If you happen to find yourself travelling half way around the world, and have a few extra hours to burn in the middle, what could be nicer than Hong Kong?  The landscape is conveniently compressed into a vertical form that makes it photogenic and easy to get around.

I landed at around 7AM from SFO and the express train deposited me in central Hong Kong shortly after 8. While my mission was to find something local to eat, I decided first to visit the small market area and see if it was buzzing early.  It was, with seafood, butcher, grocers, eateries, and more packed into alleyways covering a few blocks of the neighborhood.  I wandered around admiring some of the exotic offerings, but the stifling heat and humidity combined with the steep streets to put me into an overheated state pretty quickly.  I made my way back down towards downtown and lost my bearings for a remarkably long time in a maze of air-conditioned upscale shopping malls.  By the time I found myself I was cooled off and decided a ferry ride was more sensible in the heat.

I travelled the short hop across the harbor to Kowloon and investigated another air-conditioned attraction – the Hong Kong Museum of Art.  Three progressively more exciting exhibits – pottery antiquities, showing the gradual refinement from Neolithic pots to Ming dynasty vases.  Amazing to see a pitcher thousands of years old with a form that modern Italian designers would envy, and how the conventions, techniques, and designs subsequently developed in many cases only detract.

Next was an exhibit of painted scrolls, which although ancient capture an expressionism and spontaneity that the European tradition took centuries to reach.  And the juxtaposition of text and image seemed quite trendy!

The final exhibition was contemporary paintings – all of similar aesthetic to the ancient scrolls, but with modern subjects, colors, and compositions.  Although some came across as fairly flat and cartoony, there were quite a number of amazing pieces from both the point of graphical composition and expressionistic brush artistry.  Well worth the visit!

I hopped a ferry back across to downtown and made my way up the series of outdoor escalators that helps bride the downtown to the trendy SoHo neighborhood.  Searching among the dozens of trendy looking eateries featuring cuisines from all over the world, I finally found a simple Chinese eatery, packed with locals, and with very little Arabic lettering in evidence.

I was placed across a tiny table from a man just finishing his meal, and ordered a few items from the minimal English menu they provided – steamed pork buns, squid and garlic, steamed spareribs with black bean sauce.  Solid but simple choices.

Then back to the train, quickly to the airport by about 3PM to await my final flight leg to Sri Lanka.  A report of my adventures there coming soon!

Full Flickr set here.