Hong Kong for Beginners

To the uninitiated, Hong Kong could be quite bewildering, even if you are armed with a map. To understand the basic geography of this “country” (effectively, HK is a part of China since the British handover in 1997), you could look at this map:

The HK Island forms the main backbone of modern life in HK, where most of It is home to many nightlife spots, commercial buildings and expatriates. Located on this island are some of the more famous Hong Kong districts, including Wan Chai, Causeway Bay and Central.

Kowloon and it’s surrounding districts, when grouped together, can be roughly termed as “Hong Kong”. This is the older part of Hong Kong, where you can see modernity and history clashes badly but not without character. Old buildings jostled for space with new tall skyscrapers in this bewildering maze small side streets and two-way expressways.

And then you can see a big area marked as New Territories. These districts from the biggest land mass of Hong Kong, and actually were part of China but now are under HK jurisdiction. Here you can see how HK was in older times, and some of the less corporate-like activities are still carried out, like farming, fishing, and industrial estates. Western influence has not fully transformed the New Territories, but this is fast changing. One can still see evergreen countryside and mountains, which are a rare sight on HK Island and Hong Kong.

And finally, you see some of the scattered islands such as Lamma, Cheung Chau and Lantau. These islands are not very developed, and populations are sparse. Collectively they are known as the Outlying Island and make perfect spots for a quick getaway from the city.

Wow, I didn’t realise I could describe Hong Kong in so much details, considering that I have just moved here three months ago. I guess I just picked up the knowledge along the way… especially I lost way traveling from one spot to another.

Yes, I am such a klutz.