This is probably not the last sweeping shot of HK from a
high point that will feature here. Nor is it the classic view you’d see on
postcards because it misses out the central buildings and the vantage point isn’t
high enough to take in the Kowloon skyline and harbour. It is however the first
panorama we saw when jogging on the Bowen Road running track near our serviced
apartment, so I thought it was appropriate to throw in.
Nonetheless, there are a few things in this picture that say
a lot about what HK is like from our first impressions. You can see both the
jungle-covered slope that runs up to the Peak and the water of the harbour
here, which gives you a sense of just how narrow the densely inhabited northern
strip of HK Island is – in places, less than a kilometre.
This paucity of space accounts for other common things you
can spot in this picture. Several lots of construction works – new buildings
seem to be shooting up from every spare bit of land on this strip. Sports
facilities are either squeezed in tight or perched on the top of other
buildings, like the five-a-side football pitch visible here. The thickly spread
and countlessly numerous apartment blocks that begin at 40 floors, but habitually tower to 50, 60, 70
floors.
Claire’s first day at work tomorrow, when I will be let
loose alone into HK in full kept man mode…
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