After having spent the past months in mostly rural areas or smaller cities, our next destination took the trip to one of the financial powers of the world. Martina’s father had suggested to meet in Hong Kong for a 1 week vacation, and as we were in the neighborhood, we jumped to the opportunity!

Hong Kong is known as the world’s most vertical city due to the immense amount of skyscrapers, and with its relatively small land mass is known to be one of the most densely populated areas in the world. A few hours in this city were enough to convince us about this fact. There is literally one high-riser after the other, and many of them with very modern architecture. But Hong Kong is not all about tall buildings, instead, it also has beautiful parks and temples, not to mention several cozy streets and alleys filled with little stores and street stalls, with Chinese characters everywhere that, at least to a westerner, give a very exotic touch. The city is in motion, you can feel the vibe in the streets, and people seem to be always on-the-go. Of course, as it is practically attached to China, the majority of the population is Chinese (or of such decent), aside the Western expats and the remnants of a former British colony.

We were very impressed with this city, with how clean, modern and grandiose it is. Due to its fantastic public transportation system with metro lines, and British-looking double-decker buses and ferries, the traffic is very organized and seemed to be quite “light,” at least in comparison to the SE Asian cities we have recently visited.

We had a wonderful time discovering the many corners of the city, which is mainly composed of the authentic island of Kowloon -where we slept-, and the modern island of Hong Kong. Kowloon was unique, filled with Chinese restaurants that we savored on a daily basis. From the most simple looking restaurants (the kind of ones filled with endless pictures of food all over the walls) to the more delicate ones, they all served delicious food, especially our new favorite, dim-sum! There were also many interesting markets, like the gold fish market, with all sorts of salt and fresh-water fish, most of them stuck in a small plastic bag. The Kowloon park was also wonderful, with many Tai Chi and Kung Foo devotees, and presenting an exotic selection of birds, including pelicans, peacocks, flamingos and many other we had never seen before.

On the other side, the island of Hong Kong gave you the true feeling of being in a financial hub, surrounded by immense buildings, fancy streets filled with designer stores, and one big mall after another. We were told Hong Kong is a “shoppers heaven,” especially for the Chinese, as it is cheaper then on the mainland and taxes are very low. We also enjoyed very much walking through the charming streets of the mid-level neighborhood and SOHO, with its small boutiques and sort of San Francisco-like feel with the many stairs and escalators leading up-hill. Our last lunch was here in a famous traditional Chinese dim-sum restaurant, whose charming look and rustic decoration had been hosting many family and business meals for several generations. It was simply delicious.

Victoria’s Peak and the SKY 100 building (highest points to view HK) gave us a wonderful view over the entire city, and the ferry tour through the bay let us enjoy the perspective from the water. It is simply a massive city!

We also got to see some local life visiting the home of an old university friend of Martina’s father who now lives in Hong Kong. His apartment is on Park Island, which is practically all a residential complex made of 20+ luxury high-rise apartment buildings and few surrounding houses. He shared with us interesting information on the extraordinarily high prices and limited living spaces in Hong Kong, with an average of 65m2 for a 3-bedroom apartment housing a family of 10.

All of these great memories were enjoyed in great company. Martina’s father came with his girlfriend Cornelia, as well as her son Zsombor and wife Laura. We had lots of laughs and interesting conversations, even the possibly inappropriate ones at lunch and dinner-time :-). What a wonderful time we had in Hong Kong, and how thankful we are for the extreme generosity of Martina’s father.

The next destination took us to the extreme opposite. A 4-hour flight southwest to arguably the most “untouched” country in Southeast Asia.