HK: I Heart Hong Kong!

I was a bit unfair when I first arrived and grumbled about how there is little to do in Hong Kong other than shop and eat. While that is still true to some extent, I have adjusted nicely to life here - spending quality time with my favorite uncle and little cousin, making new friends, being accustomed to ubiquitous conveniences of modern technology, getting to know my way around, and learning a lot about my birthplace. It also explains why I am the way I am – impatient and efficient – because that’s how everyone here operates. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, as the time has come for me to leave due to some business I have to take care of back home which requires my immediate attention.

During my last night in HK, Uncle Raymond and Aunt Rita took me and YoYo on a cruise tour around Victoria Harbour (see pictures) to experience HK's night view which is ranked one of the top five in the world. Every night at eight o'clock there is a 20-minute laser show called Symphony of Lights accompanied by theatrical music along the waterfront that can be viewed from many different locations in HK (their government has that much money to pay for something like this every night year round.) It was quite enjoyable except for my nausea and sea sickness from the cruise but I was able to hold in my barf. What a memorable way to conclude an already fabulous trip!

Looking back, our entire Asia trip did not turn out as expected since we didn’t get to visit Thailand or the rest of the SE Asian countries on our list. With foregone flights and dashed dreams, maybe I should have taken that high-paying job at Gap Corporate in San Francisco…Or maybe I should have traveled with someone else – someone who’s not balding and would have taken me to Thailand instead of deserting me in Asia (haha just kidding. well sort of.)….But bygones are bygones and I have no regrets. After all, this journey has bestowed upon me a once-in-a-lifetime experience and taught me a few lessons – especially that nothing ever goes as planned and you just have to go with the flow. (Well, I guess I should have learned that nothing in this world is certain when Pluto got demoted as a planet and Cookie Monster no longer eats cookies.) But it also opened the door of opportunities to me. After leaving Tokyo, I wanted to move to Hong Kong but didn’t bother trying because I thought it would be impossible to find employment. Now I know that's far from true: a couple days before I left, I turned down an interview at Morgan Stanley for a corporate trainer position in HK, but I realized it was that easy to find work. Furthermore, throughout our entire Asia trip, I met so many people from all over the world who are just like us - people who are looking for something that they can’t find by staying where they are, people who have followed their hearts and made a new life in a foreign country. I now leave Hong Kong with nothing but fond memories and optimistic hope for what’s to come.

So it’s goodbye for now as I will be taking a hiatus from this blog for the rest of the year and tend to my business back home. Reflecting on 2007, even though we did not get to finish out our Asia trip (hey, Asia will always be there), I have already been exposed to countless experiences that I otherwise would have missed out on had I not met Justin. He has made me a part of his world, bringing me into such microcosms as winter wonderland of Colorado, bear country wilderness of Wyoming, fanatical Steeler Nation of Pittsburgh, his beloved homeland of India, and a spiritual journey within ourselves - all of which couldn't be more different from the other but seem to fit us in their own way. I, on the other hand, have introduced him to the wonderful world of men's fashion (a little more Banana Republic and a little less Backcountry.com), and he has done an impressive job learning to play the role of a doting boyfriend (as in, god he's so whipped!) As for December, instead of meeting up with my parents in HK, Justin is taking me to Cabo and San Francisco for a mini-vacation and then we'll spend Christmas and New Year's in Colorado where his cousin and my cousin are flying in to join us.

As for my blog, well, I'll definitely be back, because I was pleasantly surprised, more like flabbergasted, when I learned that my blog gets over 1,000 hits a month according to Google AdSense. I thank all five of you for clicking on my website 100 times a day! Nonetheless, even though I'll be taking a break for the next month, please check back in January for a whole new year of misadventures as we finally look for employment somewhere around the world! For those of you who have been reading my blog, please take a minute and leave me a comment. I'd love to know what you think about my blog so far and any suggestions for next year. Thank you and have a great rest of the year!

HK: Made in Hong Kong

Since I was born in HK, I was able to apply for my Smart ID Card which proves my citizenship making me a dual citizen. Not only can I now work in HK with relative ease making me much more attractive to companies than other foreigners since I don't require work visa sponsorship, I get all the benefits of being a HK citizen. Justin, on the other hand, might have a tough time getting work if we decide to relocate to HK. (I'm starting to see a trend here - he keeps holding me back!) With my new ID card which is unbelievably advanced storing personal data on an embedded chip, I am able to access public library services and get immediate clearance at immigration checkpoints. Furthermore, the Smart ID card also has e-certification which enables one to perform business transactions like stock trading, e-banking, and e-mailing on public or personal computers equipped with a smart card reader. Armed with my new ID card, I now have access to healthcare and other public services available only to HK citizens without paying any taxes. (I guess I shouldn't announce the no taxes thing.) In the future, you can even add e-purse to the ID card which allows you to shop without paying cash like their Octopus card that is widely used. Where else can you consolidate your passport, driver's license, library card, and credit card all in one?

