Finding Inspiration in the hidden contrasts and alleys of Hong Kong
Hong Kong is like a novel, and a summary of it can be seen in the stunning skylines, beautiful culture, vivid amalgamation of old and new lifestyles and the bustling night life of the Mid-levels. But what is truly inspiring is when we see beyond the obvious, beyond all the glitter and shimmer..
Hong Kong is a city of many contrasts, it is a true beauty with a facade. Although stunning skyline makes you like the city, secluded beaches make you fall in love with them. While urban cafes and nightlife are the true testimony to its richness, the night markets narrate its real tales. While Disney world presents the entertainment dream, the hidden community centers are a true vision in the making. Here are 3 moments from my travel to this city that made a difference.
On the lap of Shek-O beach,
“My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21. Everything since then has been a bonus. — Stephen Hawking
On a cold Friday afternoon, when most of the city was waiting to let it’s hair down and party away the night, we opened the map and randomly selected a beach to spend our evening. What followed was an unforgettable experience. The beach is located not very far away from the heart of the city. A train ride to Shan Kei Wan Station and a half an hour bus ride. We boarded the bus thinking it is just a mode of transport to bring us to our destination, but it literally was a vehicle which took us from a bustling city right on to the lap of deserted beaches. Winding through the hills and narrow lanes, we just sat awe struck with not just with beauty that we were seeing, but we were in awe of the city which had two completely contrasting masks that slipped away under each other as we made our choices through our Journey!!
When we entered the beach, to our surprise it did not have many people, but groups of kids playing lemon and spoon on the beach, drawing me back into my childhood. The cold breeze and lashing waves made a perfect host. We spent some time walking on the beach thinking to ourselves that within a matter of an hour, we were transported from this crowded city to a beautiful beach that almost had no people at all. It seemed like magic, considering Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated cities in the world!
Sometimes, life is far more rewarding when we expect less and when we are prepared to handle the worst. When we get ready to accept whatever we see and where ever we are, we are often pleasantly surprised and it eventually goes on to become one of the happiest moments, for it was way better than whatever you imagined!
And Hong Kong had surprised us with its secluded beaches. It literally felt like I had travelled from Singapore to the unexplored beaches of Thailand
The silent whispers of a Wishing Tree..
“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
One breezy afternoon we sat in a restaurant enjoying delicious pizza, flipping through the pages of a Lonely Planet guidebook. In our quest to explore the “New Territories” of Hong Kong, we randomly chose a place called “Tai Po Market”. The places of interest in the book said “A Wishing Tree”, “An Organic Farm”, “A Bride’s Waterfall” and “Reservoir”. As one would expect we had a perfect plan, a perfect itinerary, a map, GPS and all the tools required to explore the place. As touristy as it can get right? So, we started as per our plan to our first destination — The Wishing Tree. After a beautiful ride through the countryside on the bus, we were excited to see a tree which carried so many wishes, hopes and dreams of people. To our despair, what we saw was a man-made giant orange tree decorated with a lot of red tags. Sure, it did have wishes, hopes, and dreams, but it lacked any authenticity. The storyboard near the tree read that the tree was uprooted, as it was dying due to the burning of incense sticks that people brought to the tree, along with their desires.
We were quite disappointed. After a long ride of close to an hour, the last thing you want to see is a man-made wishing tree. We felt there should be something more than this and as we explored the place around we found a hidden community center tucked away in its backyard, loaded with information on how to make Earth a better place to live in.
This center was meant for kids who “have to” know this, as we are not leaving behind anything good to make their life easy. It had all the tools to make an impact on kids who visited it, right from glorious past of how electricity was produced, to ways of plastic recycling in today’s modern world. Also details about the reckless consumption of resources by the present generation.
We dug a bit deeper into the noble initiative of plastic recycling and news about overwhelming support that community has given this cause. What followed was a trip to the plastic collection center point to know more about this initiative. After hitchhiking our way to this center, the people there were more than happy to provide us with all the information they had. It truly re-ignited our thought process on what we could do to make the Earth a better place to live in.
Although traveling is for exploring new places, to bring awareness about new culture and experiences, sometimes it does more than that. It kindles a forgotten passion, lost interests and draws you back to the path that was somehow missed at crossroads, while we were busy navigating our mundane lives!
Universe truly has it ways of making us listen when needed!
Smiles at the Night Market
“You’ll find that life is still worthwhile, if you just smile.” ― Charles Chaplin
Hong Kong has an array of night markets that will overwhelm you, not just with the confusion of what to buy, but also introduce you to the world of beautiful people with their own little worlds out there which are not very different from their neighbors.
Most of the things you find in the first shop you will definitely also be found in their neighbor’s shop, and their neighbor’s shop too, and the loop continues. We kept wondering how on earth do they make money? What business model do they follow? What is their unique strategy?
When you are in a night market, the rule of thumb is to bargain as much as you can and yes, half the population in the world will agree to it and it is a matter of one’s pride to be good bargainers! It was no different in our case too. The 1st shop that I went in, I asked for half the price, the aunty in the shop was not very happy with it, but did not curse me either. The second shop uncle gave me some nasty looks.
I did not give up on practising my bargaining skills, and as I navigated through a couple more shops, I stumbled upon this unique shop. It had just about same things as other shop and it was run by 2 ladies in maybe their mid-thirties. Just happy to show all the bags she had, she smiled and laughed while we tried to make small conversation with our broken Chinese. It felt unique. Yes, the smiles did make the shop special, but we did not stop bargaining and the aunty did not stop smiling. To our surprise, she even tried to speak English. Finally, I did not mind paying a couple more dollars than what I bargained for. After all, aunty gave me a thousand genuine smiles. Now with memories to treasure as a bonus, I also got the bag I love.
Although all of us come to this world with the same set of “Configurations”, we are all packaged differently, we dress differently, our belief system is different, we work differently, we truly are one of a kind! At the end what matters is not to show to the world how unique we are, but to find these threads which are common between us and embrace it with a smile.
Traveling is a gift to yourself, it is a way to find yourself and listen to all the stories that universe has to say. You can flip through it as fast as you can or read it like a novel, enjoying and relating to every bit of the mystery and surprises it brings.
On the whole, Hong Kong was a pleasant mystery that was worth traversing at leisure.
