Hong Kong can be one of the most interesting places to visit. It makes people curious and want to discover it. It’s a place that combines both the extravagant modernization of the west with the vibes of the east at the same time. It’s like the New York of the east. Since I have been to China back in 2014, I did not have the time back then to visit Hong Kong. So it has been on my list since then. I have always been curious to check it but researches and articles for a long time have been saying that it might get into political unrest with the Chinese government. But nobody knew exactly when. I thought I must visit it as soon as I can. It took me 5 years to be able to visit it. I booked my flight really early (about 6 months before my trip) and things were ok there. Things started to heat up there after I had already booked my trip. This has made me a bit anxious to be honest. I stayed in the dilemma of whether to go or cancel the trip. I researched a lot about it but nothing was 100% sure of course. So I thought I should go and see myself. So this is my experience in Hong Kong visiting in October 2019 during a period of political unrest there
Arriving
My Far-East trip was going well and thing were almost as planned by that time. I arrived to Hong Kong from Bangkok. You can tell I was a bit worried because of the things I hear on the news. Especially because I was going there on a weekend, and protests happen there on weekends. One step that I made before going was contacting the hostel via e-mail to ask them about the situation and about how to get there from the airport, since I have been hearing that somecsubway stations close sometimes during clashes. The hostel first mentioned that it was completely safe to visit, and even more peaceful nowadays for tourists. I was less worried by then but of course I did not take their saying for granted. I mean, it’s a hostel. So it can be a bit biased in this point. But they advised me to take the airport bus, which works 24/7.
I arrived at the airport, bought my Otcopus card (which you should do the 1st thing when you arrive there for all the transportations and even payments in some shops. More details on that in a separate article) and my Hong Kong SIM card. The bus was easy to find. Went to the hostel still looking around impressed by the city. The mini trip to the hostel went well.
The City
After checking at the hostel in Kowloon, then immediately went around to discover. I had to make use of the excitement energy. And I only had 2 days there. But let’a focus on the main purpose of the article. I searched for recommendations and went on my plan. And I faced nothing bad. I just saw some graffiti all over the city critisizing the Chinese government. But did not face any protests. On the second day, I went to visit some places a bit far from the citt center. So things were fine. Through my whole trip, I have only seen one protest and it was kind of silent. Maybe I witnessed it a bit early. But there was even no police there. Just people wearing black and holding signs. As a foreigner, I tried not to get involved of course and went away. So this was the only type of protest I saw.
Should I go?
I believe by now it is kind of clear, I did not face any problems regarding the political unrest there. And I am glad I did not cancel my trip out of fear. For a tourist, Hong Kong was completely safe. You should just get some advice to be careful.
I was advised to avoid places near governmental buildings. I did not tak care much about that. Usually when you focus on touristic places to visit and food to try, you don’t usually pass by them. Also while you check your routes and transportations on Google maps, the maps will show in case a road is blocked. This would usually be because of a protest, but it did not happen to me.
Another advise is to use the bus. The bus system there is really efficient. Also taxis, but different prices of course. So the buses are a reasonable option and to avoid the subway in case of any unrest.
But in general, do not cancel a trip to there. You will really enjoy it. Even better, prices are now cheaper because of the political problems. You can benefit as a tourist, especially in an expensive place like Hong Kong. Also even if you hear that the number of tourists has decreased recently, you will not feel uncomfortable. Maybe it has decreased, but not that much. I still saw many tourists. So it was fine, just shorter waiting lines in touristic places, which is a benefit. So, you’re good to go. Enjoy the city for now.
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