Applying for the ID card was quite a cinch. First I booked an appointment on their website for one of their four locations. Then I went into the office at my designated time, got a number and filled out a form, and all I had to bring was my birth certificate and my US Passport as my photo ID. As I waited in the waiting area, I watched for my number to appear on the TV screen which displayed what booth to go to (see left pic). After a 40-minute wait, I went to my "interview" with the immigration officer who asked me a few questions, took my picture and my fingerprints. He printed a temporary ID card which I had to carry with me until my real card arrives in two weeks. Since I will be gone by then, my parents will have to pick it up for me when they get to HK to renew their IDs. I was in and out in less than an hour. Imagine if it was that efficient renewing your license at the DMV!

HK: PICTURES POSTED

SORRY I'VE BEEN HAVING TROUBLE WITH PICTURES, BUT I WAS FINALLY ABLE TO POST THEM TO THE PAST FEW BLOG ENTRIES, SO PLEASE ENJOY! AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING :)

HK: Riding the MTR

The subway system in Hong Kong is called the MTR, or Mass Transit Railway and is the most common mode of transportation due it to its efficiency and affordability. You are immediately transported to the future once you step foot in a subway station in HK. It is extremely convenient and user-friendly and all signs are written in both Chinese and English. Each station is underground with air conditioning which comes in really handy especially in the summer, unlike in NYC where you are soaked in sweat just waiting for the train. Every station also has a built-in shopping center (surprise surprise) where you'll find at least a 7-Eleven, a bakery, a Starbucks, and novelty shops. As I mentioned in a previous post, you use your Octopus card to get in and out of the subway and the fare is automatically deducted from your card. Most people leave their card inside their purse or wallet and slap their entire wallet on top of the turnstile so it can register and read the card. I like to leave my wallet in my butt pocket so I can hop on top of the turnstile before entering. You should try it sometime.

The stations are also immaculate - no trash and definitely no rodents! The tracks are glass encased to prevent people from falling in or littering or committing suicide (as is very common in Tokyo) and the glass doors only open when the train arrives. They even hang plasma TVs on top of the tracks so you can watch TV while waiting for your train. HK's metro system is light years ahead of other big cities, but to compare it with India's trains is just cruel. As you may recall, I was pretty traumatized by my train ride in India - people pooping in the tracks, us sleeping right next to the foulest smelling toilet imaginable - I'm getting chills just reminiscing.

HK: Shopper's Paradise

As you may have heard, Hong Kong is the shopping mecca. I have never witnessed a city so densely populated with shopping centers. Every metro station has at least one shopping center attached to it, and you cannot walk two blocks without passing by a mall. Even when there isn't a shopping center within walking distance, there is always a strip of stores you can access. It's not just that shopping is ubiquitous, but the architecture and decor of these places is above any I've seen, surpassing even Tokyo. There is an abundance of upscale stores such as Gucci and LV along with popular HK clothing chains like G2000, Giordano, and Bossini as well as local boutiques, which means you can shop at any price range. Although these shopping centers are always crowded on a daily basis (don't people work?), you see the same stores everywhere you go which makes me wonder how these businesses stay afloat. I've never come across so many Prada stores within a 5-mile radius. If you love to shop, then HK is definitely your place where you can find just about any brand name from around the world to knick knacks found in street markets. I wish I could show you photos of the most beautiful malls I've ever seen, but I'm still having trouble uploading them so you'll have to wait a couple more days.
Pictures: 1. A food court at a mall in Central which looks more like an upscale bar!
2. Inside of Watson's, a popular pharmacy chain, which I highly recommend visiting: way nicer than your CVS or Walgreens.
3. Even their grocery stores are so pretty.
4. Look! Precious Moments has an Asian line of dolls (of course I picked up one for myself.)
5. Store display showcasing HK's fashion.

