Day 72 - Now Leaving Hong Kong

Thank you all for reading my blog. There were over 500 viewers from 15+ countries over the two months that I wrote, which amazes me.

I am leaving Hong Kong this morning. My girlfriend is bringing me to the airport. I stayed up all night so I can sleep easily on the plane and not have jetlag on the way back (12-hour time difference.)

I'm already behind schedule for leaving so I don't have a lot of time to wrap up and give a heartfelt goodbye, but it's been a hell of a ride. Hong Kong is great and I'm looking forward to the next trip. This blog will rise again.

Andrew

Day 70

Today is Monday, but my work is finished.

As of yesterday, I am back in Hong Kong. The differences between it and the mainland are immediately obvious. As soon as people start saying "haiya" and giving you dirty looks, you know where you are.

Yunnan was great; the weather was wonderful (it's like Atlanta in September), the food was good, and the people were nice. People in the mainland, actually, are almost always nice; I've heard different things about different regions (Especially cities like Shanghai, where the people are apparently not nice). Being in the mainland for those four days, though, and being exposed to a completely different social demographic of China, brought something to my attention: People in Hong Kong generally aren't nice to strangers. Of course, there are exceptions: all of my co-workers, friends I've made, foreigners, and the rare person who defies generalization. Lots of people in HK, though, are not cool with people they don't know. This could involve being foreign, or black, or American, or asking too many questions or talking too much; I am/do all of these things and maybe that's what puts many people off. But for whatever reason, there's an anti-foreign sentiment in Hong Kong. Perhaps this makes it more like New York (which it's often compared to*, because of the geography, economy, and urban culture), although I've never faced discrimination as a minority in New York. Actually, the attitude here reminds me of the Michael Jackson song 'Beat It':

Don't wanna see your face, you better disappear / The fire's in their eyes, and their words are really clear, so beat it, just beat it.

That is a little dramatic.

The main point is that Hong Kong beneath the surface isn't that welcoming of a place for foreigners or even Mainland Chinese, in spite of all the foreigners who live there. They're tired of them and their international shenanigans, and some would rather they leave. Of course, the thousands of foreigners here aren't going anywhere, and their diversity has helped to make a more hospitable community within HK. Hong Kong is like an exclusive club that 0.5% of China has succeeded in joining.

Chinese weddings, also, are fantastic. Better than Western weddings, I think, because of how much ritual and cultural tradition is involved. The ceremony took the entire day, which was more fun than it was tiring, and the reception went into the night. Like I said before, I had a great time, met a lot of people, and was entertained thoroughly; it was well worth the total of around 63 hours I spent on trains to get there and back. Seriously.

I have two days left in Hong Kong to buy some stuff and prepare to leave. It's been a great summer.

Lastly, I want to link to a blog that I didn't write, but is very similar to mine, except about Taiwan. I've heard nothing but good things about Taiwan, and it's someplace I want to go in the future, so I hope to learn, and to let my readers learn, from reading a blog like this.

*This is a really excellent article, I recommend having a look.

Days 65-67

You're waiting for a train. A train that will take you far away.
-Cobb, "Inception"

I am in Qujing. I've come to attend the wedding of my friends Jessie (an American filmmaker working in Beijing) and Maggie (a Chinese teacher from Yunnan Province). Since I last had the opportunity to write in my blog, I finished my internship. My last day of work was this Tuesday the 2nd. To reflect on the numerous benefits and knowledge I garnered from my work there, I feel as though I now have a multiplied understanding of the international trading economy and the processes used by corporations to source production in China. From this experience and learning, I have the potential to go into business in the field (like I've mentioned that I am) and certainly a better understanding (for my personal benefit) of this economy.

On Wednesday morning, I took the train from Tsim Sha Tsui to Lo Wu, Shenzhen. From there, I took the provincial train to Guangzhou, and from there, I took another train to Kunming. The train to Kunming took 26 hours and was a hard sleeper. Here's a visual of my journey. I actually sufferd less on that trip than on the plane to Hong Kong, because at least in a hard sleeper you can walk around a bit, talk to people, eat, play cards, and sleep comfortably. In a plane, no such thing. On the way back, however, the only available spaces on the train were hard seats. On the train to Kunming, I met someone (case in point of Mainlanders being more friendly than HK people) who told me she might be able to help me change my seat; she gave me the contact information of a friend of hers who works in 'the industry.' Her business is clothes, and she travels twice a month from Kunming to East China. For perspective, that's two days of the week spent on a train. It's a lot of time to travel. The reason for the train travel, of course, is because of how cheap it is; the sleeper ticket cost 341 RMB. Do you know how expensive train travel is in the US? It costs more than a plane! (Ticket. Plane not included with purchase.)

