Year of the G.O.A.T: Hong Kong's 10 Greatest Of All Time
In honor of Chinese New Year and its zodiac animal, we name Hong Kong’s very own G.O.A.T—the 10 Greatest things Of All Time. By Adam White
1. Country parks
Tsing Ma and Ting Kau bridges as seen from Shek Lung Kung (Photo: Rico Lam Chi-chung)
Out of the 1,104 square kilometers of land that comprises Hong Kong, 443 square kilometers—a full 40 percent—of that land is zoned as country park. In a territory so pressed for space, it’s hard to believe. But it’s that 40 percent of protected Hong Kong land that raises our city from the mundane to the spectacular.
It’s all too easy to forget about as we rush from home to work to bar and then home again. But the green of the city surrounds us even when we ignore it. In a more unfortunate world we would have bulldozed the lot to make more room to build on. But we’ve been saved that fate: Hong Kong’s country parks make the territory a land of beautiful, irreproachable greenery, dotted with abandoned villages and quiet seclusion.
Wilson! Wilsooooon!
They’re most easily experienced from the hiking trails that wind themselves across the spines of our mountains. Take, for instance, the view from Jardine’s Lookout on Stage 2 of the Wilson Trail, which overlooks the city. To the north, a forest of glass and concrete and humans lines the waterfront. To the south, rolling valleys and half-glimpsed reservoirs slope into the glimmering sea. In the distance, hulking container ships are silhouetted in the ocean. The view from here is the house that Hong Kong built. It’s the greatest in the world.