Twenty eight years have passed since my last visit to Hong Kong. Back then, monsoon season brought capricious breezes and low-hanging cloud, making the approach into the now-closed Kai Tak Airport more daring. The captain aborted last minute as the roar of the 747's engines spooling back to life preceded a tummy-turning ascent over the rooftops of Kowloon.
This time, with me as a guest of Cathay Pacific enjoying their highly efficient business class, the 12.5-hour crossing breezes by and my arrival is far less dramatic.
On my last visit, the Union Jack still stood stiff with the winds of change fast approaching. This time I arrive armed with the near morbid fascination of “So, what's changed?”
Britain's former colony is a towering monument to capitalist excess, and still trades on its reputation as a metropolis of hustle and bustle. Hong Kong is where the rich stink and the poor simply coexist in the pong. This will be a trip to tempt, tease and torment, a carefully curated, whistle-stop visit in which we largely experience the city from above, rarely touching the streets to tell if the city has indeed lost of its lustre.
Of course, historically, part of Hong Kong's charm is the alacrity with which it embraces change.
Some things, though, remain universal. Our early morning arrival means we can't check in to our hotel. Officious Gary at the front desk shakes his head while he stares at a screen, mostly to avoid eye contact.
Lunch, however, makes up for the morning's misadventure. We are dropped off outside a mall in the Admiralty district and soon stand at the entrance to the classy Dim Sum Library.
Some of their fare is exquisite. Refined and delicate on the eye and touch, yet bold and punchy on the palate. I chopstick through their set-lunch menu. The charcoal yu xiang crispy pork dumpling holds intrigue but beneath its gruff exterior lies a luscious filling that can travel in all directions unless handled like an unpinned hand grenade.
It is a delight but I soon realise that some of my companions' travels have largely occurred inside Mzansi. The crispy aubergine tossed with salted fish and sakura shrimp is described as “smell[ing] like fish fingers”. The Wagyu beef puff tastes like pepper-steak pie, another opines.
Sweet-and-sour pork cleanses my palate before fried rice with black truffle and vegetables further elevate the experience. The lava sea salt caramel chocolate mochi rounds it all off, though by now I can do it no justice.
DIM SUM TO DUNGEONS
Soon we are climbing famous Hollywood Road and stopping in front of the former Central Police Station, which has been transformed into a cultural and shopping destination that, together with the adjacent Victoria Prison and the former Central Magistracy, are known as Tai Kwun. All three are declared monuments of Hong Kong.
In the bowels of the old police station, Angela, our fleet-footed guide, cheerily informs us of the abuses that occurred there and where Japanese bombs were dropped in late 1941. “Oh really?” one of my companions exclaims. “Oh yes,” confirms Angela before expanding on the bombardment of the island's north shore and resultant Japanese occupation. “I can't believe they were here and did all that,” cries the influencer.
Angela is on the move again. She is extremely sprightly and shares a lot but, whenever confronted with a question, her answers have little to do with the query.
At the Magistracy Dining Room, inside the historic Central Magistracy building built in 1914, I spare Angela the opportunity to tell me why the walls are so thick, or explain the foresight that went into the spacing of the cell bars for body-fat-declining inmates.
Angela is on a mission and we are off to a temple. Thanks to load-shedding, I've lit enough candles.
Later at Namo Avant in Kowloon, a top-end, harbour-side Pan-Asian restaurant, I do have something that borders on a religious experience. The “gently steamed whole fish with lemon grass, lime leaves and Thai basil topped with spicy minced chicken” arrives atop a feisty flame. At 278 HK dollars (R680), the price is eye-watering but it is the chilli in the topping that brings actual tears. Once we get to the fleshy barramundi (Asian sea bass), the meal rises to the occasion and a restless night is averted.
MUSEUMS OF OLD AND NEW
The Hong Kong Palace Museum in west Kowloon is an architectural masterpiece that proves far more interesting than I expected. It houses, though not all permanently, “900 priceless treasures” and regularly presents special exhibitions featuring Chinese art and culture, as well as artefacts from elsewhere.
The exhibition “Entering the Forbidden City” sheds light on the architecture and collections of the Beijing marvel, as well as the activities of the multicultural Qing court. Another, “From dusk to dawn: Life in the Forbidden City”, purports to bring to life the colour, texture, joy and sorrow of life inside the Forbidden City.
