Hong Kong

Now let's tell something about my trip to Hong Kong and Thailand of which I already came back almost two weeks ago. I'll start with Hong Kong, were we (me and my girlfriend) stayed three nights at the beginning and one night at the end of our holiday.
Besides interest in the city, I had chosen to go there because Shi Nang Koo, a friend of mine who I met in France three years ago, lives there now. It was great to see him again, and nice to have him as our guide. Not only isn't everyone as fluent in English as you would expect from a former English colony, also the fact that vegetarian food is hard to find (especially if you can't speak or read chinese) made the help of my friend, who is also vegetarian, very usefull.
The very first thing that stood out when the bus from the airport arrived in Hong Kong was the hight of almost all buildings. While in Tokyo skyscrapers are dispersed throughout the city among lower buildings, with just some concentrations in Shinjuku, Yoyogi and some other places, in Hong Kong it's like there are no buildings with less then 20 stories. Also the shape of these buildings is interesting: in some cases because of it's originality, in most cases because of it's poor maintenance and cold concrete construction. Even though Hong Kong is a properous city (at least compared to Bangkok), it seems that there isn't much money for the maintenance of appartments, only for the construction of new ones. So between dilapidated buildings brand new appartments are being erected, so that the richer part of the population can live in well-equiped housing while the middle class has to settle for very small apartments in the older buildings.
Regardless of class, the government tries to 'educate' (or just control) the population through advertisements on television and posters on the street, encouraging you not to throw trash on the street, to keep your electrical installation in good condition and to hand your private poultry over to the authorities in the fight against the bird-flu. Whenever applicable, the considerable fine for non-compliance is also clearly shown.
Of course, Hong Kong mostly thrives on the commercial activity in the harbour, which considerable size is visible from the airport-bus: loads of containers and long rows of cranes to load and land the ships that come from all over the world. But apparently, Hong Kong is now trying to increase income from tourism, since 2006 was announced to be 'Discover Hong Kong Year'. In the offensive to lure more tourists to the city, the brand-new location of Disneyland just outside Hong Kong is widely promoted, new attractions are to be opened this year and several events will be held. Actually, we didn't notice most of this until we were about to leave Hong Kong, but at least they make an effort.
However, to me the most interesting of the whole city is just it's general atmosphere. Of course it's nice to visit some temples, see the lightshow at the bay that incorporates the most prominent buildings of the city's skyline, see contemporary traditional ink-paintings in the Museum of Modern Art or visit some of the lively streetmarkets and shoppings-streets. But the most interesting is the high percentage of foreigners living there, the impressive skyscrapers, the many small restaurants, the compact set up and accessibility of the city-center and the ever-continuing activity. This great diversity and high concentration of commercial and cultural activity in such a small area is what made the most impression on me. Maybe Hong Kong isn't and will never be a typical touristic hot-spot, but it is very interesting for anyone who is curious about how Asian cities or countries can develop through links and influences from all over the world. It makes me wonder how Tokyo failed to develop a similar diversity (at least of its population: only rarely you see a foreigner in Tokyo), and even though I haven't been to Shanghai or Beijing, I guess the rest of China will roughly move into the same direction as Hong Kong.