The challenge of describing something so often described using cliches, without resorting to cliches.

An afternoon by the seaside. 

It could almost be England (except for the weather).

Hong Kong. The beating heart of Asia. Asia's 'world city'. East meets west. Fusion. A city of contrasts. A concrete jungle. A sub-tropical paradise. Western capitalism, chinese-style. There's no place like it on earth. It is hard to avoid the cliches.

We've been in Hong Kong almost three weeks and, whilst I've been in work for 13 of the 18 days we've been here, it still feels a bit like we're on holiday.  Contributing to this feeling is the fact that we've not yet moved into our new flat, nor had all of our air freighted possessions delivered to us, meaning our accommodation feels more hotel than home.  Plus the weather has been glorious (exclusively high twenties, low humidity and blue skies since we got here) which contributes nicely to the holiday feeling. 

I've lived here before, briefly. In early 2003 I completed a six month secondment to the Hong Kong office as part of my training contract with the firm. I was in my early twenties and accordingly that period was largely spent (in descending order of time commitment)  partying, drinking, eating, spending and working.  I ventured beyond the urban sprawl briefly and sporadically. I lived within walking distance of the office and everything I needed (bars, restaurants, gym, ferry terminal) were a short walk away from my apartment.  So I thought I had a vague idea of what Hong Kong could offer even if I knew that this time round I'd be in for a different experience as a mid-thirties married father of two. (That still sounds like I am describing someone else).

So here are some things I didn't appreciate then, but do now. Hong Kong isn't really a city state, but actually a sub-tropical archipelago of over 260 individual islands.  If I want to work in the city but play out in the country, I'm better off in the Hong Kong office than London. Along with Bristol, Hong Kong is tone of only two citied in the world with world-class elite-level outdoor rock-climbing within the city (a 15 minute uphill escalator ride from my office in the case of Hong Kong). There are four separate Patagonia stores in Hong Kong. China may be the world's most populous country (home to around a quarter of the world's population), yet Hong Kong, with a population of over seven million squeezed into little more than 400 square miles, is one of the world's most densely populated countries (16,876 people per square mile - 136 times the global average). Yet the majority of Hong Kong's landmass is national park.

But life in Hong Kong is about more than statistics.  It's about getting the underground to work every day and never arriving at the platform when a train - air conditioned, clean and comfortable - isn't there, or about to appear. Finding a flat on the twenty seventh floor with a balcony and a view of the harbour, and reconciling ourselves to paying over double our London mortgage in rent for a property about half the size. Being unable to find decent skimmed milk and then realising its because there are no commercial dairy farms in Hong Kong. Or China. Or Asia for that matter. Its about the certainty of stepping outside in the morning without worrying about what the weather might do later in the day. Cheap taxis which are everywhere except when it rains and you really need one. Having a choice of world cuisines on our doorstep and then realising that 'chinese' food is actually a mix of hundreds, if not thousands, of individual cuisines.  Drinking martinis on an outdoor roof terrace twenty five floors up yet having to crane our necks upwards to look at the surrounding buildings.  Paying fifteen quid for a cocktail, or 20p for a ferry ride across one of the world's greatest natural harbours.  Enjoying chips by the seaside or dim sum by the seaside, as our mood dictates.  Watching Lara playing with chinese children in the local playground, and dodging chinese pensioners practising Tai Chi in their thousands on my morning run around the park.  Driving round a corner past palm trees and seeing a cricket game in full swing.

Hong Kong is all of these things and more. Its eastern and western, Chinese yet somehow still British, familiar yet alien, easy yet difficult.  It is hard to avoid the cliches, and there is no place like it on earth.  Western capitalism, chinese-style. A concrete jungle. A sub-tropical paradise. A city of contrasts. East meets west. Fusion.

Hong Kong. Home.