16th November: Hong Kong SAR, China

We awoke to the first semi-clear day we’d had since arriving in Hong Kong. Kaja wasn’t feeling so good, so stayed in the room for a chilled morning. I wanted to do something I’d not managed in the 8 days I’ve ever spent in the city – go up the Peak! Looking across the harbour, it was visible for the first time in 4 days. I rushed across to the island and walked up through Hong Kong Park – stopping briefly to admire the terrapins – and to the peak tram.

This funicular has whisked passengers almost 400 metres upwards ever since 1888. The ride was steep and twisty and the view from the top was everything it’s famed to be. Wow! The towers of Hong Kong Island below were only matched in their density and layers by the mountainside foliage framing them on either side. The haze isolated the buildings of Kowloon on the other side of the blue green now-still harbour. I took a walk east, breathing in the view in the damp air. On the other side of the lookout, container ships plied their trade on the South China Sea.

After heading down and enjoying another ride to Wan Chai on a double decker tram, I ordered us two Vietnamese tofu banh mis. It was very warm and humid this morning, so I had a refreshing Vietnamese lime soda whilst waiting. This spot, Banh Mi Nem, is recommended by the Michelin guide and only makes 100 sandwiches per day. The banh mis were predictably delicious with the perfect balance of crispy crust and soft sauce-soaked crumb, spicy sriracha and cooling herbs, and moreish umami tofu with fresh plain cucumber. It was an unexpected bonus to find such a good banh mi here when we thought we’d have to wait until Vietnam.

We had a lovely walk around Kowloon Park, being stopped in our tracks by the site of hundreds of pink flamingos in one of the ponds! More tropical birds were unfortunately kept in an aviary, but it was nonetheless impressive to see these giant parrots. We were most fascinated by one type of tree which sent down its own vertical supports from branches, which had then rooted alongside the main trunk.

On the way back, very close to our hotel room, we found the first HK branch of a mainland tea company which we’ve been a regular at. This Chagee had opened a few weeks ago and it appeared to be a craze in Hong Kong! Ordering is done on an app, but it was a scrum to get inside to collect. We were very lucky to get one of the few tables with comfy seats and watch the chaos unfold!

Dinner was a simple affair of two rice dishes – one with pumpkin and chestnut in a lovely creamy pumpkin sauce; the other with tofu, taro, and ‘vegan fish’ – alongside some salt and pepper ‘chicken’ pieces. These went really well dipped in the pumpkin sauce. Vegetarian Cantonese restaurants are a little confusing as they list a lot of ‘meat’ dishes, but these are in fact all kinds of tasty meat replacements.

I had one final thing which I was keen to do in Hong Kong. My previous visit here was to play bowls and, as it happened, one of the two annual major events in the city coincided with our visit. I’d been keeping an eye on results in the Hong Kong International Classic Pairs, but weather alterations had thwarted me attending so far. This evening were the men’s and women’s semi-finals, and England had qualified for both. Both teams had players from Devon, who I’ve known since they were less than 10 years old and had played in junior teams with, so I planned to surprise them! I arrived at Craigengower Cricket Club after the games had started, and just as torrential rain began again too, and kept a low profile. For some reason I was way more nervous than I’d ever been playing and couldn’t help but pace up and down as two tense games unfolded! The England women’s team finished strongly to win their semi final, which have me the chance to surprise Harriet as we watched the men finish in monsoon-like conditions. The men came back to win the second set too and also seal a place in their final. Time to sneak up and surprise Harry too! Both of their reactions were basically ‘what the fuck are you doing here!’, followed by a soaking wet hug and a lovely little catch up. It’s awesome to see people I’ve known for so long doing so well!

I had so many mixed emotions when watching the bowls. I myself never felt comfortable playing for England because there’s nothing to be proud of in that identity. Every nation you’d play against would have a deep historical and very valid reason to want to get one over on England, and that kind of psychology is vital in a sport often decided by fine-margins and mental clarity. Too much cognitive dissonance for me in trying to defeat those who I still felt a historical guilt towards. The alternative is to have a deep personal drive, but I always enjoyed the competition more than the winning. There are things I miss about playing – the people and the competition, mainly. On the tram, I thought of the tournaments and events I founded and the ways they’ve influenced the international calendar today, bypassing traditional hierarchical governing bodies in favour of bottom-up grassroots led approach and unionised player power. It’s taken a decade longer than it should have but events around the world are finally becoming part of a more egalitarian ranking system which rewards talent and skill rather than history. I kind of feel responsible for this delay and wondered what would’ve become of the sport if I’d had the good health to continue what I’d started all of those years ago. Maybe nothing would have changed or maybe there would be more opportunities for people like Harry and Harriet to be rewarded for playing a sport they love.

I’ve not even touched on why bowls is played in Hong Kong in the first place. You could say the answer is opium. As a result of the British (and Americans) illegally importing opium and therefore addiction on the Chinese population, China attempted to stand up to the bullying colonialists. Britain used one final cruel provocation to lure China into a military response and then crushed them, just as they’d always intended. From the resulting treaty, Hong Kong became a British colony and everything that came with it. Of course, bowls today in Hong Kong is a long way removed from all of that, and the sport belongs as much to people here as anywhere else. Indeed, their work to bring youth players into the game is perhaps world leading and hopefully these young people will be at the vanguard of the next advancement of the sport.

Our little side trip to Hong Kong and Macau has been very expensive, so I’m going to break this out of the main China budget. Getting here and away also required two long trains that we wouldn’t have taken without the visa issue, so most of their cost is included here too. This makes is a lot more expensive than our usual budget!

Hong Kong and Macau spend per person per day is £64.59.