Our first Hong Kong travel report: Actually, Hong Kong wasn’t even on our list. Marco’s friend gave us the idea, and his stories somehow made this metropolis appealing to us. A few weeks ago, we also saw a documentary about the construction of Hong Kong’s airport. We heard things like, “Hey, they’re crazy! They’re artificially building an island to build an airport there! Insane!” or “I wonder how closely they must live there…?” In any case, Hong Kong managed to stick in our minds, no idea why! But we can be spontaneous, so let’s just do it!

Why Hong Kong?

In Kuala Lumpur, we simply booked flights to Hong Kong. Zig-zag, done, booked! There was no turning back! “Hey, we’re flying to Hong Kong – totally cool, right? Who would have thought we’d fly to this city?” To be honest, we were never really fans of China, Japan, and the like, at least not of their big cities. Countless people, everything gray, kitsch and junk, high levels of air pollution – that’s the stereotype.

But as is always the case: things turn out differently than you expect! At first, we only wanted to book for a few days, but then we decided on two weeks. We wanted to take our time exploring the city. We don’t like rushing around. Who wants to discover such a megalopolis in just three days? You’d have to set off at 6 a.m. to fit in the tight schedule. No, no, not with us – you know: “There’s strength in calm!”

Hong Kong in three days? Never!

We prefer to travel slowly, and we also need our beloved “chill phases.” We don’t feel like just sightseeing all day. We need a break every now and then to catch our breath. On a day like that, we simply do nothing. Well, okay, we’ll go out and get something to eat, have a coffee, watch our favorite show, and “just hang out.” So that should fit in perfectly with our two-week plan.

The flight from KL took just under 3 hours and 50 minutes. I didn’t like the flight at all. Again, everything was so foggy, you could hardly see anything down there. Even from a distance, I could see the next thick, gray cloud cover. I was just waiting for the captain’s words: “For your safety, please fasten your seat belts.” Close your eyes again and get on with it!

After an eternity, we finally heard the liberating words echo through the speakers: “We are ready for landing! Please take your seat and fasten your seat belt. And also make sure your seat back and folding trays are in their full upright position.” I love those words! Shortly before landing, we saw the impressive skyline and tens of thousands of skyscrapers.

Everything sparkled and flashed in golden colors. Although we had just come from a big city, we were still really looking forward to the next adventure. Hong Kong was different—for us, the easternmost point of our world trip so far. From here, it’s a stone’s throw to China (Shenzhen), and we were only 2,800 kilometers from Japan.

Welcome to Hong Kong

At the airport, there was no trace of Malaysia or Thailand anymore – everything here was Chinese, with new characters, a new culture, and different people. You immediately realized you were in a completely different world. “We’d just seen the documentary about how this mega-airport was built, and now we were standing there – crazy, somehow!” We grabbed our backpacks and went looking for the bus. Sure, we could have taken the express train, but we were too stingy for that.

Buses are always so cheap, and the journey time wasn’t that long either. After we bought our tickets and hopped on the bus, we saw a sign on the window that said “Free Wi-Fi.” Wow, not even Germany is that modern…

We were sitting in a double-decker bus, very modern and newly equipped. And if that wasn’t luxury enough, there was also Wi-Fi on the buses. I grabbed my phone, logged in, and looked for the chat with my mum on WhatsApp. “We’re on the bus to Hong Kong. Internet on the bus is included. Hopefully, the stops are also displayed in English; that would be really helpful.”

Then we went up Airport Road and continued across Lantau Island to the Tsing Ma Bridge. It’s the seventh-longest suspension bridge in the world and the longest bridge that can also carry trains. “Wooowwww, look. That’s really crazy!” We were glued to the window like two small children, amazed. From the documentary, we knew that a six-lane highway runs above and that two trains can run simultaneously below. Somehow, this bridge seems like a larger version of the Golden Gate Bridge.

In the middle of the Kowloon jungle

We were dropped off on Nathan Road in the center of Hong Kong/Kowloon and suddenly we were in the middle of the hustle and bustle. Neon signs, flashing signs, and other colorful XXL posters hung everywhere. Marco’s first sentence: “It somehow feels like New York, only Asian.” Around us were many people, many cars, many shops, and extremely warm air. I thought it would be cooler in Hong Kong. But that wasn’t the case. It was muggy and humid, as always in Asia.

Although we had the name of the street, we still couldn’t find it right away. But we simply asked our way, and after 30 minutes, we found ourselves on Temple Street. Here we were right next to the “famous” Temple Night Market. We pushed our way through the small alleys and the many stalls, past all the people. “That’s our house, we have to go in!” There were a few prostitutes standing in front of the entrance door, and the hallway was filthy and dirty.

Um… are we in the right place? Is this really the entrance door to our “apartment”? The elevator didn’t look the best either. The smell was simply disgusting. Everything was so gray, dreary, and run-down. When we got upstairs, two tipsy English women were standing at the door. They tried to get into their room, but couldn’t. Marco had received two codes from the landlady: one for the front entrance door and one for the bedroom door. Neither worked.

Were we being ripped off?

The two English women chatted away at us and had a pretty disgusting smell. I have no idea where they just came from. They were also with two local Asian guys. They also seemed somewhat sinister. One was smoking in the hallway, the other said, “You’ve definitely been ripped off.” Great, how did we end up here?

The English women had also booked a room through our landlady. So it was strange that they and we had the wrong codes. No one came into the room, and we didn’t even know which of the five rooms was ours. I tried the code on all the doors, but nothing happened. The door at the back opened, and a Chinese man stared at me angrily and disparagingly, then slammed the door shut. “Wow, imagine we’ve really been ripped off? What do we do now?”

The English women tried to reach the landlady, which they succeeded in doing. After a few minutes, a guy appeared, sent by the landlady. He said, “Pick a code, I’ll program it in there!” Marco dialed a combination, and everything was sorted out. We just didn’t like the fact that there were some people who had this “master code” and could therefore always get into the rooms. We didn’t feel that safe at first.

Hong Kong – Living in a Few Square Meters

The room was tiny – typical Hong Kong. But we knew what we were getting into. At first, we were both somewhat disappointed, because the area wasn’t that cool, and the house even less so. We felt uncomfortable. The room had a small (rock-hard) bed, a stool, a refrigerator, a TV, and a sort of closet with a toilet and shower head. All of this in just a few square meters. The view from the window looked exactly like this:

The bed was as hard as concrete, the air conditioning rattled. We were no longer in our huge apartment in Kuala Lumpur. Now we were in Hong Kong, in a tiny room in a strange neighborhood. After the initial shock had passed, we were looking forward to the next two weeks. We accepted the situation, settled in, made ourselves comfortable, and went out again to find something to eat.