The Place We're At Now: Hong Kong

Hong Kong, we don't love you. And it's not us, it's you.

This is a regular feature about where we currently are in the world: how we ended up there, what it costs, and exactly what we think.

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Michael and I have spent much of 2025 in Asia, and now we’re in Hong Kong, arguably the third most important financial center in the world, after New York and London.

And to our surprise, we’re not loving it.

Hong Kong is, of course, a small area on the coast of the South China Sea made up of three different “regions”: Kowloon and the New Territories, both on the Chinese mainland, and Hong Kong Island.

It’s also home to 7.4 million people, making it one of the most densely populated places on Earth.

Credit: Tubs.

But what is it exactly?

It’s not a country, it’s not a city-state like Singapore, and it’s not part of China either — not exactly.

For a long time, it was part of the Chinese Empire, but honestly, it wasn’t much: just some farms and fishing villages. In the early 17th century, it was briefly a Portuguese trading port, but then the whole area was cleared of people during something called the Great Clearance, when China banned all maritime trade.

After the First and Second Opium Wars with Britain, China ceded the area to the UK, which established a colony. It rapidly became a major trading center — and also attracted many refugees from China.

In the 20th century, after World War II and the Chinese Communist Party took over mainland China, Hong Kong became even more prosperous; it was soon deemed one of the four economic powerhouses in this area of the world known as the “Asian Tigers,” along with Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan.

Photo by Florian Wehde on Unsplash

In 1984, Britain agreed to return control of Hong Kong to China — and it did, in 1997, with an agreement that also established Hong Kong’s more “free” political and economic systems would be maintained for at least fifty years after the handover.

These days, Hong Kong is considered a “Special Administrative Region” (or “SAR”) of the People’s Republic of China, which calls Hong Kong an example of their “one country, two systems” principle.

The reality is a bit complicated.

On one hand, there is a very hard border between mainland China and Hong Kong. The customs and immigration systems are entirely different.

Hong Kong also uses its own currency — the Hong Kong dollar — and has its own legal and judicial system, based on British law. And it elects and controls the local government — kind of. China has intervened over policies it doesn’t like, dictating new results.

Photo by Nic Low on Unsplash

Whereas mainland China has a centralized socialist economy — and a very limited definition of “political freedom” — Hong Kong is capitalist. Taxes are low, and the city has the world’s second-highest number of billionaires.

Indeed, Hong Kong is consistently ranked as the most economically “free” area in the world.

Practically speaking, the vibe is completely different than on mainland China. Over there, even the online media is heavily censored: it’s illegal to criticize the government, and much of the internet is blocked outright.

In Hong Kong, locals still can’t legally criticize the Chinese government, but they can criticize their own elected officials. Access to the internet — and all information — is wide open.

Unlike in China, young people have tattoos — and attitude.

Eight years ago, before Michael and I left America, we would have emphatically agreed that Hong Kong is much more “free” than mainland China — and we still think that. We are liberals, after all.

But after eight years of international travel, we see the issue as a bit more complicated than we thought before. Hong Kong has more “freedom,” yes, but it also has intense poverty and more social disorder.

People lined up for some of the city’s meager social services.

It’s not surprising that China allows Hong Kong some degree of freedom: they don’t want to kill the goose laying all these golden eggs.

On the other hand, since the handover from Britain, China has increasingly tightened its control of Hong Kong, even famously shutting down mass protests in 2019 and 2020.

China may say it is “one country, two systems,” but there is a massive contradiction between the two, and it remains to be seen what the future holds for this area.

How did we end up here?

We’re in this part of the world, and it’s Hong Kong. I mean, come on.

It was also a great place to end our nine-day tour of southern China, since we used China’s new Transit Without Visa (TWOV) program, which requires that you leave the country through a different border crossing than you entered.

Where are we staying? What does it cost?

We’re staying in Hong Kong’s Prince Edward neighborhood, which is located within the Kowloon section of the city.

Kowloon is the oldest part of Hong Kong, and it was once home to the infamous Kowloon Walled City, which started as an old Chinese military fort but eventually became a lawless slum that housed up to 50,000 people in horrible conditions.

It was demolished in 1993, but most of Kowloon is still grittier, poorer, and more working-class than either Hong Kong Island or the New Territories.

As for how Michael and I ended up here, our choice boiled down to one of two Airbnb rentals:

• A new apartment on Hong Kong Island. A friend recommended it, but it was very small and lacked any character. Also, while it was the second cheapest option we found, it still seemed expensive at $138 USD/night.

• A grittier apartment in Kowloon that advertised we could “live like a local” — it’s literally an apartment a guy rents out while he’s traveling. This unit was older than the first apartment, but also much bigger, and far and away the cheapest apartment we saw: $87/night USD.

So which did we choose? Before I tell you, I’ll let you know that Michael and I now strongly disagree on whether we made the right call.