Wei wei, everybody everywhere. Now I’ve been writing this blog for two and a half years and the only time I’ve really felt like I’ve interacted with “the community” is when I wrote something criticising pilots. A shitstorm rained down and I’m still reeling from the aftermath, Â but at least I got some reactions. So now I’m asking you, my readers, to write in on these simple terms:
Tell me ten things you love and hate about Hong Kong. Yes it’s been done before hundreds of times, but not by me.Â
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TEN THINGS I LOVE ABOUT HONG KONG:
1. Beautiful dudes speaking CantoneseÂ
2. Yam cha
3. Tong Lau (Traditional HK style pre-war tenement buildings, especially with rounded corners)
4. My gaff
5. And everything around it: Pui O beach, Lantau nature
6: It never snows and it’s always summer, even in winter
7: Extreme funkiness in the old parts of town pre-destruction (see point 3)
8: It’s so easy to get everything done; phone repairmen etc turn up two hours early, not three weeks late
9: Honolulu restaurant in Stanley street
10: Total freedom (so far)
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TEN THINGS I HATE ABOUT HONG KONG:
1: The way everything is engineer-driven (most of the following points spring from that)
2: Property developers
3: Concrete
4: Railings
5: The incessant public announcements on the Lantau ferries
6: Screechy bints shouting “ha-lou well-come” “can I helchtio” and breathing on my arm in shops; being patronised every day
7: The government’s 1972 mindset (see concrete, railings etc) and the increasing nanny-stateÂ
8: The way the “real Hong Kong” part of Hong Kong is being destroyed, thus taking away almost all of the ten things I love
9: Signs
10: The “Hello Kitty”-fication of everything. Everything!
Please write in with your views.
love:China droll blog/ HK cha chaan teng hot milk tea /passing immigration in seconds with a swipe of HKID /the lovely ladies in my company and their incessant Canto -chatter and blatant enquiries about my sex life girlfriends etc/cheap taxis
hate :tailoring touts in TST that seem to have migrated north along Nathan road now as far as Jordan/HK people(often young students) suiciding off tall buildings and no-one seems to do anything about it/cops posing as customers and busting hookers(how low is that)
Interesting! Although we have diametrically opposed views on who sounds best speaking Canto…
Yes I also think it’s so inconsiderate to jump off buildings – what if you hit someone? I would be SO irritated if I were killed by some 14 year old jumping from the 27th floor, peeved because his teacher had told him off.
But it’s not as bad as Japan, where my friend told me trains are delayed for an hour or more EVERY DAY – sometimes on two or three lines at the time – because some bastard feeling the economic recession, has seen fit to jump in front of a train.
Love:
My wife/Chinadroll.com/Nakedcantonese/warm weather/NO SNOW!!!!!/
surprised ppl when a Westerner speaks cantonese/public transport/HKID(easy to use and smaller than my German ID)/ mixed community in HK/ Chinese food
hate: Concrete/
)
(next 2 are stolen from you
The government’s mindset (see concrete, railings etc) and the increasing nanny-state
The way the “real Hong Kong†part of Hong Kong is being destroyed
/ big engine cars
/ afraid pedestrians
/ driver skills
/ ecological awareness
/ people can’t say thank you
/ passing a door and elevator behavior
/ Ah Sahs progress after 3 years naked cantonese
Ouch! Well if the last point is something to hate, you certainly have easy days here in good old HK …
Ouch indeed.
I love that I only have to wait 3 minutes for a mini bus but hate that when I get on I have to step over someone to get to a seat. Why the eversion to sliding over to the window seat?
WHHAATT?? I followed the show from the beginning ( even though your jokes about me
)
there are some very basic words she forgets after 4-5 months (again and again).
that is why the show should be longer and more often, so she won’t forget so much anymore
The things that I have loved about HK are the things that Honolulu (my home) sorely lacks: a mass transit system that works; energy that gets things accomplished; cheaply accessible Neighbor Islands (to say nothing of a Mainland); being able to take walks/hikes without having to drive to a trailhead and back; great bloggers.
On the other hand, lethargic HNL has reliably clean air and clean beaches.
Both have cute dudes who may or may not speak Cantonese, good Chinese food and terrible governments.
Yeah that pretty much sums it up.
Oh and what is this HNL?
Don’t do this abbreviation thing with me, girl.I only accept words spelled out.
Hen Night Liggers?
HNL=Honolulu, as in Honolulu International Airport. Sorry.
And I should add, we are both held hostage by developers. And people who love to cut down trees so they have better views of the parking lots.
