Believe it or not, Cris went abroad... again. This time he, well I, went to Hong Kong. I have never been to Asia before so you can imagine the excitement of experiencing it for the first time. All the countries I have been to before have different cultures from one another but spending one week in Hong Kong has been the most interesting experience up to date.

The culture is so different. The first language is Cantonese, even though they also speak Mandarin, which means that people from Hong Kong can understand Chinese people but usually people from China don’t understand people from Hong Kong. There are many markets all around the city, even at night. The underground is so clean that it shines, there is AC - and yes, it actually works -, the map turns on and off and shows you the direction you are going, which door is going to open, and where you can switch to catch other trains. Also, it is forbidden to eat or drink on public transport. As you wait for the train, there are signs on the floor to show you how you are supposed to line up and leave room for people to get off. 

You are not allowed to smoke unless there are bins with ashtrays, which means that many areas of the city are pretty clean. Public toilets have signs that ask customers to close the lids before flushing to prevent water to splash. It all seems quite straightforward but I never saw anything like this before. Public toilets I've been to in London are quite dirty, Italians don't know how to queue, and people pretty much throw their cigarette butts on the floor. 

The modern part looks like London or New York: there are many skyscrapers, fancy cars, and well-dressed people. You have to explore inner Hong Kong if you are looking for authentic. There, you can see construction sites made of bambù, clothes hanging outside to dry, dirty old buildings, many dated signs, ... The city is vibrant with lots of people at any time of the day. Mong Kok is one of the busiest areas in the world. Markets are open late at night and you can find anything and everything for fairly cheap prices. 

I absolutely loved to try the foods. Among all, I loved dumplings, noodles of any kind, milk tea, pineapple bun, bubble tea, egg tarts, and pretty much anything made of rice. I tried to be as open as possible but I just could not try snake or any kind of insect. 

Among all the things we have visited, there are many temples. I have tried to learn as much as possible about their faith even though I am not a religious person. I am grateful I was able to experience the city with locals for about one week, which made it possible for me to do things that tourists usually don't do.