Made in Hong Kong

I haven't written for awhile. Have been busy with travelling and studying. It feels like a double life already - half of the time backpacking, the other half studying.

14. - 17.9. we went to Hong Kong with my Finnish friends Ville and Juha, also exchange students in NUS. The only agenda for the trip was to see Hong Kong and we did no planing in advance. We just had our flights and hostel booked. Hostel was quite expensive comparing it to other Asian travels so far. We paid about 18 euros per night each for a small 3-person room. Still the hostel was livable and well located.

Me and Ville in the hostel room

Eventhough Singapore and Hong Kong are both huge cities with high population density, they look very different. Hong Kong didn't look that much like an Asian city, in some points I felt like being in USA or so. Comparing to Singapore, Hong Kong is very much cheaper. Goods don't have taxes which makes Hong Kong a very tempting place to buy electronics and brand clothes (I bought some Calvin Klein and bluetooth headset). Also food is cheaper and better (as it includes a sufficient amount of meet and vegetables). Especially food on streets was really cheap and tasty. With 80 euro cents you got some grilled octopus with tasty sauce.

Ville and Juha having some local food

Delicious food on the street

The most markable sight we visited was totally Victoria peek. It's a mountain located in the western half of Hong Kong island. You can get to the top with a traditional Peak Tram. The trams have been taking tourists to the top for a hundred years now.

Victoria Peak

Very nice view over Hong Kong

Another interesting thing we saw during our visit was the Central–Mid-levels escalators. It's the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world. The entire system covers over 800 metres in distance and elevates over 135 metres from bottom to top. It was built in 1993. We went the whole thing from the bottom to the top.

Central-Mid-levels

The city seemed to be very wealthy. The cars were way more newer and fancier than in Singapore in average. My roommate Ryan told me before the trip that there are the most Rolls Royces per capita in the whole world. We saw some and also plenty of nice sports cars such as Lamborghinis, Ferraris and Porches.

Ridin in style

Nightlife was also nicer than in Singapore. Mostly because of the prices. Drinks and entrances had reasonable prices and the clubs were nice. We went out at the second night with all three of us. At the second night Juha didn't feel very good and he stayed at the hostel. Ville and I met my friend Wendy from Hong Kong. She was an exchange student in my home university TUT last year and I was her tutor. We spent the whole evening together talking and drinking. She also showed us the light show at the harbour where some of the skyscrapers were programmed to blink their lights by the music. That was amazing! It was very nice to meet her again!

Wendy and Ville

The light show

All in all the trip was very nice and my very first with any of the Finnish guys. We all enjoyed the good food, nice people and great nightlife. I think Hong Kong is a must visit if you come to South-East Asia.