What is this place, exactly? It's not mainland China. As of 1997, it's not a British colony, either. Is it a seperate country, a colony, or just another Chinese island with a disputed past? Perhaps it's not my place to say. I've gotten some flack for counting my almost-a-day in Hong Kong as a foreign country visited.

Right now, Hong Kong is considered a Special Administrative Region. The island was returned to China in 1997, after many years as a British colony. While it's now part of mainland China, it's run differently and operates it's own set of rules. To enter and exit Hong Kong from mainland China you have to have a proper visa and passport, as visas that apply to one don't apply to the other. It's not quite China. Many Chinese citizens aren't allowed to go to Hong Kong. Not to mention that Hong Kong is wildly different from the Mainland, even the city of Shenzen which is right across the harbor. And if it's different from China, generally speaking, it's wildly different from the hickville factory cities of the south, like Xiangtan. Some of these differences are cosmetic. For one thing, it's clean. People don't spit and piss and shit everywhere. Even the public transportation is clean. I never saw anyone relieving themselves on the street, or spitting on the bus.

People speak some English, as it was after all a British colony until about ten years ago. There are gaggles of foreigners around, speaking Spanish, Dutch, Thai, German... So many, that nobody stares at foreigners and screams "HALLO! LAOWAI!"

I was only in Hong Kong for a few hours, part of a day, for a visa run. Hong Kong has a large downtown business district with shiny skyscrapers, billions of taxis, and the sorts of restaurants and cafe's popular with those looking to strike a deal or gossip about John in accounting over a cup of coffee and a sandwich. As you can imagine, Hong Kong is more expensive than hickville, Hunan. Polluted though Hong Kong may be, it's nothing more surprising than any other large city. The day I was there was actually quite brilliantly beautiful. Warm, sunny, the leaves of the palm trees glowing a healthy green. In Xiangtan, even on a sunny day, the greens of plants seemed marred by undertones of diesel gray. Another plus - no bing lang (betel nut). Never chewed betel nuts? Good for you. It's Asia's answer to chewing tobaccy. Makes your teeth black, smells nasty, causes breathing problems... fun stuff, let me tell you.

Especially if you're living in China, Hong Kong is probably a keen place to visit for a few days.

Restaurants feature food from around the world from Thai curry to hamburgers and coffee to Turkish felafal. Victoria Peak and some of the smaller islands are supposed to be quite nice, there's a few famous bars (James Bond anyone) and a plethora of stripclubs. Some kids have come to teach in China expressly for the oppurtunity to go shopping in Hong Kong. But like I said, I was only there for a few hours. Click on thumbnails for larger image. Back to Hunan