In this morning’s South China Morning post there were two stories in particular that caught my eye. The first story, located above the fold on the first page concerned the “budget handout”. The second story, reported in the city section, concerned a fire where four people died and a further 19 were injured.
The “budget handout” is a cash handout of about $HK 6000 (just over $US800 or just under £500) that the Hong Kong government is giving to every permanent resident. There are 6.1 million people who are eligible. Eligibility is solely based on residency status regardless of where one lives or what one earns or if one pays taxes in Hong Kong or not. This means that the wealthy men and women like Stanley Ho, gambling magnate who was in the news recently because his many wives are fighting over his vast estate (incidentally he is not yet dead), will receive this handout. Likewise, those ex-Hong Kongers who live in the US, Canada, Australia, and including many of those Hong Kong Chinese who make up the 30% of buyers of London property will also receive this handout. Those who will not receive the handout are the Filipina helpers (maids), who regardless of how long they stay in Hong Kong are never eligible for permanent resident status (unless they marry a Hong Konger and then they have to wait a further 7 years to become eligible).
The story concerns the timing of this handout, with registration for the first recipients to begin in August and will start with those who are over aged 65. There will then follow 3 further phases of registration. Those who register early will receive an extra $HK200. Payments will then be handed out within the 10 weeks following registration. The first wave of handouts, according to the story, will happen just before the district council elections in the Autumn. Something that the paper reports as an accident.
The “budget handout” story has echo’s to the stimulus efforts of George Bush in the US. However these are just echos because the reasons for the handout are very different. The money comes from a budget surplus, which the government has decided to “give back” rather than spend. In addition to the approximately $HK39 billion that will be handed back, it will cost the HK government a further $HK207 million to administer the handout (which includes tens of millions in bank fees). The fact remains, however that for many people this money will be a real boon. For example one often sees elderly women collecting papers and rubbish to recycle or you see them begging. In Hong Kong elderly people are particularly vulnerable as mandatory retirement (though not self employment) age is 60 and there is no social security. There are hundreds of thousands of poor people in Hong Kong who live on the edge and in substandard housing. And this is where my second story comes in.
I have written before about the extreme differences in people’s fortunes. The world face of Hong Kong is luxury accommodation, designer consumption, and the spectacle of conspicuous energy waste of the “festival of lights” put on by, among others, the global financial industry to mark a presence in this rather odd moment in time-space. This representation of course marks Hong Kong as having some, perhaps tenuous, position at the elite table of global cities. But, like all the others at this table, much of what exists here is also perhaps characterizable as ordinary, though one would not want to participate in this particular brand of ordinary life if one could avoid it. Indeed researchers have argued, that while the emphasis in the discourse around global cities is on wealth and financial capital, global capital also rests on a bed of low wage, marginal employment. While cities like New York and London have national and sometimes city provided public services to support those at the lower end of the income spectrum, Hong Kong does not particularly provide this. Moreover, housing in Hong Kong is very expensive. Indeed, some rank Hong Kong in the top ten most expensive cities to live in in the world.
So how do the poor survive. There is some public housing in Hong Kong (the picture of Sui Wo Court, the high rise buildings that is in the sidebar of this blog, is of some of this). Approximately one third of the population lives in this type of housing. There is a waiting list of about 90,000 people with an average wait time of about 3 years. The flats have individual kitchens and toilets and are a minimum of 5.5 meters square. Like the handout discussed above, only those who have permanent residency are allowed to live in this type of housing. Moreover, if you do not have residency, but marry someone who does, you negate the eligibility of your spouse. All public housing tenants must be permanent residents.
