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I was in Hong Kong last week for the first time and the airport is quite clean and the airline options are ABUNDANT!! Though if you are connecting and you have to connect from gate 46 to gate 3 watch out! It's a long walk..LOL!!
Hong Kong is a very big INTERNATIONAL city. I loved it
I have been to Tokyo and Hong Kong. I can't speak for Seoul or Singapore but from what I have heard is that for size/feel of largest to smallest.
Tokyo
Seoul/Hong Kong
Singapore
My friend who has been to all 4 stated Tokyo feels larger than New York, Seoul and Honk Kong feel about the same as New York. Singapore for an American city feels smaller than New York and more along the lines of Chicago.
If someone feels my theory is wrong please speak up.
I've lived in Japan for 5+ years, and previously lived in NYC for 2 1/2 years. NYC felt a lot larger to me. Tokyo is also large though. But the variation in NYC in staggering. Tokyo has a very thorough homogenous feel in people and design.
If just talking size. Seoul is equally massive (and very homogeneous in feel and design and people) in a very similar way to Tokyo.
Hong Kong is big, but since it's islands and mountains and can't continually spread out forever like the others, feels more limited than both Tokyo and Seoul. But it's also a big city too though.
Singapore is generally, flat. It feels more spread out. It takes quite awhile to go from the airport or the Malaysian border. It feels more urban through and through. Whereas coming from the Hong Kong airport into the core of HK (Kowloon), you feel like you're not in a city at all for awhile. I'd almost give them similar feelings of sizeness in that way. But, I think statistically, HK is the much bigger city. It's just more dense and much taller buildings in it's core, which makes it feel so much bigger in it's core.
So, if only 'feelings' on size, I'd say Tokyo, Seoul (extremely close to Tokyo in feel though), Hong Kong, than Singapore.
Regarding Singapore feeling like Chicago. I didn't feel that at all. Not in feeling, not in size, not in anyway. Chicago is massive and goes on and on. It's also much dirtier than Singapore, etc. If I were to put Singapore into any US city, I'd probably say Portland Oregon. Singapore is clean and safe and has a lot going for it, and so does Portland Oregon. Singapore is probably bigger, by quite a bit, than Portland. But they would have similar properties and characteristics, if we had to compare SG with anywhere in the US.
Regarding the original question: Which would you prefer to visit most?
I've spent a lot of time in Tokyo, Seoul, and Singapore. I've only been to Hong Kong twice.
So, at this point in my life, I'm very curious and interested to get to know Hong Kong as well as the others. So, I'll go with Hong Kong for this poll!
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tiger Beer
I've lived in Japan for 5+ years, and previously lived in NYC for 2 1/2 years. NYC felt a lot larger to me. Tokyo is also large though. But the variation in NYC in staggering. Tokyo has a very thorough homogenous feel in people and design.
If just talking size. Seoul is equally massive (and very homogeneous in feel and design and people) in a very similar way to Tokyo.
Hong Kong is big, but since it's islands and mountains and can't continually spread out forever like the others, feels more limited than both Tokyo and Seoul. But it's also a big city too though.
Singapore is generally, flat. It feels more spread out. It takes quite awhile to go from the airport or the Malaysian border. It feels more urban through and through. Whereas coming from the Hong Kong airport into the core of HK (Kowloon), you feel like you're not in a city at all for awhile. I'd almost give them similar feelings of sizeness in that way. But, I think statistically, HK is the much bigger city. It's just more dense and much taller buildings in it's core, which makes it feel so much bigger in it's core.
So, if only 'feelings' on size, I'd say Tokyo, Seoul (extremely close to Tokyo in feel though), Hong Kong, than Singapore.
Regarding Singapore feeling like Chicago. I didn't feel that at all. Not in feeling, not in size, not in anyway. Chicago is massive and goes on and on. It's also much dirtier than Singapore, etc. If I were to put Singapore into any US city, I'd probably say Portland Oregon. Singapore is clean and safe and has a lot going for it, and so does Portland Oregon. Singapore is probably bigger, by quite a bit, than Portland. But they would have similar properties and characteristics, if we had to compare SG with anywhere in the US.
Very interesting, how did NYC feel a lot larger? I would think they would feel similar in size. Tokyo has more people and a pretty large metro. Are you talking about the downtown area? I think at least half of Manhattan has that 'downtown' feel and NYC has one of the largest de-facto CBD's (central business district) in the world, if not the largest. NYC is more diverse of course and has that 'world in a city' feel - go from Harlem, to the Upper East Side, to Chinatown, they're completely different.
