Three Days in Hong Kong

I just passed three days in a place I'd never before ventured: Hong Kong, China!!!  Formerly part of the British empire, now known as a "Special Administrative Region", you could say this is where Asia and London meet and blend like the syrup and milk in a Thai iced tea.  I noticed this blend no better than in the yellow double decker buses that traverse the city.  Think about it... double decker bus... but in yellow.  From the moment I saw signs full of Chinese characters and a shop at the airport called "Yum Yum Treats" I felt instantly at ease!!

When I first arrived, I took the Airport Express train to the city followed by a taxi to my friend Tyler's flat.  I got to the taxi stand and the driver helped me get my suitcase in the trunk.  "First time Hong Kong?"  "Uh.... uh.... mmm...  yeah."  I knew I shouldn't have let it slip-- you should never admit this when traveling in a foreign country!  Lest people take advantage of your lack of experience and find ways to rip you off.  "It's 30 Hong Kong dollars to Mid-Levels neighborhood, right?" I asked, as per the sign at the station on the way out.  "No, it's by the meter."  Ugh.  "OK just don't go the long way please!"  What came next was a truer than true introduction to my visit here: "Lady this Hong Kong NOT China!  You can trust!  You see!"  

It's true... the city is full of very internationally-minded folk, not too different from being on the streets of San Francisco, i.e. lots of internationals, lots of Asians, lots of tourists, helpful and trustworthy locals, and pretty easy-going vibes all around.  After living in Buenos Aires for three months I was relieved to feel free to walk with my purse at the back and have my camera in hand without the fear of having it snatched from me.  

And on that point, something else I noticed about Hong Kong is that it's full to the brim with technological gadgets... screens and bright lights everywhere, and the people, whether roaming the streets or sipping tea in the cafés, are for the majority of the time glued to their smart phones or tablets.  So, trying to get into it, I went to the Wan Chai electronics market to see what goods were on offer.  Utter madness!  I was looking for a cheapo external hard drive... something just for my trip, to back up my computer while traveling lest (heaven forbid) it gets lost, broken, stolen or damaged.  The 500GB were priced at $500 (Hong Kong dollars- divide by ~8 for the exchange to USD) and the 320GB cost even more than that.  How is it possible, I wondered?  Someone explained to us only after enquiring in about 10 of the shops, that the Thailand floods have entered the Western Digital factory there, halting production and inflating the prices of most products by more than 200%!!!  Crazy times, I tell you.

Besides coming to Hong Kong to see a place to which I'd never been, I had friends here to catch up with... first was Tyler, my incredibly hospitable host who has lived here for nearly 11 years working for an American bank.  He described the city as "New York on acid", that is, the same population, but crammed into the size of Manhattan instead of spread out over the entire five boroughs.  My second friend Thomas later contested that fact, saying that the eight million residents were spread over slightly more space, but I'll leave it to the demographers to decide.  

There is an area of the city that is the most densely populated place in the world.  But for some reason, the whole place didn't seem as crowded to me as NYC.  The streets and sidewalks felt wider.  The people less pushy.  The pace only slightly less frantic, but maybe I missed the rush hour lunch, when millions of business people have to find a place to eat in the same two hour period of the day.  

My first night I went out with Tyler and some of his banking/finance friends, to Shore (very swanky rooftop bar which served up the best Cosmo I've had in a long time) and then to dinner at Phoenix, the last stop on the way up the magical escalators that take you all the way up to Tyler's flat on the hill.  My second night was spent schmoozing at tastings and wine bars with Thomas's friends and associates... Thomas has his own wine importing business (he used to be just a simple high-end hotelier).  That's when I realized something about Hong Kong...  It is to businessmen what Hollywood is to actors.  It's where you come to 'make it' and where networking is, clearly, the name of the game.  Both Tyler and Thomas were constantly handing out and being handed business cards.  Strange I thought, since I've never seen the need to have business cards of my own (would mine read: world traveler? intrepid adventurer?) and it seemed like I never saw business cards nor this strange phenomenon in Buenos Aires.  Maybe I didn't have any friends who were business people there, but I can't even remember the last time I SAW a business card in South America.  Really got me thinking.

I'll leave you with a few Chinese language basics in case you ever find yourself in Hong Kong trying to impress a (by-default) bilingual local:

(Note that Chinese is a tonal language so even if you attempt this you'll probably be saying it wrong.  Still, effort is key!)

Good morning = Jo Sahn

Stop here (e.g. in a taxi) = Li Doh

Speak English? = English Ahhhhh?

Thank you = Mmmm Goy

Goodbye = Buh Byeeeee (they don't have a concept of goodbye so just say this is the most Asian way possible)

Hello/ How are you = Ni Ho Ma (also no concept so this is literally "have you eaten")

Excuse me/ I'm sorry = Moh Sya

Excuse me (like Spanish 'permiso' i.e. get out of my way) = Goy Te Te

Will send an update from Bangkok soon!!!  Bye everyone :D