The Traveling Blogcrastinator: One Country, Two Systems - April 17 (UPDATED on June 3, but not finished)

I have not finished this post, obviously. Come back later to see it all.

There Is Nothing Wrong with Hong Kong

Hong Kong is a lot like New York. It's a big, vibrant, multi-cultural city on a small island. There is great wealth here, and a lot of poverty. There is traffic. There is shopping and eating and business. It all works, somehow, defying expectations.

Hong Kong was a sleepy fishing village for a long time until somebody realized its strategic location and wonderful harbor. Empires came and went, wars came and went, and eventually a treaty was signed leasing HK to Britain for 99 years. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

Oops. In 1997 the lease expired and HK reverted to China. The pending "Handover" alarmed the wealthy Hong Kongers, and they began emigrating in the 1990's. (A lot of them went to Vancouver.)

It was agreed that HK could retain its capitalist system for at least 50 years after the Handover.

Approaching the dock

The Dragons' Flight Path

Hello, how are you?

Take temp, hello Hong Kong

Bird Garden

Michelin Street Food

Much Ado About Not Much

Chungking Mansions is a notorious, inexpensive hostel. It attracts a diverse clientele, mostly from undeveloped countries. It is estimated that 20% of the cellphones in sub-Saharan Africa have passe through this building.

Street Scenes

In the poorest district of Hong Kong, Sham Shui Po, we saw urban decay, illegal housing structures, and people surviving - even thriving.

The old and the new. Building codes allowed buildings up to 10 stories without elevators.

Chicken feet

He is making some waffle snacks that look like an egg crate.

You can get various types of snake to eat here: snake and mushroom soup, snake rice wine shots

We met an older man who built this illegal shack in an alley. He lives in one side of it, and operates a barber shop on the other side. The authorities lave him alone because he is employed and taking care of himself.