HONG KONG!!!!

Do you remember when Jacky Chan and Chris Tucker in the fighting scene and they caught themselves from plunging to their deaths by hanging off the bamboo in one of the shots of Rush Hour 2? 
Chris Tucker was like "Lord Jesus, I don't wanna die!"
And Jackie Chan said: "Don't worry...."

Well, he's right. Chinese Bamboo is so strong and so cheap that its used as scaffolding instead of metal here in Hong Kong and some parts of developing Asian countries. I was taken aback by how many buildings were constructed with bamboo as scaffolding material as opposed to the more modern metal scaffolding. A quick search over the internet discovered that there are three types of bamboo scaffolding and a bigger decline of jobs in the bamboo scaffolding business due to the younger generation not seeing bamboo as a safe material and prefer jobs with metal scaffolding.

Construction car heading to their work site with bamboo in their cab.

Now.
If ever there was hell on earth, it would certainly be located in Hong Kong.
Simply by crossing the border from Shenzhen to Hong Kong, your skin nearly gets blasted off by the heat and your whole body instantly forms beads of sweat. Perhaps, those of you that enjoy saunas or steam rooms would enjoy this. And of course, it's not always this hot, maybe 3 or 4 months out of the year it's slightly cooler. And if you think that perhaps it a lot cooler during the night time than during they day... boy you are in for a surprise.

While its partly true, the blistering sun hides and night settles across Hong Kong, the heat drops down a few degrees AND humidity rises.
The first thing you notice about Hong Kong is that they drive on the opposite side of the car, on what all vehicles in the North and South America and parts of Europe consider the passenger seat. Naturally, because the steering wheel is on the right side of the car, people drive on the other side of the road.

When I arrived in Hong Kong by walking across the bridge from Shenzhen, I took a bus that would get me as close as possible to my hostel. Of course, I was not prepared for the bus door being on the left and when the bus finally hit the road, I felt very nauseous when I realized that we were on the opposite side of the  freeway and I kept expecting us to wind up on a head on collision. (Of course I could also have been nauseous due to the fact that it was 11pm and I had not eaten for over 9 hours  during my train ride).

Another thing you notice about Hong Kong is that all the buildings are pulled tightly together and on top of each other. While this may be common in parts some places like Japan, for a foreigner it might see find this peculiar and even quaint to have such narrow and tight businesses clustered together. I was very confused when I was trying to find my hotel because there were over 50 different businesses in the same building as my hostel and 8 different elevators!
Here in Hong Kong the main language is Cantonese but most can also speak Mandarin and some can even speak English.

Now, if you ever wish to visit Hong Kong, here are some things you have to know.

EVERYTHING IS EXPENSIVE IN HONG KONG.

Typically in Mainland China, there are regular buses go for around 1 or 2 RMB which is the equivalent of 15 or 30 cents. In Hong Kong, buses (which are double deckers) cost around 6 to 9 HKD which is around 1 dollar and some change. Now of course that does not seem like much but if you live in Hong Kong and make minimum wage of 30 HKD per hour and you have to take 1 or two buses to get to work, its a lot of money. The buses in Hong Kong also run for a lot longer (around 1am) than the buses in mainland where some of the buses even stop around 4:30pm in some cities! Food can also be expensive and while there cheap greasy local food, the minimum you'd spend in a day on food and drinks (gotta stay hydrated) for one person is 150 HKD. Hong Kong does have a surprisingly large number of Indian and African residents and a steady flow of foreigners walking through the streets.
The area that I stayed in was a lively. It was located near popular and expensive stores and near smaller closer knit stores that had

I found out that as per Hong Kong's policy, air conditioners are a required to be electric in places like hostels and most apartment homes. One thing about electric air conditioners if they're constantly on or nor properly serviced, THEY WILL DRIP ALL OVER THE PLACE! So you may be walking around outside minding your own business and suddenly you'll feel drops of water on you or water will slash you out of nowhere on your face and you're totally grossed out because  you don't know if someone spit on you, or you walked on an over head drain, or WHAT. All you can do is pretend you didn't feel it and keep on walking (and maybe lather  yourself with antibacterial Purell).

My phone, which has a Beijing sim card, had to be turned to airplane mode to prevent roaming charges but many stores and cafe's offer free WiFi so staying connected is easy. Hong Kong is independent from Mainland China. It has it's own flag and it's own legislature, and Chief Executive ( Like a President). Thus, Facebook, Gmail, and YouTube and most of all other blocked sites are free to use without a VPN.

One of the oldest surviving markets in Hong Kong. There were origianlly two blocks South Block and North Block (pictured above) which is the only remaining block.

Famous Hong Kong Convention Center.

Tunnel that takes you to and fro Honk Kong Island

Just a giant floating unicorn floaty

Massive and impressive part of storage bins that no doubt contain Hong Kong's import export of international goods.

Let me know what you think of this post!
And as always,

Zai Jian!