Though it happened three weeks ago, I (Jon) went to Hong Kong for business and it was an enjoyable, eye-opening, and educational experience. It started with a long wait at Heathrow since we “commuted” together and Debbie’s flight to LA was 5 hours before mine to Hong Kong. Flying on Air New Zealand (side note: really good airline!), I arrived at HKG without any problems. The first thing I noticed was how ridiculously clean everything was. Stopping at the men’s room for a much needed respite, I noticed they had not one, not two, but three attendants cleaning the men’s room – and it was already spotless. As it turned out on the rest of the trip, most all of Hong Kong is as clean as the airport – they give on-the-spot fines to anyone who litters!
Much like getting around anywhere in London, the trains are the way to go. I took the Airport Express train to Hong Kong Central and then MTR (that’s the HK “Tube”) to Tai Koo Station. I knew my hotel was close to Tai Koo; upon arrival I learned that my hotel was at the top of the stairs coming out of Tai Koo station – can’t get much closer than that. My commute to work for the week was on foot only and it took a whopping 3 minutes to get there. So, I knew I would be ok getting around in this new land.
Full of hunger and whacked with jetlag, I knew I had to eat. There is a giant shopping complex called City Plaza right by the hotel. I figured, “well, it’s like a mall (a mall that covers no less than 8 square city blocks [huge!]), so they must have a food court.” After roaming for 20 minutes through City Plaza, past the indoor ice rink:
and up 4 flights of escalators to the 5th of 6 floors in the Plaza, I found it. It is called Food Republic. This is no ordinary food court. There were about 45 food vendors and each made your food cooked to order. I had my choice of Cantonese, Schezuan, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, two different Dumpling Bars, 4 Sushi places, and even an “American BBQ”. The latter was not what I would call authentic, but they did cook beef ribs over an open flame…So I chose a Noodle and Soup Bar – I had Chicken Lo Mein extra spicy and Hot & Sour Soup. The woman at the register made me confirm three times that I wanted both (this was all done with hand signals between her and me). Upon receipt of the food, I found out why! It was enough to feed a family of four. And it was beyond delicious, included some vegetables I definitely didn’t recognize, and cost 43 Hong Kong Dollars.
Small break here for the International Currency lesson – Hong Kong Dollars (HKD), which are issued by the bank, HSBC, not by the federal government, trade at roughly 12 to 1 to the Pound; they would be about 8 to 1 to the US Dollar.
That means my 43HKD dinner that would feed four people is less than £4, around $6 US. And this was in the expensive part of town! In case you are wondering, I did not finish my whole meal, but I made a valiant effort. The 5 Chinese folks I sat with (it is a very open seating plan at Food Republic), were quietly eyeing me the whole time to see if I could finish it all. It was a very quiet dinner for me, as none of my tablemates spoke any language that I knew.
Through the course of the week, I trained roughly 30 users from every part of the Asia Pacific region (India, Singapore, Australia, Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong). It was a challenging week of work, but successful. OK, enough work stuff, back to the interesting things. On Monday for lunch, the client took me out for an authentic Chinese lunch. There were 16 separate dishes for the 6 people at lunch and there were several I could not recognize. There was one that no one could think of the English equivalent, so they just settled on “mostly pork and fish”. Turns out it was delicious. I sampled most of the dishes (all served family style with giant “serving” chopsticks), leaving only the smoked eel and the tempura beet root untested. One of the dumpling dishes is called Penguin Dumplings – yikes, was I about to eat Penguin? Isn’t that against the law? Actually, it was pork dumplings and they wrap them in a piece of seaweed wrap, pinch the tops and bottoms, and serve them upright on the platter, making them look like penguins. Whew, international animal rights crisis avoided…
Every weeknight in Hong Kong, there is a laser show across Hong Kong harbor. It is at 8:00p.m. They do this with amazing light concoctions attached to all of the high rises buildings at the edge of the harbor. The only problem I had was that the first night I was out and about at 8pm, I was in one of the buildings on the “light show” side of the harbor. So, I actually saw only the reflection in the water of what is supposed to be an amazing light show. I did, on Thursday night, get to see part of it from my hotel window – it was pretty spectacular.
