Right now its 8pm and I am at work. Its only Wednesday and so far this week, I have clocked in 40 hours (and counting). Painful!
Most expats like us come to/through HK for a few years. (Mostly) British and some other foreigners - although fewer these days compared with Singapore -- may settle down and raise families (FILTH, failed in London, try Hong Kong).
Since arriving here in late 2010, several of my business school and other friends have moved away, back to US/Canada, off to cleaner & more English friendly Singapore, etc.
This "transient city" idea is VERY different from my experience in Toronto. A lot of smaller-town Canadians study and then settle in Toronto (including my own hubby!). But if that occurs, in my observation, they rarely leave.
What is the impact of this?
- traveling a lot more for weddings and special occasions
- having close friends in many other cities is the norm
- being open to making new friends all the time - even if you're 'middle -aged' (for sure the people here in HK are more open to new friends than my experience in Toronto even with "friends of friends"!)
- seeking for stability where possible, e.g. expanding network to include local family and colleagues, living more like a local (less in expat areas), etc.
- yourself being ready to move on short notice - usually for work (as this often is the cause of folks coming through and leaving HK)
On another scary note, there is a mysterious bird flu in Eastern China that has so far claimed the lives of 9 people. They shut down many live chicken trading markets and as a result, I went "vegetarian" while in Shanghai earlier this week. Scary stuff. I don't think they really know what's going on, whether human to human spreading occurs...as this strain was only before seen in pigeons.....
Funny but scary (related) feedback from my Shanghai colleagues. He said it was "progress" that Chinese pig farmers disposed of the hundreds of thousands of pig carcasses floating in the Huangpu (Yellow River) through Shanghai! At least they recognized a problem and didn't use the pigs for food supply!!!! GEEZ... I guess this is all about progression from an Emerging Market to a Mature Market?!
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Papa John's pizza was the ONLY good thing about Hangzhou!
This past Easter weekend, Stephen and I made a last-minute get-away to Shanghai (been there before a few times) and this time, we took the high speed rail to Hangzhou (capital of Zhejiang province, supposedly really pretty West Lake etc).
It was quite a disorganized trip as we didn't pre-book our rail tickets so had to queue for an hour+ at Hongqiao station in Shanghai (the whole train ride should only be an hour!). Dial back an hour, we almost went to the wrong train station! Then another hour long taxi queue upon arrival in Hangzhou (train station is pretty disgusting)... followed by a massive traffic-jam ride to West Lake. Argh!
We finally rented our bicycles and the route around the lake was SO JAMMED with people and bikes, we could barely move. Worst still, the pollution from the countless buses and cars was making it difficult to breathe! What a zoo (and it's not even a China holiday weekend!). Then we returned our bikes late to the wrong location and they didn't give us our deposit back. Argh!!
Anyway, we made it to Papa John's and it was honestly the BEST PIZZA I've eaten in Asia so far :)
And back to Shanghai for much needed alcohol to cleanse our sore throats and wallow in our sorrow. ha ha. The rest of the long weekend was enjoyable in Shanghai... including local Shanghai lunch with my old colleague and meandering about the artsy area, having coffee and wandering the Bund without pouring rain. Good dinners and lounges as well at Lynn and Constellation respectively.
I thought ok...we'repretty much DONE with China travel and chaos and pollution after Hangzhou! But returning again to Shanghai next week (this time for work, ugh).
Came back to enjoy Morihachi Yakiniku grilled Japanese meat with Carin & David (visiting from SF Bay Area) and Li :) Lots of Sloanies in town these days!
All in all, having a four day weekend with a short getaway was good... just don't bother with Hangzhou.
It was quite a disorganized trip as we didn't pre-book our rail tickets so had to queue for an hour+ at Hongqiao station in Shanghai (the whole train ride should only be an hour!). Dial back an hour, we almost went to the wrong train station! Then another hour long taxi queue upon arrival in Hangzhou (train station is pretty disgusting)... followed by a massive traffic-jam ride to West Lake. Argh!
We finally rented our bicycles and the route around the lake was SO JAMMED with people and bikes, we could barely move. Worst still, the pollution from the countless buses and cars was making it difficult to breathe! What a zoo (and it's not even a China holiday weekend!). Then we returned our bikes late to the wrong location and they didn't give us our deposit back. Argh!!
Anyway, we made it to Papa John's and it was honestly the BEST PIZZA I've eaten in Asia so far :)
And back to Shanghai for much needed alcohol to cleanse our sore throats and wallow in our sorrow. ha ha. The rest of the long weekend was enjoyable in Shanghai... including local Shanghai lunch with my old colleague and meandering about the artsy area, having coffee and wandering the Bund without pouring rain. Good dinners and lounges as well at Lynn and Constellation respectively.
I thought ok...we'repretty much DONE with China travel and chaos and pollution after Hangzhou! But returning again to Shanghai next week (this time for work, ugh).
Came back to enjoy Morihachi Yakiniku grilled Japanese meat with Carin & David (visiting from SF Bay Area) and Li :) Lots of Sloanies in town these days!
All in all, having a four day weekend with a short getaway was good... just don't bother with Hangzhou.
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