Hong Kong was bustling with people and noise from the very break of dawn. It started off with the early health buff birds who could be seen jogging around boulevards and continues with a melting pot of foreign tourists and local residents and probably ends only when the chilly winter wind finally proves too capable a foe.
Hong Kong wasn't much of a brand new environment for a city boy like Luke really, considering that like KL most of the places are well developed and there's pretty much Starbucks and 7 Elevens at most corners of a street yet they have their differences.
Lands are scarce in HK and thus most buildings are built very closely to each others, an apartment the size of our average low cost flats would cost millions and parkings could cost just the same too. Unlike KL, the HK government do make a serious effort to keep their streets sanitized and you'll hardly be able to find any form of waste on the street. They better be so when the fine for littering's a whopping HK $1500.
A visit to HK would have made the stress level at KL hilarious to anybody. If you thought that the streets of KL are too crowded and narrow, you definitely haven't been to HK. Just imagine Sungai Wang on a public holiday, that's how the streets of HK are like on a daily basis. Shoulder rubbings are inevitable and Luke was reminded numerously about snatch thieves and mugglers. Well, the 2 cities do have similarities after all.
Standing in the middle of Granville street was interesting. Luke stood there holding his shopping bags after hours of shopping and simply observed the crowd. The pace of a Lumpurian was simply too slow for HK. A week's trip would be just fine as the novelty factor will keep visitors afloat but try living here for a few months or years and you risk getting swept away by the rushing tide of the Hong Keys.
Standing there Luke realised that people on the street were the actual personification of the phrase "As time flies by..."with the people being the time and traffic as the physical barriers that we encounter frequently in life. It was like life was speeding past Luke as he stood there pondering what's the optimum pace of life. What a stark contrast it was to the view he took in on the flight here. On the plane he was hundreds of miles above the air, travelling at the pace of hundreds of kilometers away and when he looked out the window, he saw huge cruises on the open sea which seems to be inching its way across the vast ocean but infact it too was travelling fast. What a different perspective gaineed when you're moving through life much faster than the norm does.
The day's shorter in HK these days as winter approaches and night fell around 5:50 pm and Luke decided that he was hungry enough to finally settle down and enjoy a nice warm dinner ala HK. So he located an average looking noodle house along the street that has "Cheap" written on the walls. The menu nearly got his head rolling on the floor.
The noodle house was hugely deceptive and it managed to lure an innocent Luke in believing that it was actually cheap to dine there. Luke had a bowl of beef noodle for a price of HK$55, medium ranged for a local but devastating for Luke who could have gotten the same bowl of noodle for a quarter of that price in KL. The quaint settings of the noodle house reminded of an authentic Hainanese Kopitiam at Kluang he visited years ago, not the ones infiltrated by air cons at malls. He was relatively satisfied at the end because it was worth it, he would have came here anywhere. Essences Hong Kong were strong and pungent in that pathetic excuse of a restaurant.
Finally, he thought he could with a walk at the Avenue of Stars where they have movie stars leave their hand prints along an avenue. The night was chilly but the wind blew mildly only. It was 8pm when he finally decided to head back to his hotel yet something held him back.
It was the famed Symphony of Lights of HK.
Mega tall buildings had plethoras of neon lights all over and considering Christmas was 5 day away, the theme was rather obvious. Santa Claus never looked this good. At precisely 8pm a repertoire of laser lights was beamed towards the sky to create intertwining paterns and the view was breathtaking. Clickings of camera shutters were deafening as hundreds, literally hundreds of amateur photographers were there with their tripods and stuff trying to preserve this magnificent event.
Hundreds of photography afficianados but one stood out. She really did. Very much like the neon lights that became the background to the most beautiful sight Luke ever saw, only more illuminant and gripping.
He simply stood there looking at her, taking the view in as they say.
To be continued....