Those who do not qualify, or who are waiting must still live somewhere. Where they live ranges from illegal structures built on hillsides as shanty towns--particularly dangerous when the torrential rains and hurricanes hit the city. These are made from bits of salvaged wood and tin. The other option is to rent in a subdivided flat. There are many of these flats in Kowloon, largely in the Sham Shi Po, Shek Kip Mei, and Ma Tau Wai areas. These buildings are older, 6 story structures built in the 1950’s. The original flats are small (about 520 square feet) and connected by an external balcony and a stairway up to the roof. Bathrooms may be shared between flats and there may be a kitchen or just space on the balcony. These are the original flats. What has happened is that these, already small spaces are subdivided into further flats or cages, by wire mesh or bamboo. Some subdivided areas can be as large as 200 square feet. The flat that I saw was divided into approximately 9 areas of about 6 feet by 6 feet. These were still pretty good because the cubicles went entirely to the ceiling. Sometimes the flats are divided into levels as well so that the cubicles are stacked 2 high. You cannot stand upright in the upper cubicles, and just barely in the lower. There is no air conditioning in these flats and Hong Kong gets very hot. The subdivided areas in the flats rent for about $HK1500 a month making them some of the most expensive housing per square foot in Hong Kong--more expensive than the average price of a mid-levels flat which is the desirable area for all the expat bankers. The more expensive areas are near the windows, while those in the middle have only the air circulation from the narrow space that is the corridor that runs between the cages. Families live in these cages. Indeed there is often 20 or more people living in the whole unit sharing a toilet and a small kitchen area.
There is little regulation with regard to the maintenance and safety features of this housing, and there appears to be even less enforcement of what there is. Sometimes the escape routes are blocked with rubbish. Sometimes the roofs have further illegal structures built on top so their is no escape if the street entrance is blocked. There are exposed electrical wires. The fire that was reported in my second news story occurred in a shop on the ground floor of one of these buildings. Those who were killed were living in subdivided flats above. Three of the four who died were all in the same family--a pregnant woman, and two small children aged 1 and 6. The father was seriously injured. The other person who died was a teenager. The fire was thought to be caused by an electrical fault. In addition to those who died or were injured a further unreported number of residents in the building and those adjoining are now homeless. The numbers would have to be in the hundreds given that these are 6 story buildings.
Clearly this system is not adequate. What is more, since 2000 the housing policy in Hong Kong has changed such that the Hong Kong government is reducing direct provision and relying on a subsidy approach whereby tenants could buy their flats at an affordable rate and there would be rental subsidy for those permanent resident families in need (here a family is a couple--recently an elderly woman was caught committing benefit fraud for forging her dead husband’s signature. She did this because she would lose her housing as a single person.) Ironically, the event that is narrated as the trigger for the original provision of public housing by the Hong Kong Authority was a fire in a squatter settlement in Shek Kip Mei in 1953. After this fire 58,000 people were left homeless--it is unclear how many died, some suggest that just 2 were killed (there is an argument about risk that suggests people in Hong Kong live in constant preparation for these types of events). While the numbers for the recent reported fire are less, the condition of the buildings in these low income areas and the high density of people, suggest that this will not be the last such fire in this area.
In the same budget speech that announced the surplus, which has eventually led to the controversial “budget handout” there was an outline of housing policy. The plan is to make an additional 20,000 units available per year for low income people through the private sector (though those who are not permanent residents will still be ineligible). Provided population does not expand this should just about cover the backlog in about 5 years. More importantly though is isn’t it the private sector that has provided the city with its cage houses? In the mean time, one can be pretty sure that these same landlords will not be plowing their “budget handout” back into improving the living conditions in the flats that they own or reducing the number of tenants per flat or reducing the rents. Indeed, the small amount of the handout would do no more that perhaps provide a coat of paint if the landlords were so inclined. More likely the money will go toward buying a new Gucci handbag--maybe if they are feeling particularly charitable they will chip in an extra $HK1500 and buy the Unicef version.
Showing posts with label Hong Kong. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hong Kong. Show all posts
Friday, 17 June 2011
Thursday, 14 April 2011
In Hong Kong you always need a sweater
It looks like the weather has changed here in Hong Kong. While just a few weeks ago I was wearing my coat (yes, one needs a coat in the tropics), I am now contemplating the prospect of bare legs and arms and wondering if I will ever feel comfortable in a swim suit again. This morning it is already 78° F and it is only 9:30. Ironically, the human ecology of this place means that even while I am quite warm enough sitting in our flat, if I go out I will have to take a sweater with me.
