My Travels with Tintin – Hong Kong / Macau

I have one Tintin album published in Hong Kong, “黑島” (The Black Island). It published in 2004 by The Commercial Press (Hong Kong), as part of a (nearly complete) 22-album series released in 2004.

My trips to Hong Kong/Macau:

I’ve been to Hong Kong three times and Macau once. The first time I visited Hong Kong was from October 8 to 13, 2008 – with a short day trip to Macau on October 10. It was a work trip, and like most work trips I mainly just worked. However, I did have a chance to spend a couple of days over the weekend to look around.

Having been to Beijing before I visited Hong Kong, I have to say my first impression was that it was the “Chinatown” of China. Hopefully that’s not disrespectful, but there are a few reasons for that. First of all, I felt a lot more comfortable my first time in Hong Kong than I did in Beijing… partly that’s because of when I grew up. For people of my generation, those of us that grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, Hong Kong WAS China. The US President Richard Nixon famously first visited mainland China in 1972, but for most of the next two decades the People’s Republic of China was still a great mystery. Most “Chinese immigrants” from that era were Cantonese speakers and a lot of the local Chinatowns (at least in Canada, but I suspect everywhere) were heavily represented by Hong Kong ex-pats. Every “Chinese” person I knew was originally  from Hong Kong, and I grew up with a very close friend who’s family was originally from Hong Kong. So, a lot of what I thought I knew about China was through that lens. Beijing felt very very different, but Hong Kong felt very comfortable.

Since it was a work trip, I didn’t have a chance to stray too far afield… and the only two non-work-related excursions were spending an afternoon walking along the Avenue of Stars – which was basically a “Hollywood Walk of Fame” that honoured celebrities of the Hong Kong film industry. It’s a lovely avenue located along the Victoria Harbour waterfront in Tsim Sha Tsui. There were certainly a bunch of names I didn’t know, but I found plenty of ones I did know… John Woo, Andy Lau, Jet Li, and Jackie Chan. Of course, the biggest draw was none other than Bruce Lee! The other thing I remember well was the smell of the “stinky tofu” in Mong Kok. If you’ve never smelled stinky tofu… well, you really should… and Mong Kok is the place to do it. Mong Kok is a famously bustling district in Kowloon, and known as one of the most densely populated spots on Earth.

I should also mention that I did, again for work, take a high-speed ferry from Hong Kong to Macau during this trip. In case you don’t know, Macau, like Hong Kong is also a special autonomous region on the south coast of China. It’s across the Pearl River Delta from Hong Kong (hence the ferry) and it was a Portuguese territory until 1999, so it’s got a different cultural vibe. However, it’s now most famous for its giant casinos and malls on the Cotai Strip, which joins the islands of Taipa and Coloane. Basically it’s the “Las Vegas of Asia.” I didn’t actually get to see any of the casinos, but I was delayed arriving and missed the shuttle bus at the ferry port and while I was sitting there waiting for the next bus, I had plenty of offers to take me to visit one. Oh, well. I guess I missed the chance to double my money like I did in Las Vegas.

My second trip to Hong Kong, from March 18 to 22, 2010 was much more fun. Mainly because it was our first real family vacation in Asia. My son wasn’t even a year old yet, so travelling with a baby did have some challenges, but it was still a very fun and memorable trip.

We were staying in a hotel with a very tiny room on the Kowloon side and one of the first things we did was take the famous green Star Ferry across Victoria Harbour over to Hong Kong Island. It was a short trip, but the water was choppy enough (and the ferry small enough) that all three of us were feeling a bit seasick after we docked. It was one of those experiences that you can say you did, but I’m not sure I’d be eager to try it again – especially not with a baby on board. We arrived in Central and then decided to just take a walk around the downtown area and see what we could see. One of the things that stuck out to me were the street cars of the Hong Kong Tramway. Hong Kong’s tram system is one of the most obvious holdovers of British rule. They’ve been around since 1904, and the double-decker, electric-powered, light rail line is one of the cheapest and easiest (and most fun!) ways to travel along the North edge of Hong Kong Island.

