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Hong Kong It took me nearly 24 hours to travel from my apartment in Montreal to my hotel in Hong Kong. Nothing much to say about my arrival day in Hong Kong as I went to bed pretty quickly. I did notice that, unlike in North America, metro cars are all seamlessly connected, giving the impression of being in one long, infinite metro. Also, women have different fashion and some look pretty nice. One was talking to a gweilo (White man) on the metro who was telling her bullshit about not being a shallow man who can just hook up with any woman he just met in a bar because of his values and health concerns. To me, it was clear the reason this guy can't pick up women in bars is because he's just a plain loser. If he were in North America, he would never have the chance to talk to a quality lady like the one he was addressing on the metro car. I guess being White and exotic in a foreign land does have its advantages. The next day, I went to the Hong Kong office of the company I work for. I'm officially on vacation, but I got to go away for one month in exchange for agreeing to work a reduced amount of hours during that time. It's a win-win: I get to travel longer and my company gets to keep me to take care of urgent issues while I'm gone. I figured a convenient location to work from would be the company's office. It would give me a feel of what it is to work in an Asian city and a chance to meet distant co-workers who actually did email me previously for work-related issues. The Hong Kong office is small compared to the Montreal one, but has just been recently expanded. Thus, I got to benefit from having "my own" cubicle. I also got to meet big bosses of the Asian division of the company. The view from the office is on a dense urban forest of condo and office towers. I had lunch with co-workers, who told me about aspects of our business in Asia, about the local culture and about what to see and do in Hong Kong. After lunch, a few of the people in the office burped shamelessly. I thought it was funny because no one would dare do that in North America, especially in such tight quarters where everybody can identify the perpetrator of such bodily noises. Then, I went to the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology because I was interested in one of their programs. The university is in the New Territories, relatively far from Hong Kong's downtown core. It has a campus in a picturesque location, but its buildings - like most of Hong Kong's - are drab and uninspiring, looking aged and cheap. Having obtained information about the program of my interest, I headed further into the New Territories to Sai Kung to eat some sea food. Many restaurants are competing against each other in Sai Kung. All display the live fish and various animals they offer. Some also threw horseshoe crabs on the ground so that they could crawl around and lure customers in. It worked for me as I was looking to eat something different. However, I soon discovered that the horseshoe crabs are nothing more than marketing devices and that actually eating them is not something the restaurants intend you to do. When I asked how much it would cost to eat one, I was told it would be 300 Hong Kong dollars (roughly 45 Canadian or American dollars) and that only a minute amount of meat could be drawn from this creature. So, I opted for me "traditional" protein instead. After dinner, I headed to Lan Kwai Fong for some drinking and to take in the cheerful spirit of the partying masses of expats. In LKF, the wise thing to do is to buy alcohol at a 7-Eleven and drink it on the streets. The next day, I went all over HK island and Kownloon. Amongst others, I entered the infamous Chungking Mansions. Come evening, I went to Lamma Island, about a 15-minute ferry ride from Hong Kong island. It felt like being in a completely different country. Instead of the busy, hurried pace of the city, the place was filled with a tropical resort ambiance. People lazily having fun and enjoying life in a leisurely way. Walking in this unlikely little paradise was much fun. Beautiful lanterns, local fauna, the sights and sounds of calm night bliss... I decided to make a hike of it and go all the way to the other side of the island. This took about an hour and a half. I was almost at destination, when a blocked my way in a very dark point of the path. I almost didn't see it. But when I did, I noticed it was looking straight at me with expectation in its eyes and a somewhat confrontational attitude. I'm not sure exactly what the wanted, but I felt threatened. I looked around me to see what I could do about this situation. I saw and picked up a 2x4 that was lying next to the path. Just that was enough to make the flee. Moments later, a local saw me with the beam in my hands and said not to worry about dogs here. The Lonely Planet guide says otherwise. I didn't take chances. I had dinner at a restaurant on the island while waiting for the ferry back to HK island to arrive. When I took it, I went on the upper deck under an awning to admire the night even though it was raining, windy and more comfortable inside. I enjoyed just being there in the night, on this small stretch of sea half a world away from home. |
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Good sharing of your experiences.... 
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10/28/2010 9:42 am |
为什莫不写中文呢？
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