Once again, with time very much against us, our mission has been accomplished! This time, Hong Kong, China.

Seeing we only had about 4 days in Hong Kong and with apparently not a hope in hell of planting – or finding anything to – plant in the massive cities of Shanghai or Beijing, that’s pretty good timing I woudl say.

Almost having given up hope on our mission in China (and definitely not expecting any results in Hong Kong of all places), we took a nice little excursion to Lantau Island to see the big Buddha statue on day 3 of our visit. Harldy had the bus left the station at Mui Wo, we passed a small nursery at the road side and (subconsciously) a glimmer of hope was kindled in us. We spent the rest of the day enjoying the sights of the Big Buddha at Ngong Ping (truly impressive) and the small fishing village of Tai O.

The following morning after brekfast, we made off to the road to enjoy our second-to-last day in Hong Kong. Not really sure of what to see or visit, our powerful sense of responsibility and purpose surged and we decided to set course straight back to Lantau Island to fulfil our tree planting mission, mission number two.

Finding the nursery again (in the village of Pui O) was easy and trees they did have. So after careful consultation and selection we decided for a stiff, young Papaya tree, perfectly adapted to the local soil and climate and ready to bear fruit in the following year. Cash exchanged, snaps taken and smiles aplenty, off we trod to find a place to plant, tree and digging implement (I found a metal shaft in a building skip) in hand!

Finding the site was a bigger issue. I preferred the bald top of a nearby hill on the east side of the road, though this was not much of an option as afternoon was upon us and we’d never find the way up there and do the deed before nightfall. Ebru preferred the more practical option of any available patch on the west side, however this area is densely overgrown with trees and shrub, so if making our way through it would be possible, the tree might not survive in the overgrowth and, would we ever be able to find the spot again in years to come?

Clearly the practical option had to be chosen due to time constraints, so a few hundred up the road from the nursery, we followed an uphill walkway which led past an old semetary and then continued as a dirt path, becoming more and more impassable as we continued: the overgrowth becoming denser and denser across the path. When we weren’t able to continue through the vegetation, we returned to the semetary, dripping with sweat, itching from mosquito bites and our sandals caked in red mud.

Here we found an area where some trees had been evidently planted by man; not well looked after, yet, we thought, least likely to fall victim to the Axe of the East, bush-whacker, panga or whatever Hong-Kong-ese tool is customary for clearing a path. This was our spot! And we’re positive the spirits of the deceased will be honoured with the fruits this tree will bear in years ahead.

Hard was the ground, saturated with small stones, sauna conditions prevailed and the mosquitos were having a feast; but our hole took shape and we planted our young sapling firmly and confidently into the ground, like a golf ball after the precision put of Tiger Woods.

A few quick blessings were administered and a high-five signalled it was time to go. Mission accomplished!

SEE MORE HONG KONG LANTAU ISLAND PHOTOS

SEE MORE HONG KONG PHOTOS

What we refer to as “Hong Kong” consists (as far as I can tell) of the Kowloon peninsula, a good deal of New Territories tacked on to the north of that and a number of islands, the main ones being Hong Kong and Lantau.

Entry into the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) was a piece of cake. Get off at the train station in Shenzen, follow the signs to the subway, pass through the immigration at Lo Wu (Luo Hu) station, pay your fee, get your stamp, get on the subway on the other side and, “Welcome”, you’re in Hong Kong. The subway here is well organized and what we found pretty cool about it is that the carriages are all connected in a long tube, so on a straight track you can see all the way through from front to back. Though it’s agonizingly expensive if you’ve just come from the 2-3CNY journeys on the China metros.

Our first explorations were from Kowloon to Hong Kong island. Very easy to get to via the underground and the famous Star Ferry (recommended for the view), you don’t have to journey for more than a few minutes and you’ve crossed over. Hong Kong island is a stunning vista: this lush, green, hilly mound in the sea, with long, shiny, vertical shafts of buildings rising up straight from the shore line.

