Quote:
Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin
How about Hong Kong? I've never been, but Manhattan and HK Island/Kowloon are the two places I think as epitomizing "the city". Urbanity at its grandest and most intense.
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That's a good call and not one I'd question. For me though, Hong Kong is humanity at it's most intense. When you're in the thick of TST or Wan Chai, it's easy to feel you're in
the middle of it
all. This feeling is similar to what I get in NYC. But HK just ends in spots. Kowloon goes on a bit further, but it's only a few blocks from Central or Admiralty to nearly-vertical jungle cliffs. Slight exaggeration, but think about the view of HK and Kowloon from the Cliffs or Victoria Peak: the most striking thing is the density slamming against green slopes. In NYC, the skyscraper canyon avenues run north-south in straight lines for miles and miles of uninterrupted splendor. Geography doesn't let this happen in HK. Nathan Road in Kowloon is the only avenue which comes close.
(I know I had Sao Paulo listed for "most intense", but I've never actually been there, so I'm going off Google Earth, YouTube drone and helicopter videos, and of course SSP.)