So after only 18 months my time in Hong Kong has come to an end. Sad? Of course, its a great place I'm sure anyone who has been will tell you that. I've met some real good people & for such a small city it offers you a hell of a lot. For a start the weather is a million times better then in the UK. There is the 'sweat fest' from June until September but the winter months ('winter' being too strong a word really) are pretty much perfect. Stepping out of the house in mid January with a clear blue sky has a huge effect on how you approach your day.
It can be a bit of a contradictory place though and you can quickly begin developing a love / hate relationship. The place is all about money yet there is an endless amount of people working for peanuts. The vast urban areas are huge but are nothing compared to the massive rural part's. And then there is the historically old along side the new leviathan towers. It truly is east meets west, with a very interesting outcome.
Convenience makes Hong Kong such a unique place to live too. I'm certainly going to miss my octopus card & of course the thing ill miss more than anything else, club 7/11!! Hahaa! But really, where else in the world can you be at any corner of the city within 1 hour (well, maybe a few minutes longer)?
Ill miss - Sheung Wan, the Soho area, Repulse Bay, Causeway Bay, the wonderful smells of MongKok, anywhere with picturesque views (given you can see more that 50 yards in front on you, air quality is shocking these days) & even the streets of Lan Kwai Fong (although not the shitty over pretentious clubs that charge extortion prices).
Things ill be glad to see the back of - Sundays, the socially inept, spatially unaware fucktards (yes called for) who constantly frustrate me the shit out of me with their inability to function at the most basic of social tasks. Shop assistants shouting ''fay ying gwon lam, chabiin tai''.... Leave me the fuck alone! If i want your help ill ask! Tsim Sha Tsui, mainlanders (sorry, still too brash for my liking), humidity and getting a runny nose every 2 weeks.
Shopping wise you couldn't ask for a better place to blow your money, besides Japan, of course. Despite what you may have heard / think though its NOT cheap to live here. Rent, petrol, nightlife, any type of imported produce & the majority of things in & around Hong Kong island are ridiculously priced (yes, I blame us westerners too). So bring a fat wallet if / when you do come.
Its a well known fact that the cities financial status (aka people are here to make money so not much else matters to them) makes the lack of creative culture / scene a bit of downside. But what do people expect though? Its a small place & most people are here to make loot. That's it. The place is too small to get a 'scene' going & generally speaking the financial lot wont be interested in other things (ie anything cultural). Well, maybe banging the Filipinos in Wan Chai but thats about it. There are a thousand art galleries yet 90% (in my 'untrained' opinion) look dog shit. Musically its nothing short of a dry well too, unless Tom Jones is your cup of tea? Even Macau shits on HK. And the crackdown of noise levels... Sign up to stop that BS. As I've said, the place is 'business central'. People are busy working toward that goal. But sometimes you just want to escape that & go someplace without feeling that money is the number 1 concern. That's just the way it is though and I understand that. There are some people here however who really do try to make the place more interesting. There just isn't enough of them.
As for HK's future, well, some may say it looks a little sketchy. With China's ever expanding world dominance some might say HK isn't exactly the safe haven it once was. Like this article for instance. A sign of things to come maybe? Who knows.
Anyway.... Ill leave the blog up for anyone who finds it useful. Laugh at it, bookmark it, disagree with it, whatever. As long as there is something.
Feel free to heck out my other page here (music related by the way), and my own blog here.
Take it easy out there.