Love:
- people getting happy when I try to speak Cantonese
- people laughing at me when I try to speak Cantonese
- excellent food
- beautiful parks
- cheap beer
- public transportation
- tram parties
- feral cats everywhere
- the smell of incense when I walk by Man Mo temple
- the escalator
Hate:
- the constant construction
- the reclaiming of the harbor
- drunk obnoxious gweilos (except when it’s me – then it’s AWESOME)
- people smoking on the sidewalk and blowing smoke in my face (but I’d hate that anywhere)
- snotty attitudes towards maids
- the smell of squid balls
- the summer heat and humidity
- friends from home who email me and ask how I’m enjoying Japan
- the price of cheese
- young girls prostituting themselves for designer purses and cell phones
Love:
- You!, Cause you are a great friend!
- The excellent Transport System, unless you miss the last Ferry at Mui Wo after 11.30pm.
- FOOD FOOD and of course the Yum Cha!
- Cheap Taxi’s
- Can Get a beer at 7/11 (Can’t do that in Australia!)
- A small and compact city, yet not far to go to the greenery.
- Cheung Chau Island (My Mum was born there!)
- The Markets where you can bargain.
- The traditional temples scattered everywhere.
- The Peak! What a view!
Hate:
- The ever increasing air pollution.
- The Tailor Touts
- The Beggars and the fake Buddhist Monks
- Bad signage and directions.
- Can’t sit here, move to there by security
- The smell of stinky Tofu and the walnut carts
- Bad service.
- The Traffic.
- How Taxi’s charge a fee for taking you to and from the island, but he will probably pick up another fare where the passenger will pay for the fee to cross it back again!
- Hate leaving when I’m on holidays there.
TEN THINGS I LOVE ABOUT HONG KONG:
1. Good looking local HK Chinese guys who speak Cantonese.
2. Clean MTR
3. Good looking local HK Chinese guys who wear Converse (white or original black style. Not the sissy vold or silver colours or pink, red or yello colours.
4. Good choice of transport (franchised buses, mini buses, taxis)
5. Great choice of food.
6. Good looking HK Chinese guys with longish straggly hair and who wear black ad white truckers caps.
7. Octupus card.
8. Chep Lap Kok Aiport and fast immigration for residents.
9. Hong Kong Policemen.
10. Safe environment.
TEN THINGS I HATE ABOUT HONG KONG:
1. Repeating, ‘nanny state’ type announcements, on MTR “please hold the handrail keep pn repeating and Star Ferry ” A walking ganfplank” what is that?
2. Mainland men who pick their noses and stick the bogeeys on the seat and handrails.
3. Chinese people who keep making that throat coughig sound (usually mainlanders)
4. People who won’t let you get off the MTR and block the entrance.
5. Hong Kong women and teeange Chinese girls who think they are the best thing since sliced bread.
6. City Bus drivers and some taxi drivers.
7. The hot humid weather.
8. Chinese who call white people “gai lou”, “gwai Por” and black people “haak gwai”.
9. People who throw used sanitary towels and other rubish out f their flat windows.
10. Those Chinese shop workers who shout “halo” “goodbye” all the time then they dont mean it and just say it out of habit.
If we can make it 12 things we like and dislike about Hong Kong, it woul be better because i want to add in a few more things I like and dislike about Hong Kong.
Jom See, ha? Yeah go ahead! Write a hundred things if you like.
Hi Ah Saa, would you mind if I just add at least another 10 of each?
TEN MORE THINGS I LOVE ABOUT HONG KONG:
1. Nicholas Tse Ting Fung
2 Shopping malls (Swire ones only)
3. lai cha (milk tea)
4. Computer shopping malls (298 and Wanchai Computer Centre)
5. Faan Baan
6. Convenience stores (7-11 and OK)
7. Anson Chan
8. Egg tarts.
9. Pharmacies (but not Mannings or Watsons)
10. Dyun Ng Jit
10.
TEN MORE THINGS I HATE ABOUT HONG KONG:
1. People who can’t control umbrellas inb a rainy day and poke your eyes out.
2. Watchmen(building guards)
3. Code switching.
4. People who keep renovating properties and drilling and banging inresidential buildings
5. Bad breath and body odour from some people on the MTR.
6. people answer back to me in English wnhen I speak Cantonese to them.
7. Chinese guy’s who wear white socks when they are smartly dressed in a suit.
8. Macdonalds and Strabucks (mainly because ther are so many in HK)
9. Chinese parents who hold their babies over the gutter and let them shit
10. Queue jumpers for buses (mainly mainlders do this but more common nowadays in HK)
5.
Dude, I’m not ah Sa!!!!! that’s the whole point!
Let me add another one little thing: Using apostrophe s for plural;
“taxi’s” “guy’s” “shop’s”
It should be taxis, guys and shops, unless you’re (yes, you’re as in “you are” ) talking about things that belong to the taxi, i.e. “The taxi’s ardent fans”
“The guy’s arsehole”
“The shop’s idiotic customers.”
