Mong Kok: Kernel of a City

Mong Kok is a special part of a special city.  It is the most densely populated area in the world.  It is a mixture of so many different kinds of sights and experiences it is difficult to describe.  In Mong Kok, you can walk down an alley and come upon a traditional market in full swing, complete with vegetable booths, food stands and live chickens they will carve for you on the spot.  You then suddently find yourself in front of a modern mall entrance with thick auto-sliding glass doors.

The street life is a perpetual hubbub that goes on well into the night.  I have heard that "mongkok" means busy, and I totally believe it.  The street markets close down early evening, but as night falls, activity just moves around a bit as residents are eating out or doing late shopping or just trying to get home.  You see the restaurants filling up, many of them with tables or make-do furniture out on the streets. 

Mong Kok is famous for its markets, for good reason. In some way it represents a microcosm of Asian commerce. There are traditional markets with the mobile booths and store markets with dozens of mini-malls on each block.  Many of them have a theme, such as the Ladies Market or the Tech Market.  Some are only open at night.  Some of them are just a few blocks from each other and they are all busy all the time they are open. 

I did not partake in the night life, but I did sometimes get back to my hotel quite late, and though activity does slow down after midnight, it was never completely dead.

One contrast that really struck me was with the stores.  There were a lot of hardware stores, which was itself interesting.  Interspersed with these were restaurants of all kinds, tea rooms, even massage parlours. 

Hong Kong Stats

Leaving Hong Kong with such an impression of perfection, I decided to look up some stats. I compare some data between Hong Kong, USA, Netherlands and China.

I won't fill up the blog with the numbers, but here are some observations.

Hong Kong does best for health and safety. Life expectancy is the highest there, its infant mortality is lowest, and its death rate is also the lowest. The death rate is a crude but useful aggregate indicator of things like fatal work accidents, traffic safety, violent crime, etc.

The USA was richest in purchasing power of its residents, but Hong Kong was close behind, higher than Netherlands.

Literacy and education is better than China, but not as good as USA or Netherlands. It's a little tricky to evaluate these things as 'literacy' is defined differently in different countries.

Hong Kong has by far the highest Gini coeffecient, measuring income inequality (crudely). This is in line with my own observation. I didn't see a lot of outright poverty; you'll see more homeless people in San Francisco or Seattle than in Hong Kong. However, a lot of low-level positions that are being automated in the West are still done by people in Hong Kong. You see a lot of parking attendants, receptionists, footmen in lobbies, street cleaners, etc.

I'm not sure if this is good or bad. Low-level jobs are good as gateways to the job market. There's also an advantage to immigrants. It's better to be cleaning in Hong Kong than unemployed in the Phillipines. Unemployment is at or near the natural rate even in a recession year. Still, if there is a class of people stuck in low-level jobs, that would be sad.

Finally, Hong Kong has an extremely low murder rate, #4 from the bottom, with only Japan, Saudi-Arabia and Qatar ahead.

Hong Kong's Fabulous Foods

For me, traveling is very much a culinary experience. A major reason I like Hong Kong so much is the food.

You can evaluate foods in two ways: 1. What's the best food you can get? 2. What's the average or consistency in food quality? Hong Kong has excelled by either measure: I've dined at a couple of the best restaurants in the world, and I have not had a bad meal.

Service has been a bit of hit and miss. Asian service seems to be hands-off, to the point where you need to flag the waiter to do the ordinary parts of a dining experience, such as ordering or paying. Language problems can amuse, as for instance the vegetarian restaurant offering me chicken, ham, sausage and seafood, neither of which I wanted.

Luk Yu teahouse has been my favorite -- authentic, friendly service, and the dim sum is the best I've had

Fairytale City

Hong Kong from Victoria Peak



You walk down an immaculate street, wondering if you can make your itinerary for an ambitious day. Your shoes never stick, you see no discarded paper cups, no errant paper blowing in the wind. The tiles are even and none are missing or cracked.

You come through a beautiful park with green shrubs, colorful flowers and an elegant fountain.

Fairytale Fountain



You descend into the metro station on a ramp that is smooth and shiny like marble. You get to the sprawling underworld with several levels and halls leading in all directions. Bilingual signs everywhere guide you to where you need to go, past neat shops and automated ticket dispensers that always work.

The train arrives on time a few minutes later, and you get into a car with clean, comfortable seats. The train moves quietly and fast, and you get to your destination as scheduled.

Again using the helpful signs, you exit the metro station by one of the numerous ramps within a block from where you need to be.

You get to the teahouse you want and a friendly waiter seats you and immediately serves you refreshing tea. You feast on sumptuous dim sum and other little meals until you are fat and happy.

