Hong Kong Pride

A few weeks before my trip to Hong Kong I discovered that the Hong Kong Pride Parade was going to be held November 7 this year. At first, I didn't think that I'd be able to go. Then I mentioned the event to Neir, my Hawaiian friend. His eyebrows raised and his eyes lit up. "You have to go," he said. "There isn't much to keep you sane while you're living in China. If this is something that you can treat yourself with, you should do it." Neir volunteered to take my classes that day and advised me to take the night train so that I would get there on time. I took his advice and met with him and some friends at Sean's bar before leaving. I had a small bag with me when I was at the bar, but no one asked about it. Then, about ten minutes before I had to leave for the train station I got up and announced that I had to go. When asked why, I said "I'm going to Hong Kong for Pride tomorrow and my train leaves in a little while. The group was dumbfounded and Rebecca, an English friend, exclaimed "Why didn't you invite me?!" I felt bad that I hadn't mentioned it, but I honestly didn't think anyone would be interested in going.

I hadn't gotten a full paycheck since I'd been in China, so this was going to have to be an insanely cheap trip. I booked a hard seat (that means crowded and uncomfortable) on the slow train down and a hard sleeper on the way back. That saved a good bit of money, but it also meant that I was absolutely exhausted when I arrived in Shenzhen. Luckily, the slow train uses the old station which is directly on the border. The train station and the border checkpoint are the same building, which at least made the border crossing easy. Exhausted and sleep deprived, I boarded the MTR train on the Hong Kong side and continued the journey for the next forty minutes into town. Next year the East Rail Line will take passengers all the way from the Chinese border into Central Hong Kong but for now, the train stops in Kowloon. From there, you must board a bus and ride across the harbor in the Cross-Harbor Tunnel to get to the island. But when you emerge, there is a spectacular view, if only for a second, out the bus window towards Central Hong Kong, showing all of Central, including 2 International Finance Center, Hong Kong Island's tallest building.

 The bus continued on and dropped me off directly in front of my hostel. Well, in front of the building my hostel was in. You may have heard that Hong Kong is one of the world's most vertical cities and here is a great example of this: My hostel wasn't in its own individual building. Very little in Hong Kong is. The hostel was located on the 15th floor of the building in several small rooms that were probably once apartments. The building is in the Fortress Hill neighborhood, a short walk from Victoria Park, where the parade was going to start. I arrived several hours early on Neir's recommendation and couldn't check into the hostel. I suppose he underestimated my urban path finding skills and assumed I'd get lost, but I made it to the hostel in short order, left my bags and had several hours to kill before the parade. I took this opportunity to walk around the streets of Hong Kong and just take in the city.

There was a lot of construction around causeway bay, where Victoria Park is. I walked around the park a bit. Quite a nice urban park, with open areas, football (soccer, of course) fields, a swimming pool, and tennis courts as well as a pool for toy boats and a performance venue. There were scores of Indonesian ladies hanging out in the park, having picnics and doing some version of choir practice. I moved on from the park and started walking through the town. The walk was amazing. Just getting to see Hong Kong for the first time, turning down interesting looking streets and following the tram or crossing back and forth over it to see what was on either side was the most fun I've had in a while. If I haven't mentioned it yet, it's almost impossible to get lost in Hong Kong because the city is built along such a narrow strip along the northern end of the island. You can head east or west, but if you go too far north, you hit water, and too far south becomes obvious because the roads become nearly vertical as they climb the mountains. I stayed along the main corridor and ended up not getting very far. I eventually made my way back to the park to wait for the parade to start.

People gathered on the football fields before the parade started. There were a few speakers including the US Ambassador who touted gay rights in the US even though you can still be fired for being gay or thrown out of your apartment in certain parts of the country. But that's a digression. After the speakers, the parade lined up and began marching into the city. From Victoria, the marchers left the park and marched westward, roughly along the tram route towards Tamar Park, where the evening's festivities would be held.

The turnout was pretty significant. About 9,000 people according to the internets. Compare that to 40,000 at Salt Lake's last Pride Festival and you'll see that Hong Kong's gay movement is still in its infancy. The first Hong Kong Pride was held only eight years ago (2008). Social acceptance is fairly widespread, but there isn't much in the way of recognition on behalf of the government.

The crowd basically followed the parade along the route and it became difficult to distinguish between the dedicated onlookers and the crowd itself as it made its way through the streets of Hong Kong.

I especially like the pics I got of the parade marching next to the line of trams. The double-decker trams are one of the most recognizable symbols of Hong Kong.

Tamar park is a beautiful park. Right on the water, with Central Hong Kong to its back and Kowloon just across the harbor, there are fantastic views all around. And the lawn facing the stage is terraced so that basically everyone had a view.

The day ended with musical performances and speakers addressing the crowd. I left before the very end with the intention of attending the after-party that night at a fashionable gay nightclub in the Soho district, but the previous night's rail journey and full day without rest finally got the better of me, and I didn't really have the money for it anyway.

I returned to the hostel, checked in, and passed out. The day was eventful, fun, and exhausting. The following day I got the opportunity to explore the city some more. I'll put pics of those adventures in next week's post. For now, check out this link to see how I felt at the end of the day that first day in Hong Kong.