To Hong Kong

I left my luggage in Shenzhen and took off ‘Nick Sowers style’ to Hong Kong with a backpack and a shoulder bag. It was really liberating. He might have enjoyed the hour-long wait at the border and immigration counters (it felt like I was in an airport even though I was traveling by rail), I tried to pass the time by studying Shenzhen’s facade, the shiny face the city presented to visitors from Hong Kong. Hong Kong stared blankly back.

Passed the clusters of tall housing blocks in Hong Kong’s “new territories” as I headed into Kowloon. Made plans to see some of these new cities (officially 9 of them since 1970) in the coming days. Finally arrived at the scariest accommodation of the trip thus far, and checked in to the dirtiest circus in the world, in the upper reaches of the massive Chungking Mansions. Wasn’t until later that evening when I saw Hong Kong Island for the first time. With the casts of Bruce Lee’s handprints under my feet, I watched the nightly laser light show symphony play out on one of the world’s most remarkable skylines.