But yes, Hong Kong. I know Barnaby Weir claims Wellington 'packs a lot of punch'. But Hong Kong packs some sort of an Asian-fighter-mega-karate-chop-punch. Plus more.
Heading to Hong Kong made me realise what, and how accustomed I have become to Seoul. Hong Kong was amazing. It's super modern, tall and skinny, beautiful, green, clean and feels relatively spacious despite the millions of elbows you bump on the street and the millions of high-rises that contribute to a glamorous show of a skyline. And did I mention it's modern? So modern. Beautifully modern. And everyone speaks English. Yet I continually tried to speak Korean. To the taxi drivers, shop keepers and generally anyone I met. I never realised how much basic korean I have adopted into my day-to-day life.
And there are SO many Westerners. Our first night there, Friday, we went to Lan Kwai Fong, which is an area full of western style bars and pubs, where punters spill out over on to the footpath and establish some sort of an informal street party. And it is loud, busy and FULL of westerners. It was the most foreigners I have seen in one place in yonks. The music was loud, the pubs were busy, and I could understand everyone's conversation and everyone could understand mine. The people watching was great but sadly I admit, I experienced some culture shock with the whole scene. Admittedly I was tired, originally hung over which quickly changed to drunk due to drinking on the plane and a little buzzed out. Or massively buzzed out if you want the details. But to be honest, it was all a little too much for me. So I stuck around for one beer, but only at Dad's request. I think he was a little disappointed that I suggested leaving. Poor form huh.
On our way home though we went to a 24 hour supermarket. Now, I have had numerous people comment on how one of the things that blow them away when they go home is the supermarket. The options and the variety numerous to say the least. I always thought that was a little weird but each to their own. But wowsa, going into that supermarket was like going into a toy store before Christmas. When 5 years old. "wow, salt n' vinegar chips" "oh my god, look at all the fruit" "MUESLI BARS!!!" "Greek salad?! Quiche. Awesome." "Check out all the cereal. Oh, and porridge." and my favourite... "Holy shit, they have pies!" I ate so much all weekend. I without a doubt put weight on while there.
The amount of beer we, or well I, drunk also added to this situation. And so cheap. At the 7-eleven, a tall can of Heineken cost around $1.50NZD. The cost of beer I have discovered, is an essential part of my travelling queries and stories.
Saturday bought on the reason for the trip, The Hong Kong Inter-Cities Touch Championships. It was a warm, smoggy day with an early start. The first thing I noticed when I got there - how fit all the women looked. And how hot their legs were. I definitely needed at least another month of training to feel up to scratch there. Damn them and their hot legs.
We unfortunately had our hardest game first against the Hong Kong Development Team which consisted of some very fit young people, with some smooth cuts, angles and a HK 7s team member with awesome dreads and mean pace. Yeah, he smoked us a couple of times. To be honest though, if we had come up against them second game round we probably could have taken the game. But in saying that they had the harder semi-final when we crossed pools.
Our next two games we took easily with some decent tries coming out in our second game. Smooth moves, dives and pace down the side line gave all 4 of our supporters something to cheer about. However when we crossed into the semi-final we bombed. Badly. Our game plan went out the window, our defence turned to custard and mouthing off at the ref's never helps anyone. Or their team. We should have won the game, but we let ourselves down and lost. My team mates heard me lose the guts at one team member in particularly and discovered the extent of my foul language and rage. I was left to my own company for at least a good 30 minutes post game, as everyone let me simmer down.
Once I got myself out of the bad mood though we moved onto some good times at the ground watching some of the best touch I have seen in years. The Beijing Team, which consists of two ex-NZ players, totally carved up and were smooth, effortless and entertaining while doing so. And although a mixed team they were entered in both the mixed grade and the Open Mens grade. The finals were played back-to-back and they won both. They were wicked. As the night progressed though our team proved just as entertaining with Loren treating us all to a streak across the soccer game that was being played at the end. Might I add, the dinner there was amazing that night.
The only bit of sight seeing I partook too (apart from just driving around in Taxi's and buses, which I think does still show you a bit) was the ferry we took from Jordon across to Won Chai. It was around 9ish at night so we were treated to some spectacular night time lights of the skyline. And it truly was beautiful. Again, the modernity and scale of the place really shone through.
Hong Kong is leagues ahead of Seoul and South Korea in terms of 'this day in age'. It is so well set up, full of money and business. If not a little 'the right place to be seen, with the right people, wearing the right clothes.' It would definitely be a great place to live, and I'm definitely thinking it would be an easier place to live than Seoul. Not too sure why I am trying to compare the places, they were always going to be leagues apart in similarities.
So Hong Kong on it's own accord...
Hong Kong is: food glorious food. Beautiful buildings. Tall; buildings, buses, trams and people. Skinny; buildings, buses, trams and people. Great urban landscaping. Great scenery. Huge. Colossal. Cramped. Allusion-ally spacious. Western. Rich. English advertising. Expensive advertising. Crowded. Busy. Surprisingly quiet. Awesome. Wicked. Great. A place I will definitely go back to.
I give Hong Kong two thumbs up. Would give it more if I could.
