Hong Kong, Reflections
This post is my space for personal reflections on places we’ve visited. I want to try a new style of writing that’s more reflective. I want to be able to look back on these pieces and remember how I felt when visiting all of these incredible places.
We were planning on cat-sitting in Singapore for the holidays. That fell through at the last minute, and we went back on the hunt to find somewhere else to stay. We ended up in Hong Kong, which wasn’t on our list of places to visit but turned out to be perfect.
So here are some reflections about being in Hong Kong and dog-sitting over Christmas.
Initial House-Sitting Thoughts
Housesitting to me sounded like the dream. Travel the world, don’t pay for accommodation, look after gorgeous animals without a long-term commitment. Find out more about our house-sitting experience.
It was so incredible to be able to step into someone else’s life in Hong Kong. Rather than seeing the city through a tourist’s eyes, we were able to experience what it would be like to live there. We lived in a regular neighbourhood, in a proper apartment. We spent a lot of time working. And the priority was always the pet.
In this case, the pet was a dog, so it took a lot more attention compared to our next sit, which was two cats. Little Suki needed four walks a day. She didn’t like being home alone for too long.
This definitely curtailed our tourist activities. But because we were there for a longer period of time, we still saw everything that we wanted to.
Christmas in the Cold
We underestimated how cold Hong Kong got in the winter. We’ve been staying in fairly tropical locations for the best part of three years. Thankfully I’d just been clearing out closets back in New Zealand and had with me two warm, winter coats.
But how lovely for Kieron, a Welshman, to experience a cold Christmas. With the British influence, there were also familiar things like M&S and Yorkshire puddings.
Spending a Christmas somewhere cooler was such a treat that we appreciated.
Hiking in Hong Kong
Green spaces are not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Hong Kong. But I’d just bought a book on great hikes around the world, which included a section on Hong Kong.
We didn’t do the entire Cross Island hike, as that’s an all-day affair. And little Suki really meant we couldn’t do long excursions. But the trail is broken up into sections so we opted for the final section, which is one of the highest rated.
It was fantastic. Amazing views. Lush greenery. It even finished on a surf beach where we could get locally brewed beer and hot chips. Again, definitely not what I was expecting from Hong Kong.
City Folk
We’ve spent a lot of time in small villages and tourist towns. Being back in a city brought back home how few smiles you see in the city.
Hong Kong locals and expats were lovely but mostly in a rush to get on with their busy lives.
However, there are a lot of Filipinos working as home help in Hong Kong. We saw them regularly when we were out walking the dog as this is part of their jobs too. And they were delightful. Christmas is an important part of their culture so they were all in very high spirits for the holidays. Saying “Good morning” to all the other dog walkers became a favourite part of the day.
Not Being a Tourist
Although we did do some touristy things, it didn’t feel like we were tourists. We bought groceries. We cooked. We visited our local walking track multiple times a day.
This is part of what I like about travelling slowly. You feel more a part of the places you visit. You make friends with your local barista. You understand how the buses work.
House-sitting is a very cool way to accelerate that process. We only stayed in Hong Kong for two weeks, but it felt like we knew it so well by the time we left. Obviously, we only knew our little corner. But it felt like home.
But, Back to Being a Tourist
We had a recommendation from a local to visit the cable car and a giant Buddha statue on a hill. It sounded great.
But we did not do enough a research. We went on a Sunday around Christmas. And it was awful.
We spent hours and hours queuing. We queued to redeem our tickets. We queued to go up the escalators. We queued to have our tickets scanned. We queued to get on the cable car.
When we got to the top, we saw the queue to get on the cable car and come back down. Kieron didn’t even see the Buddha. He just started queuing again.
I don’t recommend being a tourist, during tourist season.
Prices
One thing we had considered, but perhaps not fully, was how cheap our lives are in Lombok. Some of that is geo-arbitrage. Some is just a time thing. We’ve spent enough time there to know where to get the deals.
However, Hong Kong is expensive. To experience the city, you definitely have to spend a lot more than we do in our little piece of Indonesian paradise.
Final Note
I’m so glad we got to experience Hong Kong. Pet-sitting opened a door that I didn’t I think was going to be possible for us.
I would definitely return to Hong Kong if I had the opportunity and I would love to hike the whole Cross Island trail. But I think after staying such a gorgeous neighbourhood, I’d be fussy about where I’d want to stay in this city.
