Asia's World City: Part 1

That is how Cathay Pacific calls the Hong Kong state. And indeed, it is a world city. Hong Kong's development and current state traces its roots in the deep water harbour. Hong Kong's location was unique, as it allowed smaller ships and barges from the Pearl river to ferry raw material upto the deep water harbour, from where it would be loaded onto the large ships for further transportation. Thus, being a port, Hong Kong was visited by lots of ships and its crew. Further, being a British territory for a long time, it saw settlements from various British colonies such as undivided India, some parts of the African continent, etc. And as Hong Kong transformed itself into a financial centre of the Asia-Pacific region, it saw further influx of various nationalities from around the world.

Hong Kong's economy is heavily loaded with financial services, followed by tourism. And they have pulled all stops out, to attract tourists to the city. The connect begins even before you have bought a ticket to Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) has a website in place for you to plan the journey. To start with, they offer free tourist visa on arrival for citizens of various countries. So, you can buy your ticket, take your passport and board the plane and enter Hong Kong in a jiffy. Even at the airport, the HKTB goes all the way to ensure that you get to know about the tourist spots in Hong Kong.

One thing that amazes you about Hong Kong is connectivity. The airport is around 25 km. from down-town, on a separate island. It is connected by Airport Express buses, which can take you to almost any part of Hong Kong and by Hong Kong's famous MTR. In effect, if traffic permits, you are not away from down-town Hong Kong by more than an hour.

If you are a tourist in Hong Kong, Tsim Tsa Shui (pronounced as chim cha sui) is the place to stay. Why? Because it has all sorts of accommodation options, ranging from budget hotels to luxury ones. And because of its proximity to most tourist locations in and around Hong Kong island. Also, staying in Tsim Tsa Sui lets you avoid the office crowd that pours into Hong Kong island. Tsim Tsa Sui also has connectivity to two MTR stations: Tsim Tsa Sui and East Tsim Tsa Sui, which further connect to the outer islands and other tourist locations of the SAR.

Must do in Hong Kong: Take a harbour tour on the Star Ferry to experience the colonial history and activites of Hong Kong. Go to the Avenue of Stars and take a picture along with Bruce Lee, Hong Kong's most famous international superstar. And on a clear night, if there have been no thunderstorm warnings, you can watch the Symphony of Lights show, which involves an orchestra of lights being beamed from more than twelve buildings from Hong Kong bay and Kowloon Island.


I will follow up more details about Hong Kong tourism in the next post.

European diaries, Part 3: Rules, regulations and human rights

Now that I have written a few good and humourous things about Europe, let me also talk about the "bad" things in Europe. Here, in India, we keep on commenting how clean the western countries are, how they follow rules and regulations, etc., etc. Well, mainland Europe is clean, its streets are bereft of any dirt or garbage. People carry leftovers in their bags and drop them off only in bins kept at frequent locations and cleaned at regular intervals.

But, to say that (western) Europeans have highest regard for rules and regulations, is far-fetched. In Europe, smoking is banned in public places and public transport. So, while Europeans do not smoke on trains, you should watch them at railway stations. Before boarding the train, the passengers smoke incessantly. And as the guard blows the whistle, to indicate closing of doors, they stub the cigarette on the platform and get into the train. These stubs are left on the platform, to be collected by the cleaning staff, whenever they do their rounds. Even at intermediate stations, passengers get down from the train, take a few puffs and then get back in the train. It is common to find numerous cigarettes stubs at station entrances and exits.

In the Louvre museum in Paris, there are strict instructions, written on the entry ticket and atleast one wall of every gallery, to not use the camera flash while photographing the artwork inside. Yet, you will find everybody, majority of whom are Europeans and Americans, violating this rule and nonchalantly using the camera flash to click photographs. They do not even spare the cathedral, where others have come in to offer their prayers.

And finally, while the European Union champions itself as an organisation that strives for enforcement of human rights, it falters in its own backyard. One of the most basic right of any human is access to potable water. Even in India, (supposedly "third world" and having a bad record of human rights violations) there are free water fountains in cities, towns, railway stations, etc. where anybody can drink water. And restaurants are bound by law to provide potable water free of costs to their customers. But, none of this exists in Europe. You are required to buy your beverage at the restaurant, whether it is water or Coke. And both are priced at the same rate. Of course, tap water in Europe is so potable, that you can even drink from the wash basin tap. But then, isn't it necessary to provide for free (or cheap) access to water to commoners? Why should water be priced at the same rate as cold-drinks or slightly cheaper than beer? I do not see any of the European countries acting on this issue any time in the future. Even the USA has a law which makes it compulsory to provide free potable water at every place that serves food.*

While we brood about our uncivilised ways and their civilised ways, let's thank God for the things we already have.

*About the free potable water in USA, I was told about this by a US citizen. I personally do not know if such a law exists and do not hold me responsible if this information is incorrect.

European diaries, Part2: Confusions galore

In my previous post, I had written about how the politeness of Belgians and, in general, most of Western Europeans left me baffled. There are a lot more things in Europe that can confuse you, especially if you are coming from tropical South Asia.

Since the young age of seven or eight, we are taught about how to safely cross the road. The teacher used to instruct- look to right, see if there is no vehicle approaching. Then look to your left and see if there is no vehicle approaching. Then cross the road only if there are no vehicles approaching from both sides. Over time, we gained experience on how to cross the streets safely, even if there are vehicles approaching. And over time, our necks first turn right, then left, as if it were a reflex action. But, this would never work in mainland Europe. In the first two days, I used to do that almost reflexively. And when I began crossing the road, a car used to honk at me. It takes you time to realise that the traffic here is always travelling from left to right. So, you need to first look left, then right and then cross the road. Till the day I left Europe, it always happened to me atleast one a day.

European summers too add to a lot of confusion. Being from India, where the longest day isn't more than 13 hours, it is very difficult to digest the fact that the sun sets after 10:00 PM in the summer. Even at 8:00 PM in the evening, the sun is shining as it would at 4 PM in the afternoon in India. And the mind cannot prepare the body to have dinner while the sun is still shining high in the sky. Or to go to sleep when it is so bright. I've ended up being half sleepy all through my Europe trip, just because I couldn't adjust to this very fact. But, otherwise, Europe is enjoyable and the life is definitely good.

Europe diaries: Part 1

In Belgium, every one is too polite. It freaks me out, when the person at the ticket counter says "Bon jour". Not only in the morning, but any time of the day. Especially, when you are used to the thumping, that indicates "next please". For the first two days, I wasn't able to return the greeting. I could only smile in surprise. But, somehow, I managed to say "Thank you" at the end of the ticket purchase transaction.

The same goes with the travelling ticket examiner. In Belgium, there are female TTEs too. He or she first greets you with "Bon jour" and then politely asks you for your ticket. These people might be greeting more than 100 people in a single journey. A sea of change from India.