view of Hong Kong island and Kowloon at its background from The Peak, taken using Canon 400D with Sigma 18-200
Hong Kong in brief
In Hong Kong, space comes at a premium. Hong Kong, as spectacular as you can see from the photo above, undoubtedly, it claims the Vertical City title standing side by side with New York City.
Statistically, more than half of Hong Konger stay in public housing projects as they can’t afford the high living cost there.
Hong Kong’s 7 million inhabitants live at an average density of 70,000 people per square mile, which is equal to Manhattan’s. However, Hong Kong is a mountainous territory that primarily “piles” people – in the words of the exhibit notes – on one-quarter of its land and reserves about three-quarters for nature or agriculture, while three-quarters of New York City is built and one-quarter is open space or parkland.
Parts of Hong Kong have densities of 90,000 people per square mile, vertical density in the extreme.
quoted from The Skyscraper Museum’s Vertical Cities: Hong Kong and New York
Mongkok
Mongkok is where I stayed during my recent backpacking trip to Hong Kong. Here’s a little interesting fact about Hong Kong.
Mong Kok’s population density is extremely high, according to Guinness World Records, Mong Kok has the highest population density in the world (mean 130,000 per km2)and with a development multiple of four.
quoted from Wikipedia
Mongkok comes alive both day and night. During the daytime, all the business retail stores are open for business. Whereas during the night, we can get to visit popular street market like Ladies Market, Temple street, Flower market, Goldfish market and many more!
Getting a room to stay can be real tricky at times particularly during peak season. We can always try to book online first at hotelscombined.com. I managed to book mine at Dragon Hostel, Mongkok for 290HKD per night for two persons.
As I quoted above, Mongkok is really a crowd happening area, not only boosting the highest population density in the world, it is a district that never falls asleep. I do wonder if Hong Konger ever need sleep as traffic on the road is equally heavy and you can see people walking around the streets all the time!
Credit: Mongkok aerial view is obtained from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IMG_8849_Mongkok.jpg
