Clear Sky over Hong Kong

Hong Kong is currently under the influence of a northern monsoon. That means:

It’s freezing cold (for Hong Kong): below 10C
There’s blue sky, clean air and sunshine

Particularly clean air has been a rare occurrence over the last years. Faced with polluted air from the factories in Guangdong Province and (Hong Kongers often choose to ignore this fact) traffic, Hong Kong’s air quality has been on constant decline over the years. It is striking that the main culprit for Hong Kong’s bad air is – public transport.

Yes, this rich Chinese city with zero debts doesn’t seem to be able to overhaul it’s bus fleet and introduce tougher environment laws. Buses and mini buses which have been off Europe’s street for at least 15 years still operate here. As a result, the view from Hong Kong island’s highest mountain, The Peak, only shows some skyscrapers sticking out of the smog. Unless, you have a northern monsoon that cleans the air.

And that’s what happened this weekend. It was stunning. I copied some photos below. If you ever make it to Hong Kong make sure this particular destination is on the very top of you agenda.