Everything is a Mall

On Saturday the university hosted a tour of Hong Kong for all the exchange students. It was by bus and left in the afternoon. The first destination was Victoria's Peak which is the mountain top that over looks the city of Hong Kong. On the way there we drove by Jackie Chan's house. The drive up the mountain was long and twisting but it was really cool to see all the vegetation and the city. Once we got to the top we were all surprised to realize that the look out point was on top of a mall called the Galleria. This mall was really upscale. Everything was polished stone and very sharp looking. The stores were not unlike shops you would find in the US: shoe and clothing stores, McDonalds, Starbucks, electronics, etc. However, the view from the top of the mall was pretty amazing. You could see most of the harbor and the sky scrapers seemed to be spread out everywhere. It was strange looking down on some of the worlds tallest buildings. Next we drove about 30 minutes to a place called Stanly on the back side of the island. It was a water front area that had a port for some fishermen and market. It was rather touristy but a really cool area nevertheless. The parking spot was high up on a hill and there was a steep descent to get the water front. To go down the hill you must first go through a mall. Not as upscale as the Galleria but still very nice. After leaving we got dinner at the University of Hong Kong (I don’t know why) at which they attempted spaghetti. Finally the tour ended at the Avenue of Stars and we watched the Symphony of Lights again.

At first glance it would seem that the tour just took us to shopping centers in hopes of us spending money. However, almost everything feels like a mall. There are few train stops that you can't do most of your shopping (groceries, clothes, etc). Even a lot of places down town have that same feeling. There are elevated covered walkways all across the city creating two levels for window front stores. With so little space the people of Hong Kong seem to have just merged everything together.