Hong Kong

After spending a few days in Hong Kong it is hard to fit the city into a specific category. Hong Kong is clearly in its own class, a city struck by fashion, situated in a cosmopolitan mecca. Transportation between the Kowloon Peninsula and Hong Kong Island is very efficient and affordable using the MTR, which is HK's name of its mass transit subway. However it is really hard to deny the mode of transportation that gives one of best views in Hong Kong comes from the Star Ferry which crosses Victoria Harbour, which is one of the world's natural deep sea channels. The skyline is quite stunning, when looking from the ferry or standing on the shoreline on either side. In ways the skyline is a mark of Hong Kong's brilliance as a world class city. At the same time the skyline is a reminder of how expensive and limited land is in the territory. A sad reminder of how scarce land is in Hong Kong is daily land-reclamation projects at the base of Hong Kong Island, and the Kowloon Peninsula. Today, I went to Lamma Island which is accessible by a 31 minute ferry ride. On Lamma Island, cars are not permitted, and the few houses are owned by locals that run business on the island, are reminiscent of fishing villages found in the mid-20th century. The hiking trail was amazing, it took us two hours to transverse the island from east to west, across a mountain. One of the most stunning features of Lamma Island is the ability to go from a packed city to the wilderness in just a short ferry ride. Personally I like traveling and going out doors when I have the time. As an engineering student you spend so much time in labs, and in the library solving differential equations, or trying to identify radar back scatter. Many of students forget from time to time theres more to the world than just numbers. So I encourage people to go out and explore the outdoors whether that be Lamma Island in the South China Sea, or the great American West. Next I plan to visit some of the "New Territories" served by the MTR lines.