Some of the ornate treasures includes a watch on a stand with waves, rocks and bats, a lidded banquet box with dragons, the Qing court's favourite winter dish and a hotpot with floral patterns. A bull-riding Quentin Tarantino should be kept away from these premises.
A short walk away, you can make the leap from antiquity to more contemporary innovation at M+ where some of the world’s foremost collections of 20th- and 21st-century visual culture is on display. At the M+ you can easily lose track of time, and your way.
Spread across 33 galleries, M+ features around 1,500 works from pre-eminent collections of visual art, design and architecture and moving images from Hong Kong, greater China, Asia and beyond. It, too, is housed in an impressive structure with a modular terracotta cladding system covering the building’s façade and various sections of the ground floor.
You can explore at your own pace with guided audio tours, or access the guide using your phone.
It is an oasis for the creative mind, a place where aesthetics and functionality are brought closer through ingenuity.
I stand captivated by Kazumi Kurigami's provocative retro commercials for the Japanese department store Parco, wondering how they would stand up to contemporary interrogation, especially with a made-to-look Japanese Faye Dunaway delivering the pay-off line: “Can west wear east?”
Knitting Conversations is a monumental installation by artist Movana Chen reflecting on female labour, personal and shared memories, material transformation and time. The Hong Kong and Lisbon-based artist argues that books and paper have been used for millennia to transmit knowledge and experiences. She transforms books by shredding their pages, thus abstracting and decontextualising their content, to turn them into “yarn”, a medium traditionally for craft.
On top of the complex sits the Roof Garden, which offers breathtaking views of Victoria Harbour, though that spectacle is on wide offer.
Regrettably, we barely scratch the surface at the museum before our next stop beckons.
FIELDS OF FUN
It's Hong Kong Sevens weekend and Cathay Pacific, one of the main sponsors, is putting on a show. At the entrance, some of the influencers' camera accessories are confiscated, while fans who are already under the influence are waved through. The airline's suites are festive and provide exceptional views of the action on and off the field.
SA's Blitzboks were knocked out of the competition the previous day by Australia, so the best they can do is finish fifth. Alas, the blitz has been removed from these Boks of late and they finish sixth.
Suddenly the rain arrives. Fans on the open stands reach for their umbrellas.
Later, Hong Kong play China in a Melrose Cup match. Predictably, China get roundly booed when they score. Beer gets spilt and there are high fives all round when Hong Kong dot down but you can't help feel they are living on borrowed time. in the end, their not-so-magnificent seven are subdued. The party, however, goes on with New Zealand making it a blackout in double triumph.
The Hong Kong Sevens is reputed to be the biggest party in rugby, and that legacy endures.
Our arrival at the Lions Pavilion on Victoria Peak is greeted with relief. It is overcast but the clouds are just high enough to give us an uninterrupted view of Hong Kong and most of its glory.
The first time I became aware of the peak was in the TV series Dallas, when arch-villain JR Ewing sent his erstwhile sister-in-law Pam on a wild-goose chase in search of her disappeared lover.
Sadly, the roast goose I told myself I would locate and devour in Hong Kong proved elusive too.
Our time was too short and though we made it to fine-dining establishments, I had looked forward to plucking from Hong Kong's underbelly. For us, much of Hong Kong remained unseen, hidden from view.
As my homeward flight climbed out with low-hanging clouds enshrouding the Pearl of the Orient, I left wanting more.
GETAWAY AT A GLANCE
Getting there: Cathay Pacific offers the only direct service between Johannesburg and Hong Kong, using the ultra-modern Airbus A350 with 38 business-class seats, 28 premium economy and 214 economy seats.
Best time to go: Those hoping to avoid the humidity should travel in March/April or October/November.
Accommodation: The writer stayed in the four-star Harbour Plaza Metropolis. A superior queen or twin room for two occupants costs R1,850 a night.
Visa requirements: South African passport holders do not require a tourist visa for stays in Hong Kong of up to 30 days.
• Del Carme was a guest of Cathay Pacific and ground partners Travel Tricks and F&B restaurants.