Afterwards we decided to take a tram of a different sort and head up to the top of Victoria Peak. “The Peak” as it’s known, is the highest hill on Hong Kong Island (552m) and offers a stunning panoramic views of the high-rise skyline, Victoria Harbour, and surrounding islands. We had to wait for the tram – the line wasn’t long, but only one goes up as the other comes down… so, it takes a while – but it was worth it. The view from the Peak itself is spectacular, but even the ride up and down was fun. For such a densely packed urban landscape, Hong Kong has a surprising amount of green space, and Victoria Peak is a bit of a garden oasis.

The next day we decided to explore the other side of Hong Kong island. We took a scary bus ride along a very narrow road through the forested middle of the island. It was scary because at several places along the route, depending on which side of the bus you were sitting, you either had another bus passing within literally a few centimetres of your nose out one window, or the scraping tree branches that seemed to be the only thing keeping the bus from plunging off a cliff on the other. Of course none of the locals seemed concerned, but man… that seemed like a close call. Our first stop on the other side was to check out Repulse Bay. It’s a beautiful paradise, where the mountain forests meet the water along a lovely sandy beach. No surprise, given the Hong Kong real estate market, that Repulse Bay (a.k.a. Tsin Shui Wan) is one of the most expensive residential areas in the world. Obviously a bit too rich for our blood, so we continued down the coast a bit to Stanely. Another holdover from British rule, Stanley is a small coastal town named after Lord Stanley, the British Colonial Secretary at the time of the cession of Hong Kong to the United Kingdom in 1842. We had a very pleasant “Hong Kong style lunch” at one of the local restaurants and then spent some time winding our way through the maze of Stanley Market. It’s a fun open-air market that sells plenty of Hong Kong souvenirs, traditional Chinese silk clothing, toys, ornaments, luggage, souvenirs, paintings, and Chinese arts and crafts. Basically anything a tourist could want.

On our third day in Hong Kong we decided to venture even further and went to visit the Big Buddha on Lantau Island. Lantau Island is a ways away from downtown Hong Kong – almost all the way back to the Hong Kong International Airport. We took the MTR (Mass Transit Railway, i.e. the Hong Kong subway system) from Central all the way to Tung Chung station and I was surprised at how many people… especially young families were getting on the train as we went along. It wasn’t until later that I realized that most of them were on a very different spiritual quest… they weren’t in search of enlightenment, they were headed to Hong Kong Disneyland! Of course we also got to go for a ride… on the Ngong Ping 360! The best way to get from Tung Chung to Ngong Ping Village (where the Big Buddha and the Po Lin Monastery are) is a 25-minute (5.7 kilometre) scenic cable car ride! It was simply lovely to float above the island, taking in the view of Tung Chung Bay and then seeing the Big Buddha get closer and closer!

We spent most of our final day in Hong Kong in the downtown area on the Kowloon side. A bit of shopping, etc., but it was the evening that was the most memorable. After dinner we checked out the Temple Street Night Market in Jordan, a bustling night bazaar full of all kinds of eclectic goods. We were there a bit early (I think it opens from 4pm to midnight, but doesn’t really get going until after 9pm). We also wandered down to Mong Kok to (once again) check out the stinky tofu. However, the best part of the evening was seeing the Victoria Harbour lit up in a laser light display. My wife had been carrying our son around in a strap-on baby holder, with him facing his mother. However, when she flipped him around so that he could see the light show in front of him we were amazed at how much he loved it. He went from being a bit cranky and fussy to bright-eyed giggling and happy gurgling. He LOVED it. It felt like the “closing ceremony” to our Hong Kong adventure – what a treat!

My third trip to Hong Kong was a short business trip from February 21 to 24, 2016.  I spent most of the time in a board room, but we did enjoy a nice dinner at a Thai restaurant. Other than that, nothing much to report.

Since then it’s been a bit difficult to see the direction Hong Kong has been heading… with more and more control being exerted by Beijing. It’s a bit sad, but I’m still glad I got to see it while it still retained quite a bit of its unique blend of East and West.