The New York of the East trounces its American counterpart by simply offer amazing curry on every street corner and the most amazing light show you'll ever see.
After the intensity of China, getting to the colonial familiarity of Hong Kong was a relief. Even though I lost my book (if anyone finds The Complete Works of Franz Kafka with a Japanese postcard inside, let me know).
My hostel was in Kowloon and after I was taken up what looks like a Hammersmith council estate, I was shown to my room. It was floor to ceiling tiles and the bed was basically a slab. All that could be heard were the whirs of sewing machines through the walls and rats scurrying around.
Even though I compared HK to NY, it's actually nowhere near as good. There's not near as much to see and do. Once you've gone up the hill to the temple and mooched around Victoria harbour, you've pretty much seen it. But it almost didn't matter, as simply being in the city and soaking up the atmosphere was more than enough.
Although HK feels distinctly Western, it keeps hold of its Eastern rooms with alleyways submerged in huge neon signs, shops filled with dry fish and scaffolding made of bamboo.
The best thing about HK is because of its British colonial past, the curry has made these Eastern shores and they've adapted it so it's before fragrant than its Indian cousin. And these curries can be found on every street corner.
First published January 2009
