Without all the glorious neon lights that were once synonymous with the city, Hong Kong felt a little similar to Singapore at first glance. I was kind of sad seeing how everything were replaced by LED signs which were not attractive and also certainly emitting excessive blue light. The art is certainly lost.
But I was definitely impressed and curious by the density of the city. Walking on the streets, when the ground floor and sometimes a few floors more function as commercial area, all the rest of the floors going up have windows facing the street directly on the facade. Because of the land use and also because of the proportion between the streets width and the height of the buildings, it felt very dense. I couldn't help but keep looking up. I wondered about the lives behind all those windows. I wanted to go inside. I wanted to know what the floor plans like. I wondered how it felt living above with all the bustling activities below in such cramped area.
Another thing I couldn't help noticing was hygiene. For days I was in Hong Kong my eczema didn't flare up which probably meant they use softer kind of hand soap. And then there's no hand dryer in their toilets. Also there's often always a sign inside the cubicle reminding people to close the toilet lid before flushing. This shouldn't be a big deal but I guess living currently in a big city where people don't understand basic hygiene I noticed these things glaringly, sadly.
This trip was a company trip therefore I didn't have the usual freedom of traveling. I didn't go to a lot of places. Didn't even have dim sum once, unbelievably. But it wasn't a bad trip at all. Spending time laughing out loud until three in the morning in a hotel bedroom with colleagues was fun.