Hong Kong and Singapore are really hard to compare. Due to it's geography HK 'proper' (not including the New Territories) is very cramped and dense, and much smaller than Singapore. However they do cram an impressive amount of people into it. Hong Kong island is so small you can easily walk across it in a few hours. Singapore is larger, and also very dense (high rise throughout the island) but course it's skyline isn't as big as HK's (which rivals NY's). In population HK isn't that much bigger than Singapore, something like 7.9 million vs 5.4 million, but it's part of the greater Pearl River Delta region.
Seoul is a huge city, not much smaller than Tokyo. Looking at the two cities respectively subway maps is mind-boggling.
I was interested in comparing and contrasting these cities in terms of...
Airport Cleanliness
Architecture
Culture
Food
Neighborhoods
Nightlife
Safety
Transportation
List in order the cities you want to visit most?
Please give some well thought out answers and type at least one sentence per line. There won't be much of a discussion if everyone just list these cities in order for every category without explaining why.
I haven't been to either Seoul or Tokyo yet but I'll refrain from talking about them until I have experience to compare them.
I have been to Hong Kong and Singapore before.
Singapore has the more updated infrastructure and surprisingly I found Hong Kong to be gritty, not overwhelmingly so but it had that, where as Singapore both looks and feels much more well kept and updated. Singapore also has one of the largest red light districts I've encountered and there's more diversity to it's nightlife I would imagine, I wasn't old enough for nightlife options in Hong Kong back in 2006 but would imagine it's pretty good but from seeing the places from the outside and seeing the crowds it generates, I would say Singapore probably felt more bustling in this regard. Although I could be wrong.
Transportation in either is a non-issue, both are from my experience worlds ahead of majority of what we have in the United States, by the systems themselves I would say only really New York compares to them. Metro, the EL, and the T in Washington, Chicago, and Boston in comparison to Hong Kong and Singapore have more gaps and under-served areas and generally these are the three runners up to New York in the United States.
Also compared to American cities, there shouldn't be an inch of worry on safety in either of the two Asian cities, they are by FAR more safer in every sort of away than our average American cities and much more organized to fighting crime in an efficient manner.
Food is one area where in my opinion, Singapore handedly takes it over Hong Kong without it being close. Not to say you cant have good food in Hong Kong but my experience is that you have to pay more to get better foods whereas in Singapore you can get an all out delicious (and diverse selection) of means for an appropriate price and there's less of a "hit or miss" factor to dining in Singapore.
Also someone mentioned Singapore feels the smallest of the four, while I haven't been to Seoul or Tokyo to comment, I'm sure it does in comparison to those hypercities. SIJORI is a conurbation of 9 million and more people, Johor Bahru, which is a great alternative for cheaper shopping than Singapore, is right across the water similarly to the way New Jersey is from Manhattan and it adds an addition 2.5 million or so people to Singapore's area. All in all, while it may feel like the "smaller" of the four, coming from America where only arguably three cities feel it's size or larger, there shouldn't be any worries on the size front.
As for neighborhoods, I remember one upscale residential area on the island called Happy Valley in Hong Kong, amazing highrises but over the top real estate prices in my opinion. Hong Kong has a great set of neighborhoods but in my opinion Singapore's are more varied with more in my opinion options that cater to a larger "global" crowd specifically more Southeast Asians than that of Hong Kong's. Holland Village, Little India, Chinatown are all prime ex-patriot areas in Singapore and each bring some global flavor into Singapore. Hong Kong in comparison is more of a unified post-British, modern-Chinese set of neighborhoods.
After Las Vegas, Seoul is number one on places I want to see next in the world, Tokyo right after. I consider myself a very tech savvy and modern person and the idea of the world's fastest and largest internet services, full service electronics, LCD's and LED's, lights, and eccentricity fascinate me about both South Korea and Japan to the point where I'd also very much like to see Busan, Osaka, and Nagoya when I go out to see Seoul or Tokyo. I'm looking for ways to move to either Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Osaka, Seoul, Busan, Kuala Lumpur, or Nagoya soon but first need to visit some of those places and see them in person. I'm excited.
Singapore for me, I prefer hot climates over cold ones
And for those still wanting to go to Tokyo - are they not worried about the radiation?
No.
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