For the Londoners and those who have visited London, I must tell you about the buses or rather the queuing process for buses. I tried to get a picture because I could not believe it, but my phone doesn’t take great pictures and doesn’t have a zoom feature. Here’s what was mind-boggling – at the bus stop outside my hotel, there are four different buses that stop. When the commuters are waiting for the bus, they queue in single file; and I mean 200 people queuing single file. When the bus arrives, they board single file until the bus is full and then the remaining people wait for the next one, all still in a single file line. There was one line for each bus. It was the most orderly and strange thing I saw. Like I said, I tried to get a picture, but I had to do it from across the street, so I didn’t look like a stalker; unfortunately the picture didn’t come out. I compare this to the queuing technique for the buses and trains in London, which is a “plow your way onto the vehicle in whatever way possible” method and I am left thinking there is something to be said for self-induced crowd control. Oddly enough, escalators and elevators in Hong Kong are all met with the same queuing process. We could all learn a lesson in politeness from the residents of Hong Kong!
After the full work week, I had only Friday night left in Hong Kong. My gracious host, Stephen Li, made sure that I got a true Hong Kong experience. We went on the ferry from the Hong Kong side of the harbor over to Kowloon.
In Kowloon, a very very busy place, we saw a giant department store built in the shape of a massive cruise ship. It looked amazing, like a super liner just decided to park in the middle of a metropolis.
According to Stephen, the family that owns that department store also own about 1/3 of Hong Kong and Kowloon. Their ancestors bought great quantities of land about 100 years ago; once Hong Kong was separated from the United Kingdom, land prices went through the roof; and now they are the richest family in Hong Kong.
In Kowloon, we went to Ladies Market, the street market to end all street markets. It is 5 blocks long and filled with hundreds of vendors.
I picked up a couple of knick knacks and some cute pajamas for Debbie or Nikki (they were one-size-only, and that size didn’t seem to be Debbie’s or Nikki’s size, but they were cute so I got them – they were Monkichi brand [monkeys all over them]!). So, two key rings and a pair of Pajamas later, I was out 28 HKD (see currency lesson above - insane!). Near Ladies Market is another complex (I don’t recall the name) that is the Electronics retailing center of Hong Kong. Situated on 5 floors, it has every imaginable electronic device, and all were at Hong Kong prices. The “expensive” items were IPADs at 2000 HKD (£175, £240 US) and top-of-the-line laptops at 5000 HKD, but the rest of the place was ridiculously cheap. Any techie geeks would love this place (as would any camera buffs – they had amazing camera equipment and cameras, all very cheap).
Stephen, who had threatened to make me eat deep fried chicken feet all week, took me out for a traditional dinner at one of the top-rated restaurants in Kowloon. I had Beef Balls, Beef Tendon Balls, and Beef Stomach. In case you are wondering, they were balls made of beef and balls made of beef tendon; there were no testicular items in the bowls! The beef stomach was surprisingly good, chewy but good (they stew it and boil it four three or four days in a deep brown broth). We topped it off with a Chinese favorite – Coffee and Tea: coffee and tea in the same cup, half and half, with milk added; a bizarre flavor, but tasty nonetheless. Stephen refused to let me pay for any transport or food; he said it was his responsibility to make sure I was taken care of while I was in his country. What an amazing and gracious host and how interesting to see a culture where honor is truly important.
Returning to London was a somewhat unsettling, albeit uneventful, activity. I knew I was coming back to where I lived, but I didn’t feel like I was coming home. Still trying to figure out where/what “home” is, but it was nice to have a flat to come back to! I don’t know if I would go to Hong Kong for an extended stay, but it is a once in a lifetime experience I am glad I had.
Footnote – in the States and in England, many folks talk about or use their local Chinese Laundry. Guess what they have in Hong Kong and use with regularity? A premier laundry chain called “British Dry Cleaning”! I wonder if the locals look at that and say “I don’t know what it is. It’s all English to me.”
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