Hong Kong, at my own pace

February 8 · A little too much in one day

I don’t live far from Hong Kong, but somehow I was already in my third year of university before I finally went.

I was interning in Shenzhen at the time, and we picked a weekend for a fairly spontaneous day trip. Everyone set off from different stations, and we met at Hong Kong West Kowloon.

A friend showed us around what felt like half the city. Mong Kok, Victoria Harbour, the University of Hong Kong, Kennedy Town. We rode a tram and a ferry, visited Sneakers Street, and fitted in a few familiar shops and supermarkets too. We barely missed a stop. What we did miss was the chance to book our train home. The tickets had sold out.

So another friend and I took the long way back: metro, bus, intercity train, then another metro, with plenty of walking in between. By the time we reached the neighbourhood where I was staying, it was past midnight. We hadn’t even had dinner. Thankfully, a 7-Eleven was still open. I slumped down inside and ate something before finding the energy to walk the rest of the way home.

I was exhausted. And I had learnt something about myself: I really don’t enjoy trying to see everything in a single day. We had been to so many places, but very few had stayed in my memory. Most had only made it into my step count.

Perhaps the pace of the trip coloured my first impression of Hong Kong. I found it crowded and busy, a city that seemed to put you under pressure even on a weekend. I wasn’t especially taken with the university either. Getting there felt like a chore: a bus uphill, then more walking.

There were good parts, of course. I enjoyed the Filipino fried chicken and Lan Fong Yuen. And an old-school café left me with one practical reminder: bring cash.

June 27 · Much more my kind of trip

The second time, I went with fellow Chan Fellows to get vaccinated. It was another day trip, this time from Guangzhou, but having a friend from Hong Kong show us around made such a difference.

No unnecessary walking. No worrying about sold-out trains. And I actually got to go where I wanted to go, including somewhere for outside skirt steak.

That alone made me happy. I had never had outside skirt steak in such big, tender pieces before. If you love meat, I don’t know how you could walk past a bowl of it without stopping.

We didn’t try to fit in much. We spent time around West Kowloon and Mong Kok, and that was enough. This was much more my pace.

A few things to remember for next time: book the return train in advance, leave plenty of time for immigration and security, and sort out a day’s mobile data before heading over.