Hi Everyone! Oh my gosh, its been a busy 1.5 months and no time to blog. I've been living in HK for 11 months now... time sure flies... i've renewed my work visa for 2 years
Key findings
- people still walk inconsistently here. Some very fast and others.... sooo slow! Geez.
- i hate the Tung Chung MTR orange subway line - it sits at Hong Kong Station for 5+ mins and only comes every 7 mins :(. compared with the 2-3 mins wait on Island Line, its brutal (and I only go ONE stop to work)
- there are many cockroaches on the streets of Hong Kong. Yuck! Cleanliness is not nearly as high as Taipei for instance. Ironically there are washroom and street cleaning people everywhere, yet it is still dirty
- seafood and dim sum remains the best food in HK. However the Kowloon side has better tasting restaurants compared with HK Island (especially we don't fancy Central or Soho as much!). Its worth the trip across the harbour!
- its DAMN hot and humid in summer. We need to use lots of dehumidifying boxes and machines. Our energy bill for air conditioning is very costly, as is running washer / dryer at home.
- Therefore its really a 'Service Economy' here... better to be served in restaurants and have clothes washed by someone else! Don't put away your trays in the food courts or you'll be threatening people's jobs
- Hong Kong is a convenient location to travel within Asia. The airport is kind of far but flying in the region is very convenient and affordable
- still loving our home's location. easy walk to Central, IFC or MTR station. Come visit!
- they don't sell certain Cereals here, for example, Shreddies must be brought in by suitcase for Stephen from Canada, as does Quaker Oats with Apple/Cinnamon oatmeal
- still haven't been to all the fabulous roof top lounges / bars. Recently tried The Upper House at Pacific Place, and Ozone at 118th floor Ritz Carlton ICC... many more to try apparently
- HK is definitely not mainland China (not yet anyway). In Mainland, there was a train wreck whereby two high speed trains crashed. The government censored all negative commentary on the accident! And buried the rail cars on site before a full investigation could start. Shady... and very scary! Most people reckon the rail development in China was too rushed with poor training and oversight. Corrupt! Read: http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnbc.com%2Fid%2F43965730%2FChina_Imposes_Blackout_on_Train_Wreck_Coverage&h=RAQBv70RR
On a personal front,
So besides a few overseas trips to see our 3 new nephews/nieces (Welcome Joven Lau, Adam Herrera and Kristin Yang)... and luckily being able to catch up with some MBA friends in San Fran, honestly, June/July has been all about work for both Stephen and me.
Shanghai was a pleasant yet rainy trip. Stephen also went for work. We look forward to going back again soon. Beijing is the same polluted, political and dreary biweekly trek for me. We even flew together on a business trip to Beijing...but traveling for work really is not fun! The only 'new' place I went was Yantai Shandong Province, which is a few hours from Qingdao (Tsingtao beer home). The beaches are nice, seafood is great but 'best' hotels are kind of dirty. Nonetheless new places are good to try.
On the plus side, two of my best friends Domina and Claire have separately moved here to Hong Kong, from New York and London UK respectively! They are both still househunting but it will be great to have some time together finally in the same city.
I'll write more after our Cebu Philippines trip next weekend!
