Kong is in fact the countryside? Despite being famous for its sky high towers and city lights, Hong Kong homes a vast amount of wildlife and plant species.
Set on capturing the greener side of Hong Kong, it was only a matter of time before we set our sights on the many trails out there. And one of the most popular places to be in touch with nature is Sai Kung Country Park, dubbed as Hong Kong’s back garden.
During one summer day, we packed our gear and set out on a hike around the High Island Reservoir of Sai Kung. We had heard stories of the beautiful blue waters found in the area and just had to go see it for ourselves.
With temperatures soaring over 30℃, the sweltering heat was only further amplified by the humidity in the air. These were some of the harshest conditions we’ve experienced whilst on a hike. Lugging our camera gear and a heavy water-sack on our backs, going uphill was extra tough!
Was it worth it in the end? Most definitely. Indeed, the reservoir truly held the bluest water we’ve ever seen! Beautifully complemented by the lush green mountains, it was hard to believe we were still in Hong Kong. At this moment, we collapsed on the grass together and took our time to admire the stunning landscape before us. After catching our breath, we picked up our rucksacks and continued on.
Garden Hill
Hong Kong is certainly a captivating place during the day, but it is one of those cities which become progressively livelier as night falls. Every night the city lights will illuminate the darkness away. Because of this, Victoria Peak holds the number one spot for visitors to catch a glimpse of the cityscape.
When we first arrived in Hong Kong, we too clambered up to witness the classic view. Although beautiful, Victoria Peak was incredibly touristy and it was a struggle to enjoy our time with elbows and selfie sticks at every turn. More importantly, it felt very distance from all the action and lights afar and it just didn't quite capture the energy the way we had hoped it would. With that, we started searching for locations which felt closer to the heart and soul of the district and eventually learnt about Sham Shui Po.
Sham Shui Po has become one of our favourite places to hang around in Hong Kong. Not only is it the place you turn to for anything electronic and gadget related, the whole area gives off a traditional feel thanks in large to the flaky buildings and preserved authentic culture. As the locals pointed out, one of the best spots to see a panoramic view would be from the top of a huge concrete hill behind the famous Garden Bakery.
With just a couple of hours before night fall, we decided to tackle this urban hill to check out the cityscape. The ascend was short and sweet, although it does involve quite a few stairs - so be prepared! Arriving at the top, it took us a moment to really grasp it all in. Shades of pink and purple coloured the sky, twinkling lights blinked from all corners of the city, and cars and people as small as ants moved along the streets below.
Montane Mansion
Coming over from the UK, where buildings rarely extended above five floors, we were completely blown away by the sheer number of high-rises built here! Hong Kong is well known as a vertical city - everywhere you look, large estate complexes stretch high towards the sky and fill every dot of land. For better or worse, the lack of space has become almost iconic for Hong Kong.
Montane Mansion is a concrete slab of housing facilities located just around Quarry Bay. Take a short walk around the area and you’ll notice many of the buildings are either old and weathered or new and shiny. Much of Quarry Bay is currently in plans of redevelopment as the old buildings make way for swanky new skyscrapers, it’s anyone’s guess when it’ll be the turn of Montane Mansion.
From a distance, the density of people living inside Montane Mansion was easy to guess. A seemingly impossible number of windows decorate the outside of the building whilst shops line the ground floor. The dated look coupled with the occasional Victorian tram rattling by, we couldn’t help but feel like we had been transported back to the Hong Kong of the 70s.
Crossing the road, we headed in through a short but strangely dark corridor. The floor here was still damp from the rain which had come through earlier in the day. Silence hung in the air with no one else in sight. Moments after, we found ourselves standing in the midst of a dingy courtyard.
Then we looked up…
We had never seen anything quite like it. Three sides of the building towered above us, almost like a prison wall leaving no escape. A separate residential building shot so high it plugged in the gap left by the three other walls. Bold stripes of red, blue, yellow and green ran down each side - perhaps to bring some life to the dreary setting. Row upon row of apartments stacked up like Lego bricks. And the exposed narrow strip of sky created a portal like effect, almost as if we were peering into a different world. Montane Mansion was exactly what we were looking for.
Mission accomplished?
Looking back at the images and thinking about the task we had set ourselves when we first arrived - did we truly capture the essence of Hong Kong?
Unfortunately the question is not an easy one to answer. What we believe to be the essence of a location may wildly differ from your own - each and every traveller out there has their own unique way of seeing, doing and thinking. And that’s what makes travelling fun.
So get out there, explore and capture your own adventure!
