Blog

29 march 2015, captain’s log, stardate…

Having skirted around china philosophically for years, and indeed acted on it, I have only actually visited taiwan (see 12 october 2013, of masks and mopeds). Until, yesterday, when after 11 hours aboard the flying hotel that is cathay pacific's direct flight from manchester, I landed in a rather clammy hong kong, a day earlier than business required so I could see the place. It's not as big as china's megacities, and not quite facing quite their mass urbanisation issues and it seems more western, so hard (or maybe it's just me) not to fall into the tourist traps, especially with a warm sun, limited time and a bit of jet lag. Lots of masks, but even more phones clicking and recording away everywhere, at least amongst the touristiati; many have headgear with cameras permanently whirring away. Sat atop the peak, after a great tram ride, it's pretty breathtaking, indeed awesome to look down at what must surely be the biggest concentration of skyscrapers on the planet. The city clearly has a vibrancy, a restlessness and an energy from the mass of people and things so limited in space but clearly so bursting to push out. The markets were teeming, victoria park packed, the streets of causeway really alive and the remnants of the tented city in the administrative district evidence of how that energy can manifest itself politically. I didn't see everything though, as tiredness did eventually catch up on me, though I've an evening still to spend here, so we'll see what the night brings. After that, I'm into china proper, a whole other world.