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TRIP REPORT: Two Weeks in Hong Kong

What made me want to go to Hong Kong? It was at the time Jordan (Aleppo) was travelling the world, so after a couple of months of seeing his photos and videos from various amazing different places around the globe I decided a visit was in order. I received a flight itinerary from Jordan and after a few days of juggling ideas we settled on Hong Kong…

Words and photos by Archie Kenward

I took my first long haul flight (12.5 hours) from Gatwick to HK alone, and met with Jordan the second I landed. We went for 2 weeks in total, and spent our time staying in what was essentially a glorified cupboard. When our 2 weeks were over, Jordan headed to Shanghai and I spent 6 more days in Tokyo with Daisuke and Yumi of @horiegumi_jpn before heading home.

“We spent our time staying in what was essentially a glorified cupboard.”

We woke up fairly late almost every day and didn’t leave the cupboard until about 2-3pm. We would meet with Bob (The best Hong Kong tour guide ever) and then hop on the metro. Normally we would then get Bob to order us a mystery meal, and then go riding with whatever crew we had for the day.

Tsim Sha Tsui is a super busy part of Kowloon, but still had a few amazing spots. Brett is scarily good at riding his bike on walls. Brett and Bob have been working on a video for the last 3/4 years and I can’t wait to see it.

Chu hanging out with the security at a famous ledge spot in TST.

A lot of people say security is tight in Hong Kong. We had a few problems but nothing like I had expected. The police over there are pretty scary, though the local people seem to tolerate BMX much more than your average English OAP. Although we did have a somewhat memorable night that involved a homeless man swinging a metal pipe and throwing bamboo javelins.

“The local people seem to tolerate BMX much more than your average English OAP…”

The Hong Kong BMX scene is amazing! Everyone we met couldn’t have been more friendly and welcoming. We first met the main HK filmer, Bob Chueng, and Merritt rider Sam Lee. But throughout our trip we met so many other good people and had a heavy crew most nights… Shoutout to all the boys, you honestly made our time in Hong Kong unforgettable.

Almost every spot we went to was amazing. Some notable ones would be a crazy pyramid bank spot, which was just behind a ‘playground’ that also doubled as a bowl. Also the whole of the Fanling area – so many good spots.

Brett Decker (an American living in Hong Kong) runs the Instagram account @hkgotmadspots, so we would normally sieve through that, send a handful of screenshots to the group chat and be on our way.

Chu is amazing at bike riding and here’s all the proof you need, such a nice dude with a vast knowledge of HK spots. he helped us out a lot on our trip and we can’t thank him enough!

Taking a boat from Kowloon to Hong Kong island. don’t ask me why but Jordan proper loves boats.

Relatively close to the end of our stay in Hong Kong we met local legend ‘Uncle Six’, a BMX rider that also owns the amazing Thai restaurant @minibangkok - so many good people and a lot of good food, always the best way to wrap up a trip.

I already can’t wait to go back to HK. The food is amazing and the spots are even better. I miss riding until 5am and going to 7-Eleven every 10 minutes. Looking back, I wish I had shot more photos but there’s always next time!