As a British colony for well over 150 years, it’s easy to see the remnants of Hong Kong’s colonial past throughout the city streets. Trams glide along British named streets, lattice lined buildings are dotted amongst the lego-like high-rises and modern shopping malls pop up overnight, slowly usurping the past. As I arrive at Central, a hazy dusk had thickened over the river and shrouded the ever-present mountain backdrop, settling in for the evening. The city is colder than I’d expected, with winter on the horizon its inevitable, but as the humidity still sits at 85% I’d decided against a jacket and was surprised, like many things in Hong Kong, that it was not as I had expected. Seemingly ungovernable streets run like a pulse throughout the city, pushing through crowds as a pedestrian, honking horns blare and sirens wail, all the while the seamless, punctual MTR rail system runs beneath your feet. An eclectic, energetic juxtaposition of new and old, nature and technology, ancient traditions and colonial influences, Hong Kong combines it all in a way that quite simply, just works. On a typical day, an early morning mist settles and as the soft light shifts, the city comes to a slow awakening. As an early riser it seems difficult to get much done before 7 am, however as evening settles it seems the options are endless. Expatriate bars fill with business men both local and foreign alike, noodles are slurped and Tsing Tao are clinked, food markets hustle, aromas seem to seep from every surface and a constant indistinguishable chatter warms the streets. I wander down my first streets of Hong Kong and it hits me how the culture seems to revolve around food, whether it’s traditional snacks in alleyway stalls or international cuisines in modern Michelin-starred restaurants. I push and excuse myself onwards through the hustle of Mong Kok, some smells lingering pleasantly, drawing me in, others seem to initiate an involuntary clench of the stomach muscles. Hole in the wall shops to built up restaurants, like the streets, are always busy. It’s clear the city awakens whenever the clock chimes meal time. Street food stalls are less present than many asian cities, rather you’re more likely to walk straight past the double or triple story ‘wet-markets’, or produce markets, often with the top floor reserved for a collection of small food stalls. Walking into Java Road market, I am bizarrely charmed by the ‘mess-hall’ like dining environment. A soft haze of cigarette smoke lingers above a table of older gentlemen in the back, waitresses screech at each other, table after table are served in what can only be described as organised chaos and I watch it all unfold with a plate of fresh crab and a pint-sized Tsing Tao, opened by a young man with a crafty flick of the chop-sticks. The saying goes that the Hong Kongese will eat anything with four legs except a table and chairs. From snake skin soup and beef intestines to chickens feet and ‘egg-yolk chicken skin’ sold in 7-11’s, this old saying is far from disproven. Though it can be confronting seeing nameless animal parts hang from street windows, there’s something nice in the choice to eat the whole animal not letting a thing go to waste. Some of the more unique food choices, should you be so adventurous include, 1000-year-old eggs, made by preserving chicken or quail eggs in an ash, salt and clay mixture for up to seven months or if your stomach can handle it, Cau Dou Fu ‘stinky Tofu’. Marinated in a brine of fermented milk, vegetables and meat, this tofu certainly lives up to its namesake, you will smell this local delicacy long before you see it. A cosmopolitan city set against the foothills of mist shrouded mountains, Hong Kong Island rises from the ocean a man-made archipelago of ‘reclaimed land’. Having traveled through much of Asia, I never expected to find a city that so seamlessly and conveniently manages to blend cultures, traditions, technology and nature together as Hong Kong, managing to keep the chaotic charm of Asia yet providing an ease and comfort that ensures any traveller is happy to return. Ancient Chinese culture is blended with modern Hong Kong, British heritage lingers and a new, multicultural city emerges.