People: Apostrophe plus s means “something that belongs to the thing after which you put apostrophe s.” IT’S NOT PLURAL!!!! And “it’s” means it is, not “the thing belonging to it” in which case it should be “its”. “The dog licked its arsehole.” Not “it’s” which means “The dog licked it is arsehole.”
That particular sentence would be: The dog licked, and it was an arsehole.
Or something like this. What’s happening to the English language?
And don’t get me started on the medieval capital letters suddenly turning up everywhere. “I sent them a Letter about Taxi’s.”
Nouns haven’t started with capital letters for the last, oh, 400 years – so why bring that particular blight on the grammatical landscape back? It’s German! For a start!
As a Norwegian (or in Norwegian: norwegian) I’ll say this: Let only place names and proper nouns have capital letters. Certainly not verbs and adjectives taken from proper nouns. For example Google. Google is a thing, a company, fair enough. But when it turns into a verb, why should it be “to Google”? Why should a verb have a capital letter?
It’s too weird. I only ever google, I never “Google.” That would be beneath me.
Ah Sin, capitals letters should also be at the start of sentence in addition to place names, proper nouns la!
Thank’s four the tip’s on grammer!
Yes Jimsee, how could I forget. Living with you must be such a joy. Pete! I think you meant: “The tip’s on Grammer.”
Hmmm, I’ll have a go.
Likes:
low crime
convenient mass transportation system
good education system
good health care system
international community
good variety of food
good transport hub to travel from + HK airport
outer islands/parks/green areas
Dislikes:
hot and humid weather
focus on material goods
pollution
Oh yes, add Ah Sah’s dismal progress to my dislikes as well.
Likes:
1. The feeling of continual discovery (NOT as in Discovery Bay!)
2. Flipping the backs of benches on the Star Ferry
3. Shopping in Wan Chai
4. Good quality tea and teawares everywhere
5. Hainan gai faan (chicken rice)
6. The amazingly cheerful demeanor of many foreign domestic workers, against all odds
7. Mountains and islands emerging from the mist
8. The wacky local sense of humor
9. Cecilie’s house, hospitality and the environment around Pui O
10. The gung bo gai ding (aka Kung Pao chicken) from Cecilie’s illegal restaurant.
Dislikes:
1. General local inability to appreciate/renovate/adaptively reuse historic structures (please do something smart with the Married Police Barracks!)
2. Crowds and inconsiderate sense of personal space
3. Treatment of maids/”helpers”-sometimes sleeping on thin mattresses on top of washer/drier units.
4. No decent bookstores or libraries
5. Very little intellectual discourse or stimulation in the air
6. Institutional architecture of parks, museums, public spaces
7. The smell of mildewed clothing on sweaty bodies
8. Nobody ever sings, hums, or whistles as they walk around
9. No real pedestrian experience in many areas
10. “Us” vs. “them” mentality in all its forms
Steve (and others) it’s so kind, and not a little sycophantic, of you to include me in things you like about HK! No really, I do appreciate it.
This has had the wished-for results, namely showed me that some people actually read this stuff. It makes me feel good knowing I’m not writing in a vacuum. Hope more people will post comments at a later date; as you know, I publish everything people write. Everything. And you can be a guest blogger if you like.
I forgot to add general civility to my likes – people giving up their seats for pregnant women/elderly folks.
Pro: In 1997 I was in need of make a quick and urgent telephone call to my travel agent before they closed for the evening. I had to return to Europe as soon as possible… Well lets make a long story short… A very kind person in Central borrowed me his mobile (cell) phone to make this important phone call.
Con (con for my home country only, but nor for Hong Kong): That scenario would not have been possible in my country.
The real con: I was not able to stay more permanent as planned. Which made me so sad that I could not go on and discover more pros and cons about Hong Kong (for ever in my heart).
Önskar dig Cecilie en lugn, fin och god jul!
PS. Jag gÃ¥r i snömodd och -8 C grader med istappar hängandes frÃ¥n hustaken som vassa svärd. Hoppas jag överlever innan jag hinner ta mig till HK. Jag HATAR vinter och blir bara deppig! Kallt, korta mörka dagar, nästan ingen sol, nÃ¥gra timmar per mÃ¥nad, halsduk, mössa, lÃ¥ngkalsonger, handskar… usch! Berätta nÃ¥got litet trevligt om vädret hos dig just nu som ger mig lie hopp om framtiden, snälla!!!
Dude
I tried to send you photos of the lovely weather we’re having, but found that your email address was fake. So I don’t want to waste any more time on this other than to say: Sunshine and warmth every day.