Trip to Hong Kong

The most humid place that I have ever visited is Hong Kong in September. The classic expression "like stepping into a sauna" is a pretty accurate a way to describe that moment when leaving the comfort of an air-conditioned space and stepping into the heat of the coastal tropics. Within minutes my northern European metabolism was reduced to abject perspiration - so attractive. Some pictures from my trip are posted on my website. It was an amazing experience but one that I'd like to repeat during a cooler part of the Hong Kong year. That said, we did experience a typhoon which was an interesting event.

Kowloon and Hong Kong, especially at night, overwhelm the senses. Colour, noise, bustle, and people, people everywhere. A teeming metropolis that lives up to its Blade Runner reputation. Our explorations were largely in town but a day on the island of Cheung Chau was brilliant and felt like a more Chinese experience. Free of the attentions of people trying to sell us Rolexes and suits, we wandered in the narrow streets that presented, to us, exotic and curious shops and sights. The B&B on the island looked like a good alternative to the city hotels and would be worth a stay if ever I were to return.

I didn't acclimatise to the humidity at all but I believe that takes months. Air-conditioning makes the place bearable in the hot seasons but leads one to despair about its effect on the environment. Hundreds of thousands of individual machines pepper the buildings in the region and the energy burden is enormous. It seems to neutralise the small efforts that one makes in the UK to reduce one's carbon footprint. The profligate waste of energy in buildings with open doors allowing the cool air to escape seems almost criminal set against the growing consciousness of a world adapting to the threat of global warming.

Climb up to the Peak and you can look down over Aberdeen to the vast coal fired power station that supplies HK's electricity. It isn't a pretty sight and it will be interesting to see how the city responds to the pressure to reduce its energy footprint. The neon lighting, harbour light show, choking traffic, and afore-mentioned air-conditioning will prove hard to budge. It all makes for a double edged experience - on the one hand an excited energised feeling of being part of a vast metropolis, and on the other a slightly depressed sensation that one is part of a capitalist creation that is wilfully damaging the world around it. Lets hope the Chinese embrace alternative energies in a big way...