Hong Kong shares many similarities with Singapore, with a highly dense population, full of skyscrapers and cars on the roads. However, I was still surprised to discover new things on this trip to Hong Kong. Originally, I had a connecting flight from Hong Kong to Singapore with a stopover of only 1.5h, but I decided to miss my flight so that I could extend my graduation trip and meet up with my friend, Hubert. I had known him since secondary school and we still keep in touch all these years. He kindly hosted me in his appartment and showed me around the city after work. It’s sad that he has to work 5.5 days every work, which can be very tiring. On the first night after he ended work, we went to a 茶餐厅 for dinner. I had tried unsuccessfully to leave my bagage with some hotels around central area for a few hours, but they didn’t allow and said that it was only for hotel guests. I was feeling sweaty and tired walking around lugging two heavy bags, so I just hung around ifc mall while waiting for Hubert. After dinner, we went to lan kwai fong which is a famous pub street. We had some drinks and enjoyed the happy hour promotion.

A city full of skyscrapers

The second day I went hiking alone near Sai kung. I enjoyed being alone with nature, although it was not so nice walking into numerous spider webs and having sticky stuff in your face. It was so difficult to spot the spider webs unless there is sunlight shining. During the whole trail, I did not encounter a single tourist. When I finally made it to the peak about three hours later, it was such a huge relief and I spent some time there taking in the sights. The small fishing boats in the distance and the rolling hills. This is the part of Hong Kong that I enjoyed more, away from the crowded city and shopping malls. On the way out, it was a small, private road and I was walking for more than half an hour but had not reached the main road. Luckily after three cars, I managed to hitchhike with a lady driver who sent me to the nearest bus stop. She thought I was a local and talked to me in Cantonese. I could reply her and told her that I’m from Singapore. It was a scorching hot day and I had ran out of water, so I went home to rehydrate and took and shower before meeting Hubert for dinner. We had a nice steamboat dinner on the 23rd floor of a shopping centre, so the view of the harbour was great, but the meal was expensive.

The view from the top of the mountain was worth the long hike

The last day was spent hunting for baking goods for my mum and some hong kong snacks for my friends.  I wanted to do some shopping for office clothes but did not have enough time. For lunch, we went to a dim sum place which was popular with locals and tourists alike. When the waitresses came out of the kitchen with dim sum on the trolley, people would flock to them to get what they want and she would stamp on a piece of paper which was to be handed to the cashier for payment afterwards. It was a unique system of getting your food and a very local way indeed.

Fresh dim sum served on trolleys

Take the tram to travel like a local

I took a bus from Hubert’s place to the airport which was 1h 20min long. The airport express train was not convenient for me as I was coming from New Territories. So after 56 days of traveling on the road, it’s finally time for me to go back home, to face reality and to start my first job proper.