Things I will miss about Hong Kong

Trees

Maybe because so much of the landscape is concrete, Hong Kong’s trees have a special place in our hearts. “When I’m away I always miss the trees that suspend themselves off the walls,” says Eric Schuldenfrei, co-founder of the cutting-edge design firm eskyiu. “They are these amazing living chandeliers that seem to float abstractly within the city. The more precarious and higher up they are, the better. My favorite ones are on Forbes Street in Kennedy Town.”

Our own favorites? Cotton trees, whose red flowers show winter the way out, and horsetail trees, which are often found near beaches and look gorgeous in the wind. 

The tram

Art critic and urban design activist John Batten would miss “sitting on the top deck of the tram and just daydreaming as Hong Kong's busy frantic streets slowly unfold. The beauty of these trips, which I do almost daily, is that it is an enforced moment to reflect and think while being seduced by the city's changing activity, but to be -- literally -- above it all.” The fact that it costs just HK$2 would make us miss it even more.

Wandering through Central

“If I left Hong Kong, I would miss wandering through the matrix of ladder streets and small alleys of Old Central and discovering a small trace of history, be it an old stone wall or a traditional barber shop,” says community activist and lifelong Central resident Katty Law. If the government has its way with the Graham Street Market, unfortunately, we might not have to leave Hong Kong to miss the old sights of Central.

Eating. Anytime, anywhere

It says a lot that one of our busiest and most representative eateries is Tsui Wah Restaurant, a cafe really, where you can show up in your flip flops, 24 hours a day, and almost be guaranteed a feast of a meal that will blow away your senses. We take good food for granted here, we say to hell with "opening hours" -- we love that a lot of joints stay open late -- and we take our fresh produce seriously. "Overseas, when a waiter shows me a dead fish on a plate of ice, I angrily scream: “It’s dead!?” before remembering that introducing diners to their dinners only happens in Hong Kong," says author Nury Vittachi.

Hell, we even come to love bad service if the food is good enough. Ng Yuk-hang, a reporter at the South China Morning Post says she misses "being scolded in cha chaan tengs" whenever she is away from Hong Kong. "In a perverse way, I find it comforting. You don’t feel that you have to put on your best behavior, unlike in fancy restaurants. You don’t feel obliged to smile back, for instance. The first thing I do after returning to Hong Kong after long spells abroad is to visit Australia Dairy Company, which is known for their rude waiters."  

Great public transport

As much as we might grumble when the MTR sits in a station for five minutes because it’s too crowded for the doors to close properly, we’ve got it good in Hong Kong. “The taxi ride conversations, the ferry rides reminding us we live on an island, the bus drivers, the elegance of the trams and the stopwatch-reliable hum of the MTR,” enthuses music promoter Justin Sweeting, the man behind the Peoples’ Party. “Cheap, clean and efficient, it's exactly what public transport should be.”

Romantic rides

Another of Hong Kong's oldest types of public transport, the Star Ferry is a source of romantic imaginings. Nigel Collett, founder of Tongzhi Literary Group, has this sketch of a ferry ride to offer: "Coming home in the evening from the sea, the islands are poised in a lake of warm gold, and I am surrounded by my friends." Or as Jasper Wong, artist and owner of Above Second gallery, puts it: "I love sitting on the ferry at night. The pollution makes the sky all purple and the cityscape looks hauntingly beautiful."

Fai d lah!

Sure, it’s a cliché to say that Hong Kong is fast-pased, but how else to describe a city where buildings are torn down and redeveloped every generation and people get impatient if their wonton noodle soup isn’t ready in three minutes? "The walking speed of people in Hong Kong is perhaps the fastest in the world. Growing up here, I always feel people are walking too slowly in other parts of the world," journalist Ng Yuk-hang says.

This impatience permeates all parts of life, "I think I would miss the efficient service,” says G.O.D. co-founder Douglas Young. “This is something we take for granted in Hong Kong and only realize its absence when we go overseas.” Just remember that when you’re in North America dealing with a waiter who insists on chatting you up before taking your order. Just bring us our damn food!

Night walks in the New Territories

There’s something serene and surreal about being in the countryside at night, surrounded by deep, dark nature while the city glows in the distance. Fotan-based artist Casper Chan would miss “night walks in the Chinese University of Hong Kong in autumn,” she says. “You can hear the wind blowing through trees and other sounds from the nature. It's calming. And you feel so safe.” Fellow Fotanian Homan Ho says that he would miss “the view of Tolo Harbour at night.” Take it from us: we’ll never forget the feeling of being on the Plover Cove Dam, city lights twinkling on the harbor before us, charcoal hills silhouetted against the moon behind us.

Tsim Sha Tsui

No neighbourhood captures Hong Kong’s spirit quite like Tsim Sha Tsui, which is what writer Xu Xi misses most when she’s teaching at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. “This district is the site of my childhood and coming of age, the best metaphor of my father's pride, a portal to the rest of the world I once longed for, both real and imagined, where I kissed a memorable lover or three, my first glimpse of a gay club, the crossroads space that says Hong Kong to me more than any other.”

Wan Chai debauchery

The club kids might prefer Lan Kwai Fong and the coolsies may stick west of Pottinger, but the most memorable nights are had in Wan Chai. Cycling activist Martin Turner would miss the odd experience of showing up at The Bridge at 11 a.m., “with a thumping beat still pulsing through the shutters, after you've had a quiet Saturday night at home.”

It’s home

When we message photographer Quist Tsang, she’s having a great time gallivanting across the United States. But home will always be home, she writes: “I miss drinking milk tea with my friends, looking out the window, a blue, blue sky. November is the best time, with a cool wind. I take the minibus home, get off, go into the lobby and smile to the security guide. I get into the lift, there’s one or two people, we are silent. When I get out of the lift, my mom is cooking -- I smell it. My mom opens the door, smiling to me.”

Here are some other unique moments that make Hong Kong home:

"I miss nocturnal couch-type-backseat cab-rides over rollercoaster flyovers at night, watching the city light-reflecting bright clouds chasing each other between moldy, aircon-laden high-risers while I'm blaring my favorite tunes on my iPod."
Andreas Demeter DJ and co-founder of Pimpin’ Ain’t Easy.

"The thing I'd miss the most is the sense of possibility that is always in the air in Hong Kong, that crackle of electricity that reminds you something, anything, is just about to happen."
Paul Kay, editor Time Out Hong Kong

"I'd miss its TV programs, which serve as a constant reminder of how smart you are compared to their creators and a large part of the local populace for which they are created!"
Perry Lam, Muse Magazine Editorial Director