Post-Trip Recollections - Love Hong Kong

By tankstraveltales - January 21, 2026

Singapore, where I was born and grew up in and still live in, has always been compared to Hong Kong. While both cities have their similarities, they also have their unique differences which defined each city it each own right.

I was first "introduced" to Hong Kong as a kid when I watched Hong Kong-produced TV dramas with my family. Then, I started listening to Canto-pop, basically pop songs by Hong Kong artistes. While I was not conversant in the Cantonese dialect then, I did slowly picked up the language due to constant exposure. Today, I still do not consider myself conversant in Cantonese. But I can at least understand the dialect when someone speaks to me in it. I will try my best to reply in Cantonese, peppered with Mandarin of course. For the record, I am an ethnic Chinese with Hokkien ancestry. However, I have no known living relatives in China or the province of Fujian, just to digress a bit from the focus of this blog post.

Back to why I love Hong Kong and find it as unique as any major cities in the world. Food! Hong Kong is a food lover's paradise. There are so many different kinds of food here. While some variations of the same food can often be found in other cities around the world, the food in Hong Kong can never be bested by other versions. I am unable to find the words to describe this uniqueness except to say that the Hong Kong flavour can only be found in Hong Kong and not easily replicated elsewhere.

Another uniqueness of the city is its geographical location which serves as the gateway to China. With its mix of both Chinese and International influences, one can easily experience both modern and traditional cultures all in one city!

Over the course of 2025, I had made six short visits to Hong Kong. While the primary purpose of these visits were to spend time with my partner, I also took the opportunity to explore more of Hong Kong. In the past year, I had discovered areas in Hong Kong I never before knew existed. There are the quaint cafes, awesome local eateries and a small locally-owned stationery shop which are now the go-to places each time I am in Hong Kong.

As part of this Post-Trip Recollection of my Hong Kong trips in 2025, I would like to share the following selection of photographs taken during these short, mostly weekend sojourns.