The views by night are spectacular as well because that’s when all the neon lights start flickering on; and the buildings on the west-end of the island, when viewed a ferry boat at night, are reminiscent of scenes from sci-fi movies – mining-colonies on distant moons with slim buildings clinging to the rock face up the dark canyon walls, riddled with electric light emanating from thousands of tiny windows and corridors.

We walked around the city the whole day, me in the lead, doing my best to get us lost in some interesting part of town which me may never reach by following a tourist guide book or map. It’s a really interesting place to find your way around on foot: even with a compass and a map, you repeatedly find that the next road you intended to cross is not crossable and you either need to stroll down the pavement until you find a bridge or you have to enter some plush building to take one of the enclosed walkways connecting to the next plush building on the other side. In some parts it’s literally a three dimensional grid of walkways interconnecting a load of swanky shopping malls and office buildings across a few city blocks.

We visited a nice little park behind the law courts and took the ancient tram up the steep hill to a mall with panoramic view-point of the island on the roof-top, breathed incense in a beautiful little temple and window shopped past antique and art stores and quaint little cafes and wine bars. Nice day out, and I hesitate to say that a Burger King meal was involved, for which I accept no responsibility whatsoever!

In the evening time, after some more walking around, unsuccessful in finding any hang-out without the million-dollar feel to it, we asked some people around a bus stop and soon found out that the places to go for night life are Lang Kwai Fong and (wait for it!) Soho, a stop or two West of Central subway station.

Lively place! In a sense it’s like a Little London: darned expensive, lots of Brits, indians and other nationalities, pubs with British, “British” and other European beers, happy hours variably between 5 and 10PM, ham and eggs on the menu for breakfast… and English is spoken by everyone (a bit of a relief after mainland China). Even the infrastructure mirrors that of the UK: driving on the left, similar road markings, signs everywhere telling you please to do this and not to do that, smoking ban in public places… Of course the Chinese influence is very obvious as well and there’s some really good street food available that’ll terrorize your taste buds with flames of chilli delight! Also managed to watch the Argentina – New Zealand rugby world cup match whilst enjoying a well deserved pint of Guinnes.

English spelling and translations are, as in mainland China and other Asian destinations, always a good source of laughs.

(Oh and for the record, if you will permit me to humbly state: the girls in HK have even nicer legs than their sisters up on mainland!)

Lantau island, just a 40 minute ferry ride from HK island is definitely worth a visit! Short hop away from the big city on HK and you’re drinking ice cold Tiger beer on the sea-front, watching fishermen dangle their lines into the water for bounty. A real calm, fishing-villagey feeling over here and lots of lush green island around you. Here we also visited the Big Buddha statue at Ngong Ping, really marvellous, then spent the evening drinking cold can-beer on the harbour wall of the tiny and old fishing village of Tai O. If I had to live in Hong Kong I think I would want to be on this island for sure.

Incidentally, Lantau is also where we planted our second tree – see post “Planting Around the World – Mission 2 (HONG KONG, CHINA)” for story and more photos of the island.

Another hit experience was on our very last day, as we found a way to spend our afternoon before having to head off to the airport: it so happened that the Hong Kong Expo was going on, so we snapped up a couple tickets and spent a few hours browsing halls full of all sorts of interesting electronic appliances and products seeking inspiration and contacts for perhaps a business idea. This expo is great and it was just too bad we weren’t aware it was running til the last day – on the other hand maybe a blessing because we may have spent our entire visit there.

In conclusion: HK definitely worth a visit!

My advice for travelling there:
– Save up a lot of money first!
– Don’t be afraid of ChungKing Mansions. Despite many dubious reviews in many online reports, we found it safe and unproblematic. The room we had there (we stayed in ChungKing House Hotel) was small but clean and comfi and the staff was very helpful.
– Eat street food. Look for a place where you see all lots of locals eating and where the cook is exploding the kitchen with flame and steam.
– Make sure you’re ready to drink by happy hour or you’ll be sorry!
– Don’t miss Lantau Island

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS…