Hong Kong

Hong Kong is fantastic. Where else can you catch an escalator to work? It’s the type of place Phileas would be happy to achieve in Sim City. It would certainly take a good few months to plan out the intricacies of Hong Kong island, with efficient transport networks, impressive business and shopping centres, practical pedestrian walkways and aesthetically intriguing buildings. The whole place is a clear testament as to what Man can accomplish in terms of utilising a definite amount of space for multiple purposes.

It is true that Hong Kong does not boast a vast array of sights or hhighlights, or ven tings to do. There is only so much window shopping and sifting through markets any traveller can do. But Hong Kong is one of the few man-made constructioins that makes an impact on the uninitiated. Phileas does not normally discuss the artisitic and functional qualities of bricks, mortar, glass and steel. But, in the architect’s paradise of Central, the surfeit of fine design affords appreciation; and with it comes some sensation of vertigo.

Hong Kong is supposed to be in China. It’s not just the separate visa guidelines which refute this – it’s the anonymity as a foreigner, the presence of English as a natural language, the availability of the BBC website and the extended business hours. Indeed, Hong Kong brings a new meaning to the phrase ‘late night shopping’ as crowds meander through the streets and invade the supermarkets as if the darkness were some regular, common, extended midday eclipse.

So, Phileas may have seen some campaigning for the legislative council but does not claim to know much about the political machinations of the territory; or care about them. It would be possible to debate the legacies of British rule and whether the international business community is harmful to the region – despite being issues that could be argued at length, these are, in a way, redundant questions. There is a status quo which Hong Kong and its residents are not prepared to give up to their so-called compatriots. Colonialism may be resented but which nation has not been affected by political, cultural, military or economic invasions at some point? The grass is usually greener on the other side; but when you’re in Hong Kong and you’re looking over the Chinese border, this is definitely not the case.