Now I'm attending the wedding. It's very good to see my friends; besides them, though, I don't know anyone here, but I've met a lot of people. Many of their friends are expats [the preferred term for first-world immigrants] that live in Beijing, Shanghai, or other large cities in the mainland. Going out to 'the provinces,' as they say, is fun for travel, but not good for living. It's their opinion, though, not mine. Actually, this is my first time getting out of the cities and going into the rural areas, the roads less travelled. So far, it's been a great time.

I'm leaving Qujing tomorrow at 4 for Kunming, and getting on the 6pm train back to Guangzhou (then transfer to HK). Should get there by Sunday night. I have a little downtime on Monday and Tuesday before I have to go, so I can hang out and enjoy the city a little more.

For now, I have to go; I was supposed to be somewhere 5 minutes ago.

One more thing -- The hotel I'm staying in, in Qujing, cost $20 a night, the same price I pay for a ~100sqft room in TST with a bed, table, and washroom. here's a picture.

Day 60

Recently I got a little sick. Not really sick - actually, I was only momentarily sick, and then felt fine in less than half an hour. Given the circumstances I've decided to write some about health in Hong Kong.

Before coming out here, I read/was told a lot about different diseases particular to the East/Southeast Asia region. I was warned most thoroughly about Hepatitis A and Malaria. These two are spread by bacteria in food and by mosquitoes, respectively. Where I'm going in Yunnan, medical professionals have advised me to take precautions for Malaria (especially outside of the cities). Recently, I felt intensely and painfully sick in my stomach less than 10 minutes after eating. I couldn't vomit, but when I tried to move I passed out and fell over. A short second after my head hit the concrete I got back up (checked the time) and sat down for a second; five minutes later, I felt fine. I'm not sure if this is a symptom of a bigger problem or if I just handled having an ulcer or something like a boss. (Given my experience there's a good chance it was the latter).

I'm not a doctor at all, but I understand some requisites for public health - things like public sanitation (of air, water, and land) and mass health education are important. In Hong Kong, one of the most crowded [countries] in the world, it's easily feasible for someone to get sick from a number of communicable diseases (airborne pathogens or otherwise). In some respects, the city is dirty (walking around for a weekend was pretty bad for a pair of white shoes). In another example, I went to lunch with my co-workers yesterday. Before eating, they poured the tea into the soup bowls ("But I thought those were for soup?") and washed them, then threw out the old tea. This precaution never would have occurred to me, although in Beijing I've eaten from dinnerware that was shrinkwrapped before being set on the table. So, when going to Asia, watch out for the damn mosquitoes.

The day before yesterday, I went to see Chelsea (an international European Premier League team from the UK) (Look at all that Barclays sponsorship! See?!) play Kitchee, a local Hong Kong team. The match was sponsored by the financial firm Barclays Capital. As my friend works there, he was able to get me a ticket. I couldn't find him, and by the time I got there from work it was 8pm (30 minutes before the second game started) and the seats were almost completely taken (see "world's most crowded city"), but it was excellent to watch. Guess who won? Of course.

I've described the commute here, but I have something else to add. In 2000, Disney produced Fantasia, an iconic manifestation of the past century of art and culture. Therein there is a music video for the song Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin which, while maybe representing concentrated urban New York in the 1930's, is now visible in Hong Kong. The video itself is over 10 minutes long, so if you don't want to be culturally enlightened (or you're at work), the parts I'm talking about that relate to HK are here and here. See how the people go from the subway into the building in a huge clump? That's my commute. There are crowds of people to get off the train, to go down the stairs, to walk down the sidewalk, and to get into the elevator. It's like Times Square, if the foot traffic there reversed depending on whether it was rush hour.

Also, here are some pictures. There won't be work on Saturday this weekend! Maybe I should take a trip to see that Buddha.

Day 56

Didn't go see the Buddha this weekend.
I want to see it, but I'm a busy guy. I had work on Saturday, so after that this weekend was spent mostly relaxing and seeing friends. First, my friend Angel came from the mainland. She lives in Dongguan and came to visit with her mom. We just went to McDonald's and chilled and talked a little bit. Kevin, the exchange student who stayed with me for a week last year, had some sort of visa issue so he might come next week (the 30th) instead. Anyway, that was part 1 of 3 of catching up with people.