Yes, that is correct, one always needs a sweater in Hong Kong, whatever the weather. Let me explain. First, Hong Kong is very seasonal. This came as a real surprise to me. I am told by longer term residents that this last winter (the one I have been moaning about) has been particularly long and cold. Indeed, this is partially confirmed by the Hong Kong Observatory (great web site for those of you interested in climate and weather stuff--see http://www.hko.gov.hk/contente.htm), which says that while February was not cooler than usual, January and March were certainly colder (and drier) than normal. Mean temperature this last March was 64° F. I know this sounds warm, but bear in mind that it is also quite humid here and so feels a bit colder. Also, there is NO central heating--anywhere. That is right, none. And, since the buildings are concrete it is often the case that it is colder inside than it is outside. So if you run to the cold side, like me, a sweater is definitely needed. What is more, there were some days last month when the temperature was only about 54° F. March was a bit warmer overall than January and February. You are probably beginning to get the picture. While the colder temperature has certainly been a regular talking point, but the last time this point came up one of our friends did say that she thought this was a common feeling every year. I think the message is that if one is planning a trip to Hong Kong in the winter months, bring something warm to wear just in case. I’ve seen any number of tourists shivering away in their shorts and tank tops. If you are moving here you should definitely bring at least some of your warm clothes, and your slippers, with you. Of course, alternatively, you could just buy what you need when you arrive!
While the climate explains why a sweater is needed in the winter months, what about the rest of the year? While Hong Kong does not have a mechanical fix for cold weather, it overcompensates for the possibility of heat by the extensive use of air conditioning. I say possibility because often even when it is quite cold outside, the air conditioning will be running. This is certainly the case with my office. Some days I needed gloves it was so cold. While it is not a sure thing that the AC will be on when it is cold, it is a certainty that it will be on when the temperatures do reach about 70° F. What is more, there is AC everywhere: on the buses, in the taxi, in buildings, on the MTR. About the only public place that I can think of that has an inside that is not air conditioned is the tram (or the Ding Ding as it is called locally). Of course this means that one dresses for the outside temperature and then brings a sweater along to accommodate the inside and its rather different climatological conditions.
I learned recently that the standard temperature for Air Conditioning to be set is about 68-72° F for working environments. This is a fairly universal setting world wide, though is harder to control in large open spaces like shopping malls. What I found particularly interesting was the fact that this setting is based on something called “thermal comfort”, which means a normal person wearing a normal amount of clothes is neither too hot or too cold. So who is this normal person and what are normal clothes. Well it turns out that the normal person is a man and, according to my quick google scholar search, men have, on average, higher resting metabolic rates than women. Moreover according to the speaker who was talking about such things, the expectation of normal clothing is based on a suit. So the normal male wearing a business suit should be comfortable in this temperature. Of course they could take off the suit coat, we could turn down the AC and the contribution to climate change, at both the local/immediate and global/long term scales, would be less extreme. Apparently the Japanese are thinking about this as a way to help reduce their CO2 emissions. Seems a pretty easy fix, perhaps there is a campaign here somewhere...
Yes, that is correct, one always needs a sweater in Hong Kong, whatever the weather. Let me explain. First, Hong Kong is very seasonal. This came as a real surprise to me. I am told by longer term residents that this last winter (the one I have been moaning about) has been particularly long and cold. Indeed, this is partially confirmed by the Hong Kong Observatory (great web site for those of you interested in climate and weather stuff--see http://www.hko.gov.hk/contente.htm), which says that while February was not cooler than usual, January and March were certainly colder (and drier) than normal. Mean temperature this last March was 64° F. I know this sounds warm, but bear in mind that it is also quite humid here and so feels a bit colder. Also, there is NO central heating--anywhere. That is right, none. And, since the buildings are concrete it is often the case that it is colder inside than it is outside. So if you run to the cold side, like me, a sweater is definitely needed. What is more, there were some days last month when the temperature was only about 54° F. March was a bit warmer overall than January and February. You are probably beginning to get the picture. While the colder temperature has certainly been a regular talking point, but the last time this point came up one of our friends did say that she thought this was a common feeling every year. I think the message is that if one is planning a trip to Hong Kong in the winter months, bring something warm to wear just in case. I’ve seen any number of tourists shivering away in their shorts and tank tops. If you are moving here you should definitely bring at least some of your warm clothes, and your slippers, with you. Of course, alternatively, you could just buy what you need when you arrive!