HK: Local Flavors

Lychee ginger lime…Longan tea with red dates…Red bean…Tofu…Black sticky rice…Rose...Kiwi...Cream cheese…Black sesame…Roasted chestnut...Honey citrus – these are all local flavors of ice cream you can find in Hong Kong and nowhere else. Soymilk comes in vanilla, chocolate, red bean (my favorite), taro, mango, green tea, and jasmine. Starbucks offers green tea with red bean muffins, green tea tofu cheesecake, mango lychee cheesecake, mango latte, and black currant latte. McDonald’s has a coffee shop called McCafe attached to it that looks more like a Starbucks than Dunkin Donuts. Even Pizza Hut’s décor can pass for a 3-star restaurant.

I know I can’t stop raving about the food here, but that’s because eating is definitely one of HK's favorite pastimes and with good reason. Unlike other wealthy cities, you don't need a lot of money to eat well here. Everywhere you go, there are street vendors that sell fresh fruit drinks, bubble teas, pastries and baked goods, mango desserts, and Chinese fast-food such as meat balls, tripe, and stinky tofu – all served on a stick. What is also popular are these fast-food restaurants called cha chan tang which literally means tea restaurant where you can get delicious and filling set meals for only $2-$4! Sample dishes include baked pork chop rice with tomatoes or thick fried French toast with peanut butter and condensed milk. If you want to try cuisines from other countries, then HK is your place! Their chefs are able to recreate international dishes that taste very authentic. Unlike in India where Chinese food is cooked with the same spices as Indian food so it tastes more Indian than Chinese. I have tried everything from cheap street food to expensive fine cuisine and have never been disappointed.

Speaking of local flavors, the most popular toothpaste brand here is Darkie – or “Black People Toothpaste” in Chinese. No I’m not joking. It’s been around for decades and has ads everywhere with a black guy’s face and white teeth as their trademark logo. But after years of ignorance, they finally realized that it is a little politically incorrect so the name was recently changed to Darlie and the logo is now the negative image so the face is more white than black. Funny thing is, the Chinese name remains as is. Unbelievable!

HK: Where's the Party?

Thanks to my friends who have introduced me to people they know living in HK, I have increased my friend count from two to twelve. And thanks to my new friends, I experienced my first club scene in HK this past weekend. Turns out clubbing in HK isn't like clubbing in any other city I've been - it's overly exclusive to a point of ridiculousness. Every club requires membership that costs thousands to tens of thousands of HK dollars a month! If you are not a member, then you'll have to wait in line and it could be hours before they let you in. Some clubs do not even allow non-members to line up - they simply turn you away. A couple exclusive clubs scan your fingerprints before entry, but one club in particular even has face recognition technology. I mean seriously people, a bit pretentious are we?
Friday night I had dinner plans with my friend Nelly's sister Stephanie who has lived in HK for two years and Stephanie's friend Linda at an upscale Chinese restaurant called One Harbour Road at the Grand Hyatt. When both girls arrived, standing at 5'10", well 6' with heels, they resembled Asian models who looked as if they had just sauntered their way downstairs for dinner from their hotel suite. Then Daphne, a friend introduced by Thomas, met up with us before we made our first stop at M1NT, a super trendy members club imported from London. Since Stephanie and Linda are regulars there, we walked right up to the bouncers who air kissed my two tall friends and we were let in immediately. Unlike clubs back in the U.S. filled with teeny boppers, the clientele here consisted of mostly expats in their mid to late 20's, with a few well in their 40's. Then a group of Stephanie's friends arrived and were doling out Dom Perignon like it was water. After a few glasses of the expensive bubbly, I couldn't stop dancing or talking.
We left the pre-party at around 1am to go to Prive where I was meeting up with another friend Wei (introduced by my girlfriend Sueann from DC). He had put me and Daphne on the guest list, but turned out he didn't need to since Stephanie and Linda are already members there. Again we whizzed by the queue of poor saps waiting to get in and were admitted into the club right away. After a few text messages, I was able to locate Wei and hung out with him and his friends for a little bit before they jetted off to their next destination, Beijing Club, which also happened to be where Stephanie's friends were headed after M1NT. But the girls and I decided to stay at Prive for the rest of the night, which turned out to be wise since Wei and his friends along with Stephanie's friends all came back to Prive by 3am. After meeting a lot of people that night (my favorite was an Indian guy who was born and raised in Taiwan and speaks perfect Mandarin), Daphne and I left the club in good spirits at 4:30. As for how much champagne I consumed, I lost count after my eighth glass! I'd say my overall clubbing experience in HK was positive - good crowd with good music - but they could seriously do without the exclusivity.

HK: Holy Macao!

