Chow Tai Fook, based in Hong Kong and China, is the largest jewellery chain in the world. At a rough* estimate, they make up 97% of all shops in Hong Kong. Bizarre as it may sound for a business where each sale heads into the thousands of dollars, it’s taken the Starbucks approach to shop locations, with branches opposite each other on streets, or two doors apart on the same road, and all over the city. And all seemed to be really busy with people buying diamonds and gold. Hong Kong throws all sorts of crazy materialism at you, but this
Kowloon, one of the districts of Hong Kong, is amongst the most densely populated places on the planet. Its 2,000,000 or so people are crammed into 47 square kilometres; at the same density, London or Toronto would have a population of around 75 million.
Views of Hong Kong Island’s stunning cityscape from Kowloon, day, dusk and night.
A real highlight of the trip so far, and doubly so coming after the mega-trek through China, was meeting up with Michelle and Colin for a trip to the Peak in Hong Kong. It was wonderful to see some familiar friendly faces after 6 weeks on the road, and the view from the top, and the ferry-ride across from Kowloon, made for a lovely overview of the city and wider territory.