While the climate explains why a sweater is needed in the winter months, what about the rest of the year? While Hong Kong does not have a mechanical fix for cold weather, it overcompensates for the possibility of heat by the extensive use of air conditioning. I say possibility because often even when it is quite cold outside, the air conditioning will be running. This is certainly the case with my office. Some days I needed gloves it was so cold. While it is not a sure thing that the AC will be on when it is cold, it is a certainty that it will be on when the temperatures do reach about 70° F. What is more, there is AC everywhere: on the buses, in the taxi, in buildings, on the MTR. About the only public place that I can think of that has an inside that is not air conditioned is the tram (or the Ding Ding as it is called locally). Of course this means that one dresses for the outside temperature and then brings a sweater along to accommodate the inside and its rather different climatological conditions.
I learned recently that the standard temperature for Air Conditioning to be set is about 68-72° F for working environments. This is a fairly universal setting world wide, though is harder to control in large open spaces like shopping malls. What I found particularly interesting was the fact that this setting is based on something called “thermal comfort”, which means a normal person wearing a normal amount of clothes is neither too hot or too cold. So who is this normal person and what are normal clothes. Well it turns out that the normal person is a man and, according to my quick google scholar search, men have, on average, higher resting metabolic rates than women. Moreover according to the speaker who was talking about such things, the expectation of normal clothing is based on a suit. So the normal male wearing a business suit should be comfortable in this temperature. Of course they could take off the suit coat, we could turn down the AC and the contribution to climate change, at both the local/immediate and global/long term scales, would be less extreme. Apparently the Japanese are thinking about this as a way to help reduce their CO2 emissions. Seems a pretty easy fix, perhaps there is a campaign here somewhere...
Sunday, 27 February 2011
Happy Valley, Private Road and other strategies for winning at the races
Last week we were invited to attend the horse races at Happy Valley Race Course in Hong Kong. Horse racing is big in Hong Kong, and it is big for everyone. While there are two places you can go to watch the races live, Happy Valley (on Hong Kong Island) and Sha Tin (just below where we live out in the New Territories), you can find a place to bet on the races in just about every neighborhood. The Hong Kong Jockey Club manages and runs the races in Hong Kong and it is big, big business, but it is also more than that. While it is true to say that it is sad to see the people desperately hoping that they will improve their chances, the betting on the horse racing does have its upside. The Jockey Club is the largest taxpayer in the SAR and also is the biggest charity as it devotes its entire surplus each year to reinvestment in Hong Kong; in other words they make no profit. There are schools, hospitals, a care home for dementia patients called the Centre for Positive Aging, heritage projects, environmental initiatives, scholarships, healthy living projects, programs to get young people into employment, etc. etc. that are funded through the horse racing.
Our invitation involved engaging with the races through a box, rather than in the stands. This meant we were able to eat a lovely, buffet dinner with wine and a gin and tonic before hand—the G&T was particularly important as Happy Valley is situated in an area where there were rice paddies and malaria, thus the quinine in tonic water was needed in case any of the mosquitos from the 1800’s were still around (NB: occasionally there are notices in the late summer about finding malarial mosquitos out where we live, but largely malaria is no longer a problem in Hong Kong). On the buffet were a range of wonderful European (including Foie Gras) and Chinese foods in three courses. Dinner started at about 7:00pm and we finished at about 11:00 after the last race. There were 6 races in the night. The procedure is to get some food, contemplate your bets, go to the special window for the boxes to place your bet, eat a bit more, go outside to watch the race, shout for your horse(s), calculate your winnings (losings) and do it all over again.
There are a number of ways you can bet. You can bet on a horse to win, or to place in the top three. You can bet on something called a quenelle, which is the top two horses, or a quenelle place (two horses in the top 3), among other options. These were the options that I was able to get my head around. I started by betting for two horses in a quenelle place and won—I bet $40HK and won $52. I then tried the same approach again and lost $50HK. I tried betting on a place and also lost in the next race. Then I worked out that if I spread my bets across 4 or 5 horses to place I would be more likely to win something, which is what happened and with this strategy I came out a bit ahead. I also found that my strategy of selecting horses with names that meant something was not always a winning approach; Private Road was one of my winners in the first race, but garden hedge lost in the 3rd. Our friend Janet picked horses with names that had something to do with her children’s occupations. Again this was a mixed strategy as those with names to do with finance lost (this probably could have been predicted), but those with military inspired names tended to win. I also found that selecting the favorite was quite likely to be a strategy for failure as the favorite horse in the second race came last. What I eventually settled on was picking horses who had won before. This seemed to work pretty well. All in all, at the end of the night I was just $4HK down (about 40 pence or 60 cents). I also learned that it isn’t so much how much I win, but the winning itself that mattered. Mostly though, it was a lovely evening, full of interesting conversation and good food. I would definitely go to the races again if asked!
