Snapshots from Hong Kong

Hong Kong is towering skyscrapers, colonial relics and ornate temples; it’s also rugged coastline, craggy peaks and beautiful flora. Hong Kong is bubble waffles, yum cha and char siu. Hong Kong is a place I could keep going back to and never tire of.

I love its fusion of cultures and its seamless blending of old and new. I love gazing across Victoria Harbour from the Star Ferry; I love hopping aboard a Ding Ding on Hong Kong Island. (I’m an adult-sized child at heart.) I love the smoking coils of incense and the brightly coloured temples and pagodas, some nestled amongst the skyscrapers, others perched on the hillsides. I love watching the world go by, seeing the city slickers, the locals and the tourists alike go about their day. I love the wet markets and the open-air fruit markets (so much so that I found room for 2kg of fresh mangoes in my bag – all completely customs-compliant, I might add). I love how the concrete jungle snakes its way round the hills, fringing the country parks. I love how easy it is to escape the crowds and the sense of adventure that comes with hitting the trail – especially when the trail turns out to be little more than a dirt slope, with ropes slung between trees forming a makeshift handrail. I love Hong Kong, and ever since our post-graduation trip, I’d hoped to return.

Sometime in December, I began scouring Skyscanner, Cathay Pacific and British Airways (and a few other airlines) for reasonably-priced, direct flights to Hong Kong, and quickly discovered that a few days in Singapore wouldn’t add much to the cost. When in Rome . . . – or Asia, as the case may be. There’s a lot to be said for no longer being restricted to school holiday season, but on this occasion we decided to take advantage of the Easter bank holidays to maximise our time away (nine days of annual leave netted us seventeen days off, win-win).

We spent a large chunk of our time in Hong Kong feasting on dim sum, seeing new sights and hitting the trails, so there’s plenty of Hong Kong and Singapore-related content coming to a screen near you over the coming weeks and months. For the time being, here’s a taster of what we got up to . . .

Cheung Chau

Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery, New Territories

Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery, New Territories

Sunset from the Star Ferry, Victoria Harbour

Dragon’s Back, Hong Kong Island

Sunset Peak and Lantau Peak, Lantau Island

Hong Kong Wetland Park, New Territories

‘The Hunchbacks’, New Territories

The Peak, Hong Kong Island

Tai Mo Shan, New Territories

Tai Po Market, New Territories

Bubble waffles ❤