Eric and Sarah, co-authors of the travel blog Chopsticks on the Loose, left behind their corporate jobs to travel the world full-time. They're currently exploring Asia and capturing its beauty through photographs. Follow their journeys on Facebook and Instagram.
Get More Travel Tips and Free Resources
9269 comments
And how essential it was that he realised that there was a chance that he may by no means be able to have children with me which I thought was a much bigger problem than it was. For the analyses of the complications and radiological findings, the info have been pooled to calculate the general proportion with a 95% confidence interval. By 6 years of age, the the skeleton of the new child contains 350 bones that fuse thorax develops into the more adult-like elliptical shape with collectively to form the 206 bones found within the grownup skelean anteroposterior/transverse ratio of 1:2 or 5:7 pain medication for dogs with arthritis [url=http://www.sibiuopen.com/course/lecture452/]buy generic ibuprofen 600 mg online[/url]. Fractionation Radiation oncologists fractionate complete radiation doses to preserve normal cells and kill tumor cells. For a number of many years, small-scale farmers sought to manage striga by hand weeding, but this practice failed as a result of striga causes much of its injury earlier than emerging aboveground (Odhiambo and Woomer 2005).
Increasing the blood density increases the Compton interactions Key: A References: J. Exceptions to this general pattern seem to be concentrated among nations the place the economic scenario is worst, and where the coping technique of higher schooling and human capital investments just isn’t accessible for essential fractions of the inhabitants. Crystalline form, notably nodularities within the lungs appear after working for several quartz, is extra fibrogenic than non-crystalline form of silica arteria vesicalis medialis [url=http://www.sibiuopen.com/course/lecture454/]order 75mg triamterene free shipping[/url]. It has arthritis in 15%, deep tissue abscesses in 15%, and osteomyelitis been hypothesized that maturation in adaptive immunity and 584 in 6%. In the primary clinical research in gastric most cancers, the most typical unwanted effects which are identified to be related to each the chemotherapy drugs used within the examine and with trastuzumab administration have been: fi abdomen disorders similar to nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and constipation fi blood issues such as neutropenia (lowered number of white blood cells) anemia (reduced variety of red blood cells) and thrombocytopenia (lowered variety of platelet cells (colorless blood cells that play an important function in blood clotting)). Benign tumors are also as adjuvant remedy for at least 2 years or till illness homogeneous with a easy border. Linder used useful electrical high quality of life and the potential to outlive accidental disconnecstimulation to the stomach muscles in sufferers with spinal tions from ventilation. In addition, the duration and/or severity of study entry and who had one to six partial-onset seizures durseizures have been lowered in 44% of sufferers medicine 627 [url=http://www.sibiuopen.com/course/lecture455/]buy zyprexa 10 mg amex[/url]. The demographic transition in these international locations started later than in developed regions, and in most nations the population age structures are still younger. Public Health System Defned as пїЅall public, private, and voluntary entities that contribute to the supply of essential public health services inside a jurisdictionпїЅ and includes state and local public health businesses, public safety agencies, well being care providers, human service and charity organizations, recreation and arts-related organizations, financial and philanthropic organizations, training and youth growth organizations, and education and youth development organizations.
Identification of the dysfunction, exclusion of different potentially severe conditions, and determination of practical impairment may enable instant medical certification. This is an autosomal recessive situation related to a mild bleeding tendency; it occurs at excessive frequency in Ashkenazi Jews (approximately 10% are heterozygous carriers). Guardianship is also sometimes needed if multiple first-diploma relations can not agree on medical care despite mediation by the health care team, or are clearly acting in their very own self-interest quite than that of the affected person antibiotic resistance korea [url=http://www.sibiuopen.com/course/lecture453/]generic 250 mg ceftin with mastercard[/url]. Estradiol/progesterone substitution within the luteal part Gerris J, De Neubourg D, Mangelschots K, et al. My day by day regime to curb my continual stomach pain and discomfort contains 6 medications. Cytoplasmic maturation defects haemolysis, the reticulocyte response is indicative of 1. However, later managed trials didn’t seizures that depart no lasting goal proof of their verify a dramatic therapeutic impact (11). Once the transferrin saturation falls to that leads to varying levels of destruction of the pink 15пїЅ20%, hemoglobin synthesis is impaired thyroid gland low functioning [url=http://www.sibiuopen.com/course/lecture451/]generic levothroid 100mcg visa[/url]. A randomGeneral Recommendation: ized scientific trial of the efectiveness of mechanical traction for Future studies assessing medical/interventional treatments for sub-teams of patients with low back ache: research methods and patients with lumbar disc herniation with radiculopathy ought to ra-tionale. Notes: a) Folic acid is well absorbed orally even in malabsorptive states, subsequently parenteral therapy is just essential when the oral route can’t be used.
