Another Milestone: Two Years and Counting

This is a special day for me. November 9th is the anniversary of my arrival in Hong Kong, so today I officially hit the two year mark on my ‘adventure of a lifetime.’ I really can’t believe it. Looking back on the past two years, November 9th, 2009, seems so far away. So much has happened since then. But at the same time, these past two years have just whizzed by. As excited as I was about making a new life for myself in a completely different culture, I never could have known just how incredible the experience would turn out to be or that I would wind up falling in love with Hong Kong so hard. But it did, and I have.

The first photo I took in Hong Kong: November 9th, 2009

Two years is a long time… that’s half of high school, half of the time I spent at Villanova, and almost seven times longer than the time I spent in Paris when I studied abroad there in 2007.

First afternoon in our hotel in Mong Kok

I honestly think time flies faster in Hong Kong than anywhere else I’ve ever been. For example, last Halloween—the day Pietro moved into the apartment—could just as well have been yesterday. I can’t believe how fast the year has gone. This year for Halloween we coordinated a little group costume. We went as the suspects from Clue, with the assorted weapons (which were all genuine and awesome). I was Colonel Mustard, and my friends Eloise, Alex, Amy, Remco and Silja rounded out the cast. It was a great night, and Lan Kwai Fong was crazy, as we knew it would be. I expect this coming year will fly by just as quickly, and before I know it, I’ll be posting another blog entry on Halloween 2012 and my third anniversary.

Mrs. White with the wrench, Reverend Green with the dagger,

Mrs. Peacock with the rope, Prof. Plum with the candlestick,

Miss Scarlett with the revolver and Colonel Mustard with the lead pipe!

These two years have given me tons of great memories, and I look forward to many more to come. I still don’t want to think about leaving this part of the world. There’s so much to see out here that I need many, many more years to check everything off my “to do” list. But I’ve made a decent dent into that list over my first two years. It’s funny, but when I look back on some of those memories, I am shocked to realize how long I had been in Hong Kong when they happened. For example, when I visited Erin and Emily in Thailand in February 2010, I hadn’t even been here for four months, yet I felt like an old China hand already. Now four months feels like child’s play to me. But at the time I was amazed I had been away that long. It’s funny how time changes perspectives.

Going back through this blog and rereading the entries I wrote at the six month and one year marks, I still feel remarkably similar about the passage of time. I feel more the old pro than ever, and I know Hong Kong like the back of my hand, but there’s still so much of this place I’ve left unexplored.

Local scene on Cheung Chau Island

You see, when I first arrived here, my weekends were chock full of exploration. On weekends, I’d wake up early, open my Frommer’s guide, pick something I hadn’t done yet, and set off on an adventure. As the months wore on, I wound up having more leisurely weekends, or I’d end up re-doing my favorite things as opposed to taking a shot on a new one. Instead of a trekking to a remote temple in the New Territories, I’d pick a new restaurant in SoHo to try their eggs Benedict. And instead of choosing a new outlying island to explore, I’d hop on the ferry to my old favorite, Cheung Chau.

But as the looming two year milestone was staring me down, I realized just how many things I hadn’t done yet. My end-of-year resolution is that I’m going to pursue them with all the vigor I can muster over the final two months of 2011. And earlier this week, I had a chance to test out this new way of life.

Often when there is a holiday in a major market, like Japan, Singapore, the U.K. or the U.S., business is so slow that it’s pointless for both Kevin and me to be in the office. We generally split the day, one of us working the AM shift while the other takes the afternoon. On Monday, for example, I had the morning off from work because of the Hari Raya Haji holiday in Singapore. Alive, awake, alert and enthusiastic, I decided I was not squandering my free morning.

So I opened my trusty guide book and decided to explore Kowloon Walled City Park, one of the most fascinating places I’ve been in Hong Kong. First I treated myself to a hearty American breakfast at the Flying Pan (a four cheese omelet, plus a pancake, grits and hash browns) before venturing out to Lok Fu, in Wong Tai Sin on the Kowloon side. The park is a place I’ve wanted to visit for some time but somehow never got around to. Nowadays it’s a beautifully landscaped, classical Chinese garden, with stunning pavilions, ponds, plants and sculptures. But the serenity of the current site belies its notorious past.

Kowloon Walled City Park

Kowloon Walled City was created around the time the British seized control of Hong Kong Island in the 1840s. When the British later gained control of the New Territories in 1898, the official 99-year lease they signed excluded the Walled City. Officially this small plot of land was still a part of China, completely surrounded by the British-controlled colony. In practice however, China had little authority over the city, and the British also ignored it. It became a fen of seedy alleyways, illegal dentists, loose wires and densely packed high-rises.

Historic arial photo of Kowloon Walled City

Finally, in 1994, the British and Chinese governments reached an agreement to relocate the residents and demolish the place, replacing it with the current park. Today, you can visit the old almshouse in the center of the city, where interactive exhibits reconstruct life in the former slum with photos, models, video interviews of former residents and re-creations of typical scenes of city life. Archeological excavations have also unearthed historical remnants of the city walls and gates, which help visitors imagine life in yesteryear’s netherworld.

Archeologists found the old South Gate when they demolished the city.

I spent a good hour and a half just wandering around the park, soaking up the pleasant atmosphere and history of a place that took me two years to finally visit—definitely better than sleeping my free morning away!

So I’m two years in, and I feel fine. I have a renewed energy for this place, and I really do love it more than ever. Cheers to you, Hong Kong! I can’t wait to see what adventures you have in store for me in the year to come!

The Legislative Council Building and the Cenotaph in Statue Square