Five days behind me exploring Hong Kong. Wow, what a city! The level of urbanity is so crazy wherever one goes. I have never been so excited to explore city streets than in here, as one never knows what one will find around the corner. And it's all so safe in here!
I absolutely love the tights streetscapes of the Hong Kong Island where thin (and truly pointy!) towers rise to high in the sky. So crazy that one is not guaranteed a view below 35th floor or so and even then there can be a tall tower right in front of you.
It is actually quite surprising to learn that most of Hong Kong's towers are not taller or even as tall as in Toronto. Toronto actually compares very well to the height of the towers, although still loses in the total number of towers (if all commieblocks in here are taken into account). It is interesting how much more urban and tall a city can feel when the towers are just packed very close to each other.
Today I also made an unplanned day trip to check out Shenzhen. Crazy how a city of 10M+ people has sprung up in just 25 years in where rice fields used to fill the landscape. I enjoyed a lunch on the 99th floor of the 1,449 feet KK100 tower which had an incredible view.
The main reason for visiting Shenzhen was of course to see the almost-completed 1,965 feet (!!) Ping An Financial Center, which is the fourth tallest building in the world and second tallest in China (would have been tallest if they wouldn't have removed the spire). Too bad that the observation deck on the top is not yet open, so that remains for the next trip.
The building itself looks amazing and incredibly tall, rising far above the smog covering the city. It is pretty crazy how Shenzhen alone has seven completed supertalls and
thirteen under construction!! Makes our construction booms in Canada look quite tiny in comparison...