Hong Kong Travel Guide, Hong Kong, Hong Kong (B)

Here’s what absolutely blew my mind about Hong Kong: that famous skyline you associate with Hong Kong, the skyscrapers packed together, is like that because 75% of Hong Kong is protected beaches, grasslands, mountains, woodland and countryside. The 7.5 million people that live in Hong Kong all live within 25% of the country’s land, which makes many of the city areas in Hong Kong among the most densely populated in the world. Hong Kong is mainly comprised of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the ‘New Territories’, but is actually made up of 263 islands. Historically the ownership of Hong Kong has changed hands many times, but today Hong Kong is an autonomous territory in southeast China, but also part of China; it’s ‘kind of China’.

Hong Kong is magical. It’s like a social experiment that went right. The city is exciting, busy and modern, with everything you could imagine available to eat, drink and do at all times. But take a short trip out of the city and you’re in a vastly different place. Mountains and beaches and areas of incredible natural beauty actually dominate Hong Kong. It’s like Hong is the immense city and Kong is the countryside but they are both the same place. Hong Kong is a paradox. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).