Look up - life on a vertical plane

My preconceived image of Hong Kong was a city of identical high rise buildings and not much else. Admittedly much of the uniqueness of this city comes as a consequence of its architecture but as I've explored I realise the combination of architecture and it's natural landscape, tropical climate and use of technology provides even more reasons to look up in wonderment: a cityscape with mountainous backdrops from every angle, sparkling lights that reflect on the harbour at night and ever-changing slivers of sky as you gaze from the streets below. 

Life is very much lived on a vertical plane here, especially when you're staying on the 30th floor of a hotel. Consequently my knowledge of the Cantonese language has now extended from a solitary Ni Hau (hello) to Wong Sen (going up) and Wong Ha (going down) - the most useful phrases you'll ever learn in order to navigate the elevator systems not only in your hotel but in every 16 floor shopping mall, transport station and workplace. Being able to decipher profile view maps will also come in handy. 

The total distance traveled on the daily commute is greatly

increased by the constant changing of level. First the frustrating wait for a lift down to breakfast, then up and down stairways to sky-walks across roads, a network of escalators down to the MTR trains, more elevators to get through security at work then onto the submarine (actually a funicular up through the mountain but the aquatic animations tempt you to believe otherwise) and finally one more escalator or elevator of your choice before you reach your final destination - a port-a-cabin with the most spectacular view! 

The unusual views continue with a job in a theme park - not only due to the array of multicoloured rides and roller-coasters surrounding the performance area to crane your neck at but also the work itself as a hot-pant clad cheerleader. Being a stunt base (or a spectator for that matter) often affords you an overhead glimpse of orange crotch. Being event manager I got more glimpses than most, much of the time also catching it on camera, so the image will live on forever in my memory and on Facebook! My role also involved numerous amounts of gazing up at the darkening sky with a quizzical look and my palm outstretched as if I suddenly had meteorological powers - which I didn't, much to my team's dismay. 

Come rain or shine the shows went on, we cheered, we danced, we shook our poms. 

We chucked a few girls up in the air, the audience took selfies without a care. 

Of course we made a few fans along the way. We said OCEAN more times than anyone should ever say. 

I became a poet and I didn't even know it! 

It was a good old 'Party at Ocean Park' - meeting performers from around the world and being supported by my wonderful 'cheer fever team'. As many of you know it had been a hard time for me in the months before this trip and I was incredibly apprehensive about going to a new big city when my well-known London had been proving too much. But HK gave me a whole new perspective; on the possibilities that lay before me and the little things to look forward to - like dim sum shaped as farmyard animals and a buffet breakfast worth waking up early and jogging around the park for. 

The city provided many gastronomic delights on all sorts of levels. From chickens' feet and hairy gourd on the somewhat unfathomable but tremendously cheap work canteen menu to caviar topped sushi ordered on an iPad and delivered to your booth by remote controlled toy train. The supermarket provided the characteristically weird and wonderful fresh produce of Asia like durian and dragonfruit juice but also a great variety of freshly prepared Chinese meals and even Sainsbury's basics home comforts. Brightly lit shops selling gimmicky Hong Kong staples of bubble tea and egg puffs (waffles to you and me) saw giant queues snaking down the street and traditional dim sum and wonton soup restaurants were bursting with locals chatting over an array of steaming dishes. 

Having only one day off a week meant a lot of the tourist destinations were seen in a mad dash on trams up to viewpoints like The Peak, navigating the MTR to various temples, markets and the famous Temple Street night market, and across the sea to much less populated islands. But the combination of architecture and nature never disappointed. My trip to Lantau island took me from sea to sky and back again as I caught a ferry, hopped on a cablecar up through the mountains to Big Buddha: a stunning sight in itself with an even more incredible outlook over the archipelago. Back down to sea-level, for a boat trip round a fishing village on stilts and then one more crazy bus ride to a gloriously empty beach - a particularly rare treat in HK.  

On one particularly ambitious day off I took the speed ferry to experience the even more eclectic Macau madness. This independent city state, just a stone's throw from mainland China still retains much of its Portuguese colonial heritage whilst dazzling new hotels and casinos make Macau Asia's answer to Las Vegas. The scenery felt oddly familiar to me both looking down, at the crazy paving just like that in Rio, and up at the purpose built sky-tower, much like the one in Auckland. It was on this solo-wandering day on an open-top bus that I realised how independent I am and how much of the world I've had the pleasure of experiencing (though the Portuguese egg tarts did sway me in making Portugal my next destination).