The Central Park Track Club is a running club, but as Nike would assert, running is not a sport --- it is a lifestyle.  And in that most cosmopolitan New York City, there is not one lifestyle but many different ones in which running happens to be one common component amongst us.  But even this diversity of lifestyles does not exhaust all possibilities, as this far east report will show that there is much that is unimaginable elsewhere in the world.

This report was filed from Hong Kong.  For many of us, this place had the reputation of a tourist trap of a British colony.  That piece of colonial history is a dark scar on the British Empire.  We will not get into the historical facts, but we ask you to imagine this scenario:  Suppose Afghanistan is a superior military-industrial superpower and was exporting opium to America.  When the American government intercepted and destroyed the opium shipments because of their deleterious effect on its populace, the Afghanistan government sent over their armada of space fortresses, decimated the American military forces, bombarded the American cities and forced a 'peace' treaty where by the American government ceded New York City as an Afghanistan colony from which opium poured in to be sold in America.  All this was done in the name of free trade, of course.  

Finally, in 1997, Hong Kong reverted to China.  But apart from this building --- the Building for the Hong Kong section of the Chinese People's Liberation Army --- there is little evidence of the Chinese presence.  A system of 'One Nation, Two Systems' is in place.

The three major densely populated areas are: Hong Kong Island, Kowloon Peninsula and New Territories.  The heart of Hong Kong Island is in the area known as Central, which is a commercial area marked by top glass-steel skyscrapers.  To stand out in the crowd, height is not enough and architectural weirdness is more effective, as is the Lippo building which has absolutely nothing to do with liposuction.  The flagship building for the Chinese presence is the Bank of China building, with the cross-braces.  The flagship building for the British presence was the HSBC, formerly known as the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank and now pretty much overshadowed by its neighbors.  For relief, there are some small parks interspersed in the concrete jungle.  As artificial as this waterfall may seem, the attraction is that the pattern of any water falling never repeats itself.

For an island, Hong Kong is quite hilly.  The waterfront section is absolutely flat, but only because these are landfills reclaimed from the sea.  Moving inland, the terrain rises rapidly into the residential towers on the hillsides.  A harbor view for an apartment is considered to be extremely attractive.  For a runner looking for an uphill run, there is the choice between using the steep pedestrian steps that rise straight up or following the automobile roads that zigzag up the hillside.  Unfortunately, this may not be a totally satisfying run due to the high level of auto exhausts from various modes of transportation --- private automobiles, trams, double deck buses, single deck buses, micro-buses, mini-buses, trucks, lorries, etc.  The most notorious form of transportation is the human-drawn rickshaw, shown here with a visibly uncomfortable female tourist being towed by a tiny old man.

An amazing vista awaits all those who reach the hilltop.  But it is not necessary to walk/run up the hillside, as a cable car will cover the 1400 meters in about 10 minutes.  Upon disembarking, one is bombarded with ads aimed at tourists.  But how many people would ride the cable car all the way just to eat noodles?  Or visit Madame Tussaud's wax museum?  Or have a happy meal at McDonald's?  Of course, the wise person would brush past the trappings and head for this view of Hong Kong harbor.  Although the harbor view is world-famous, this was not the best picture due to the presence of a haze.  The topography of Hong Kong is such that the skies will be clear when the breeze comes in from the ocean, but there will be a smoggy haze when there is a slight northerly wind bringing the industrial exhausts from China.

As we said, the premium houses are those situated near the peak such as this one.  At this point, you would wonder what lies on the other side of the peak?  Here are some apartments that face the other side of the island.  Actually, one would be looking at a lot of ... NOTHING.  The other side of the island is mostly uninhabited.  The immediate descent from the peak is into the Pok Fu Lam Park Reserve.  In one sense, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated urban areas in the world.  In another sense, it has a tremendous amount of immediately accessible wilderness areas.  In other words, this could be a runners' paradise (except in the hot summer).  The premier running event of the year is the Hong Kong Marathon (with 10K and half marathon races at the same time) in February.

Another major festival is the Hong Kong Arts Festival.  Here, Márta Sebestyén is giving a concert.  She is not sufficiently well-known that she has to be advertised as the Oscar winner for Best Music for the movie, The English Patient whose Chinese-language title is "Don't Ask Me Who I Am!"  On the other side of Hong Kong harbor lies the Kowloon Peninsula.  The best way to cross the harbor is by ferry.  The backview of Hong Kong harbor includes the Hong Kong Convention Center and this monstrously tall building still under construction.  This photo will give an even better perspective as to how that new building will dwarf everything else.  Here is another odd sight --- in spite of what you think, this is the Planetarium, and not a turtle egg (which is a bad term in Chinese).

This is Nathan Road, the main street in Kowloon where the Hong Kong Marathon will start.  These commercial streets look much better at night when the neon lights come on.  Even the back streets are covered with signs.  Did we say that this is one of the most densely populated areas in the world?  Yes, it does get claustrophobic if all buildings look like this --- note that they all believe in high-powered air conditioners and they all don't believe in clothes dryers (because the best and only way to dry clothes is to hang them outside the windows).  Since living space is limited, some people will build out horizontally (and illegally).  This is what we see from our window, which is why we are going to pick up the phone and call the Dangerous Buildings Department (yes, there is such a thing) to report them.

When we were little, we went to this church around the corner.  Our memory was that this was a cavernous place.  Today, it seems like a toy compared to all the new buildings around.  Our grandmother attended the Presbyterian Church, which is now completely dwarfed by a monstrosity of a train station-hotel-multiplex cinema-shopping mall complex.

During our stay, we had sporadic bouts of sneezing, sore throats, itchy eyes and coughs.  We believe that this was less due to automobile exhaust and industrial smog than to the relentless construction.  For example, every day we have to run through this construction site at our street corner.  This picture was taken early in the morning --- later in the day, we would have to outsprint the sparks falling down from the welding equipment.  More often than not, we would emerge on the other end with sand in our mouths.

The life of a city is the people, and not just buildings.  This street is colloquially known as Cheap Street, a car-free pedestrian-only street lined with stalls.  Those orange light are used to shine against the fruits, vegetables and eggs to insure that they are good, as if that were possible to see.  Here is a street vendor selling roasted chestnuts, with hard boiled eggs and baked potatoes on the side.  We live a block away from the Flower Market, an entire street of flower shops.  The theory is that the specialization allows you to select the best.  Our observation is that the flower shops all sell the same stuff, but the price falls down from the end of the street to the middle of the street. 

The major street industry appeared to be collection of used consumer appliances.  This ad reads: "High prices paid for television, computers, VCD plaers, fax machines, stereo systems, speakers, CD players, DVD players, cameras, photo copiers, video recorders, video cameras, refrigerators, clothes washing machines, air conditioners, microwave ovens, dehumidifiers and other elelectrical appliances."  This ad was handwritten on a utility box underneath the "Post No Bills" notice.  Such ads are plastered all over the city.  What is the interest?  These people are buying old electronic parts and selling them as new brand-name equipment in China.  This, of course, is the essence of free enterprise.

We have lived in many cities, and each of them has its own personality, just like the Invisible Cities of Italo Calvino.  New York City is the place that we have lived in for the longest, and Hong Kong is the city of our childhood.  The visit this time was unusual in that we found that we had to navigate a number of bureaucratic systems.  Fearing the worst based upon our various experiences in New York City, we discovered the meaning of the term, 'The Kindness of Strangers,' many of whom went out of their way to help us.