You go outside and hail a cab. You get one immediately. The cab driver is polite and turns on the meter automatically. You drive down an even road with no cracks or potholes. The markings look like they were put there yesterday.

As you drive past the Louis Vuitton and Gucci stores, you notice that while it's a crowded city, and there are people everywhere, the traffic moves and you are never stuck or crammed.

You get out by the harbor to wait for the ferry. Unsurprisingly, it departs on time a few minutes later. The ocean air hits your nostrils and you get an incongruous whiff of sewage. As the ferry carries you to another scenic island, you take in the view of the stupefying expanse of high-rise below the green hills.

Fairytale Ferry (I cheated here: of course the commuter ferries didn't look like this)



You get off the ferry and walk down a lavish promenade. You are getting a little tired, so you take one of the ubiquitous escalators up the hill to your destination. You notice the handrail looks new and its motion is perfectly synchronized with the stairs.

At the top, you turn around to enjoy another arresting view of Fairytale City. You are well ahead of schedule in this town where everything works and everyone hustles. You relax and enjoy.

You are in Hong Kong.

Fairytale Flowers



Cleaning Fairytale City



Fairytale Paths and Staircases -- notice the perfect tile work

Temples

Today was temple tour. I visited Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin, Fung Ying Seen Koon and Ching Chung Koon. They were each sprawling compounds with many buildings, lakes and gardens.

Garden Pagodas at Sik Sik



Bonsai at Sik Sik



Pictures from Ching Chung Koon



Taoist Murals at Fung Ying Seen Koon

Today's Word: Opulent

Adjectives come to mind like raindrops as you bum around Hong Kong. Today's word is opulent.

Fountain and Walkway at base of Central Plaza

Bank of China

Flower garden at the top of Victoria Peak

Judging from the designer furniture on display, the inside of Hong Kong homes are as luxurious as the outside. I realize this is a poor indicator, but somebody must buy this stuff.

Elliot, Forgotten Father

I was at the Museum of History today. I found the presentation of Hong Kong history to be really good, and the interior was characteristally elegant and clean.

One thing that struck me in the presentation was the somewhat dichotomic approach to figures and events, in the sense that something or someone either failed or succeeded. For instance, both posters and movie presentations referred to Macartney as having "failed," where a Western account may just have said that he had an impossible task and did as well as he could under the circumstances.

It was not surprising, but still disappointing, Elliot should receive such little attention. If Hong Kong has a founding father, it is Charles Elliot. (Not to be confused with the bigotted Eliot that came to Hong Kong much later). Elliot not only was the first to suggest Hong Kong as a suitable location to the Colonial Office, he also defied orders and stipulated its cession at the first convention with the Chinese. He was also the commanding British officer taking possession of the island.

Elliot is a fascinating figure. Although his appointment to China was nepotistic, he dispatched his duties with energy and compunction. Like a 19th century Picard, he acted judiciously, taking his office seriously while maintaining respect for the local population and a policy of peace and restraint.

A case in point is when Dent was stuck in Canton just as hostilities were about to break out. With just four sailors, Elliot proceeded to enter Canton, outmanouvering a small fleet of junks trying to block him. He hoisted the flag over the super-intendent's office, indicating official UK presence and thereby showing government support for the compatriots and making the issue international. It is unclear what would have happened to Dent with a less dutiful plenipotentiary, but Elliot's actions were surely both daring and keen.

Hong Kong First Impressions

One word: splendor.

Everything is big, posh, clean and well-maintained.

The skyline goes on forever. Manhattan got nothing on Hong Kong.

 

Here's one little detail from Hong Kong's cityscape. The square where this tree grows is quite big, squeaky clean and I saw no cracks or bulges in the pavement (it probably helps that it never freezes here). Notice the plants in front of the sushi shop. They were real plants and lined up all along the marble facade.

The Mirror Metaphor Mystery

I'm reading a Chinese short story collection which includes the story "The Floating City" by Xi Xi. I'm sure "The Floating City" is a metaphor for Hong Kong, but several of the other metaphors escape me.

One of them is about mirrors. In "The Floating City," mirrors reflect the back of things, so that if you look into one, you see the back of your head instead of your face.

"In the floating city's mirrors you can't find any answers or forecast the
future. But you can know the past, and this is not necessarily a bad
thing. History can teach lessons, and this is one of the good things
about the mirrors in the floating city."

I wonder if this is a reference to the enlightenment philosophy of reason, knowledge and science, which focuses on describing things as they are in the here and now, and how they came to be that way, without divining about the future. This seems opposed to many other philosophies, including eastern and religious ones, with prophesies, oracles, astrology, etc, many of which contains a divination aspect.

If that is indeed the reference, it is a profound insight by Xi Xi.

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