No trip to Hong Kong is complete without stopping by Macao - Asia's Las Vegas but with less excitement and grandeur. On Thursday, I met up with Janny and Jason, friends I met through Karen, to take the ferry boat over from Kowloon to Macao. These air conditioned ferry boats with leather seats run every half hour from HK to Macao and cost HK$270 ($35) for round trip tickets. Macao is famous for its casinos and fine dining and serves as a popular retreat for those from China and HK as well as the rest of Asia since Asians love to gamble and eat. As it was once a Portuguese colony, everything is written in both Chinese and Portuguese, and the European country's influence is very much present in Macao's food and architecture.

We had to go through immigration once we landed so don't forget to bring your passport. There are free shuttles from the pier to every hotel, so once we figured out which general area we wanted to go to (where all the food and shopping is), we took the shuttle to the closest hotel and saved on taxi fare. After a delicious and filling lunch of Portuguese baked chicken rice, we walked around a shopping district and found our way to the Ruins of St. Pauls (left picture). I'm sure there is some historical significance, but I only wanted to go there because I have these old pictures of me and my family taken in front of the same structure when I was five years old. Macao is also known for fine pastries and desserts like almond cookies, Portuguese egg custard tart (right picture), and double boiled milk custard - so of course we tried them all throughout the day! Although we didn't get to check out the new Venetian or Wynn that just opened up, we hear that all the casinos in Macao have been meticulously designed to have bad feng shui for all their customers so they'll lose their money. You may think those crystals hanging over the escalators are elegant, but they were placed there as daggers to take all your luck away.

HK: Random Observations

I've compiled a list of random observations I made and other interesting facts people have told me about HK over the past two weeks. They are in no particular order:

1. There is an unspoken rivalry between Hong Kong citizens and natives of China. Since the British turned HK into an Asian superstar before the turnover, China has a bit of an inferiority complex. When Hongers visit the mainland for work or leisure and attempt to speak Mandarin with their Cantonese accent, they are often ignored or snubbed at. Of course my Mandarin-speaking friends claim that they get better service in HK if they speak English rather than Mandarin. I don't get it - aren't we all Chinks anyway?

2. It's not uncommon for Hong Kong men of all classes to bow yee lai - which means have a mistress on the side, usually stashed somewhere in China because it's cheaper there. And what's more appalling is that the wife usually knows but goes on pretending.

3. Hong Kong people have no cell phone etiquette whatsoever. When you're riding the bus or metro, you can hear everyone's business because they are screaming into their cell phones right next to you. And everyone here talks really loud too. Haven't they heard of "indoor voice"?

4. People go grocery shopping at gai cee (street markets) every day because there is always fresh produce and meat. They don't believe in stocking up since gai cees are everywhere and conveniently located for everyone. Who doesn't like cooking with fresh foods? No such thing as frozen meat here!

5. If you live here as a gwai loh (derogatory term for foreigner), there is pretty much no reason to even learn Cantonese (unless you strive for cultural enhancement and self-improvement.) Since HK was a British colony for 100 years, just about everything is written in both Chinese and English so it is super easy to get around. If you move here to work for an international company, everyone is pretty much an expat and speaks only English anyway.

6. Education is a big deal here in HK (and Asia in general). Children have to compete just to go to the best kindergarten or elementary school in their area. Only the really poor (or those who can't afford Filipino maids) go to public schools, while middle- and upper-class children all go to private schools (Buddhist, Baptist, Christian, Catholic,...). When Yoyo was applying for the best elementary school in her neighborhood, my uncle and aunt had to put together a binder - a portfolio containing her achievements, report cards, dance competition photos and awards, etc. How do you have a portfolio when you are only FIVE years old? After submitting her application, she then had to take a test and then endure three rounds of interviews with a teacher, school master, and principal in three languages: Cantonese, English, and Mandarin. Every kid who applies to a good school has to go through this stressful process. Luckily she got in to the top school of her choice, but now has to do homework and study until eleven every night. And she's only in the first grade. My god the pressure is even more than me applying for a job! No wonder the suicide rate amongst schoolkids is so high.

7. While Americans love the "I just came back from the Caribbean" year-round tan look, Asians value light-color skin. Companies such as Shiseido, Oil of Olay, and L'Oreal are all cashing in with their line of "skin brightening" creams for women and men (see picture). Why not call a spade a spade and name it "make-me-white skin bleaching" cream? I guess that's why I'm not in marketing...

All above pictures are of Lan Gwai Fong on Halloween with Daphne and Thomas. It was almost as crowded as being in SF's Castro. This year I opted not to dress up as I usually do. But check out Shrek and gueng sees (Chinese vampires).