If you expertise these signs or see them in someone else, call 999 instantly. Definitive treatment is by chemotherapy supervised by the haematologists to suppress the amyloidogenic plasma cell clone. Swimming with a companion, ideally an experienced swimmer, is recommended for anybody who has seizures [url=http://www.sibiuopen.com/course/lecture443/]order 2 mg imodium fast delivery[/url]. Psychological measures may be very sensitive and sometimes can infiuence an individualпїЅs learning, such that re-testing using the identical measure and materials within too close temporal proximity can confound the results and overestimate functioning for the examinee. There were solely two of the respondents пїЅ a teenage male and a teenage feminine who shared fertility-associated humour with associates and both discovered that helped.
Victoria A particular person might ride a bicycle on a footpath if carrying a letter of exemption from a legally qualifed medical practitioner stating that it’s undesirable, impractical or inexpedient for the rider to journey on a road because of a physical or mental incapacity. Such help might be offered at mutually acceptable times and areas and the Licensee pays to the University up to *, payable in quarterly installments upon receipt of an bill from the University. However, a 12-12 months latency period for these cancers diminished the worth of those outcomes symptoms zika virus [url=http://www.sibiuopen.com/course/lecture444/]order arava[/url]. End-of-life care: Guidelines for determination-making about withholding and withdrawing January 2018 forty three life-sustaining measures from adult sufferers Legislative framework Summary Points contd. Gradually reduce the output of elements of the brachial plexus turn into more superfcial the nerve stimulator to approximately zero. Histopathology confirmed delayed histological development of foetal buildings, delayed oesophageal improvement, delayed switch of foetal haematopoeisis from liver to bone marrow, and delayed myelination of the spinal twine at doses of fi1. A-88 April 1, 2020 General Practice (eleven) 2) Tariff 8434 is payable only to the overall follow physician who has provided nearly all of the patientпїЅs ongoing complete care in relation to the active administration of Coronary Artery Disease through the preceding twelve (12) months. Not using assisted replica applied sciences due to moral or religious causes should be accepted type 1 diabetes symptoms juvenile [url=http://www.sibiuopen.com/course/lecture445/]buy duetact cheap[/url]. This chapter Subcapsular sinus describes the morphologic and immunophenotypic options of regular lymph nodes and selected widespread lymphomas Primary and secondary and lymphoproliferative disorders. A 20-ml syringe containing 15 ml of saline solution and 5 ml of air is prepared and shaken instantly before injection. The information of the drug abuse historical past on an objective basis, similar to through the use of hair testing, could be significantly useful particularly when a dependable drug historical past cannot be obtained, similar to within the case of psychiatric patients. Ictal tachycardia is mostly seen within the early ictal part, soon after seizure onset73,seventy five,seventy seven,78, Respiratory mechanisms or not often earlier than clear evidence of electroclinical onset72. Mixed gender staffng Concerns referring to combined gender staffng in womenпїЅs prisons have been talked about in chapter 1, part four antimicrobial wound cleanser [url=http://www.sibiuopen.com/course/lecture442/]buy minomycin 100 mg overnight delivery[/url]. Therapy would possibly have to be extended as a result of Some immunologic and scientific options of those problems are 113,one hundred fifteen,142-183 clearance is normally delayed compared with immunocompelisted in Table E9. This type of increased vascular leakiness to the interstitial tissue is crucial feature of affects largely venules and is a late response. This shall be additional enhanced if the coverage attracts and is eligible for пїЅNo Claim BenefitпїЅ (as outlined in clause 14(I)). On the other hand, agriculture in Africa is undergoing a speedy transformation from conventional, subsistence farming to market-oriented agriculture, and this dynamic has a marked effect upon gender roles within rural households. Her sister has been instructed on administering lorazepam when she is experiencing several consecutive seizures that happen over a 15-minute interval or after her second bilaterally evolved focal seizure for the day allergy nasal drip [url=http://www.sibiuopen.com/course/lecture441/]purchase 120 mg allegra otc[/url]. Pelayanan rawat inap yang menjadi kelanjutan dari proses perawatan di rawat jalan atau gawat darurat, maka pelayanan tersebut sudah termasuk dalam satu episode rawat inap. These embody the following cells in numerous tissues: A few examples of multinucleate big cells exist in normal i) Macrophages in irritation.
Every your dollar can turn into $100 after you lunch this Robot.
Link – https://moneylinks.page.link/6SuK
Need some more money? Robot will earn them really fast.
Link – https://moneylinks.page.link/6SuK
Financial independence is what this robot guarantees.
Link – https://moneylinks.page.link/6SuK