Eve, a friend of mine that I met in Puerto Rico, came back to Hong Kong (her hometown) last week, so we got to see each other on the weekend. We went to Mong Kok to eat street food and catch up. Mong Kok is close by where I live, and it's famous for its street food, atmosphere, and being the most crowded urban district in the world. I tried to live there when I got here, but I couldn't find a place. Anyway, going places with someone who knows what they're doing is fun because I actually get to experience more cool stuff and good food. Also, I don't have to try and communicate in Canto because I can't. In short hanging out with someone who knows the place is more culturally enriching than not. Next week I'm going to try Chop Suey, which I didn't even know was a real thing here.

That's Saturday evening. On Saturday night, another friend came from the mainland again (because Hong Kong is, in my experience, easily 3x as fun as the mainland) and we hit Lan Kwai Fong hard. On Sunday I went back to Mong Kok to eat because it was cheap and delicious. I also watched Harry Potter... seeing the last one was weird.

As of now, I only have three more weeks in Hong Kong. I still have a couple of things to do to wrap up (see day 52) my stay here, buy stuff, etc. I'm starting my last full week of work now.

Three things I wish I'd known before coming here are:
1) The language barrier. Having proficiency in Mandarin is almost useless on the streets here in Hong Kong. It's useful to do big business with manufacturers/sellers in the Mainland, but here its usage is dead in the water.
2) To make as many friends as possible. Living anywhere new is much, much better if you have friends. People that will take you around and show you things are invaluable in a city you don't know. I wish I'd realized sooner the value of going out and actively meeting people.
3) To have a plan for things you want to see and do in Hong Kong. Planning for travel is harder than it sounds; outside of logistical setup, I didn't really arrange for how to see the city or things to do on lazy Sundays.

With two and a half weeks to go here it's almost the end. I'm excited to go for the wedding. I'm having a suit made, too, and I'll write about how it's going to cost me and things like that. Until then.

Day 52

Okay.. That fire was not a big deal at all. The girl who told me about it was exaggerating as girls will do. When I got back to CKM at the end of the day everything was chill; I'd expected it to be a lot more severe/dangerous than that. I think it's something about money that keeps these people from really fearing for their lives in the event of a fire, if braving it means they can make some cash.

This weekend I'm going to visit with my friends from the Mainland who came to stay with me (as exchange students) when I was in high school in 2010. I think we'll go to Lantau Island to see the Buddha there. I'm really looking forward to hanging out to them... Better if I don't have to work on Saturday. After that I'll still have a week and a half in Hong Kong, and then I'm going to Qujing to attend a wedding, and then going back to Hong Kong by the 8th for my flight on the 10th.

The last thing is a short bit about my work. My assignment abroad may have broadened my perspective on what I want to do in the realm of international affairs from being a liaison for a large company to starting my own company to take advantage of the commercial opportunities between the US and abroad. Alternatively, I've been considering working for the government's foreign service. I think that working out here has affected me personally, but the change is as yet impossible to sense. When I get back is when I'll really be able to select the differences. My lifestyle is certainly much different here. I expect home to be as I left it (almost) when I return. I know that, from this experience, I plan to spend the next summer near home, in order to be closer to home and family. I've probably changed; I've definitely learned a great deal more about the export and manufacturing business, but it's difficult to say what's changed without looking back. In reflection, I know Hong Kong now; that's more than I could say when I left. Hopefully over the past 7 weeks I've helped my audience get to know it a little, also.

Day 45

I haven't been writing much lately. Not because I don't have time, but because nothing new has happened to me, really. One interesting thing is that me and a partner of mine that I met here just sent a sample phone to Gambia to test its marketability. We have it on good word (from people currently living in Gambia) that it can fetch twice its asking price in Hong Kong.

The next most interesting thing, and the main reason why I'm writing today, is because today apparently there was a fire at Chungking Mansions. This is a huge place of business for the area where I live, Tsim Sha Tsui, and the effects of this fire on the economy remain to be seen. Apparently there have been medical evacuations and some property damage, but no further casualties. I might update later with more information if the situation is crazy. The fire is such a concern to me because, having lived in the area for almost 7 weeks, I have a lot of friends and business contacts in and around Chungking Mansions. It's the centre of TST.