Our invitation involved engaging with the races through a box, rather than in the stands. This meant we were able to eat a lovely, buffet dinner with wine and a gin and tonic before hand—the G&T was particularly important as Happy Valley is situated in an area where there were rice paddies and malaria, thus the quinine in tonic water was needed in case any of the mosquitos from the 1800’s were still around (NB: occasionally there are notices in the late summer about finding malarial mosquitos out where we live, but largely malaria is no longer a problem in Hong Kong). On the buffet were a range of wonderful European (including Foie Gras) and Chinese foods in three courses. Dinner started at about 7:00pm and we finished at about 11:00 after the last race. There were 6 races in the night. The procedure is to get some food, contemplate your bets, go to the special window for the boxes to place your bet, eat a bit more, go outside to watch the race, shout for your horse(s), calculate your winnings (losings) and do it all over again.
There are a number of ways you can bet. You can bet on a horse to win, or to place in the top three. You can bet on something called a quenelle, which is the top two horses, or a quenelle place (two horses in the top 3), among other options. These were the options that I was able to get my head around. I started by betting for two horses in a quenelle place and won—I bet $40HK and won $52. I then tried the same approach again and lost $50HK. I tried betting on a place and also lost in the next race. Then I worked out that if I spread my bets across 4 or 5 horses to place I would be more likely to win something, which is what happened and with this strategy I came out a bit ahead. I also found that my strategy of selecting horses with names that meant something was not always a winning approach; Private Road was one of my winners in the first race, but garden hedge lost in the 3rd. Our friend Janet picked horses with names that had something to do with her children’s occupations. Again this was a mixed strategy as those with names to do with finance lost (this probably could have been predicted), but those with military inspired names tended to win. I also found that selecting the favorite was quite likely to be a strategy for failure as the favorite horse in the second race came last. What I eventually settled on was picking horses who had won before. This seemed to work pretty well. All in all, at the end of the night I was just $4HK down (about 40 pence or 60 cents). I also learned that it isn’t so much how much I win, but the winning itself that mattered. Mostly though, it was a lovely evening, full of interesting conversation and good food. I would definitely go to the races again if asked!
Thursday, 24 February 2011
Rabbits, Sparrows, Dogs, Cats, and Horses
The last month has been characterised for us by an abundance of animals. The dominant animal is, of course the rabbit, as this is the Chinese Year of the Rabbit (or Hare, as rabbits are apparently not native to China). Last year was the year of the Tiger, so in contrast Rabbit years are years of rest and quiet. The actual New Year period was not what I expected, though I must say I found it to be an ideal holiday, coming at just the right time. The actual timing of the New Year is determined by the full moon, so the date changes from year to year, but is usually somewhere around the end of January or sometime in February. Before New Year people clean out the old. This can involve quite serious ridding or may only involve changing the red paper fortunes that are on the alters and on doorways. People also get their hair cut in a new style--Ethan, the guy who cuts my hair said he was up until 1 AM the night before new years doing people's hair in anticipation of the holiday. Everywhere is also decorated with Cherry blossom branches, orange trees, and Chrysanthemums.
The primary part of the New Year is three days here (I believe people take longer off on the mainland) and is characterised by visiting family and eating. In Hong Kong, this is THE holiday. While one could get IKEA delivery on Christmas day, one cannot have the same service over the three days of New Year--DHL certainly does not deliver as we discovered when Sheffield tried to send my marking to me. There is a really good food that you buy as a brick and then fry. It comes in both sweet and savoury and is quite lovely (not anywhere as strong or distinctive as moon cakes). At New Years you can buy this food as a dim sum as well. After the first three days have ended, there is then a period of about 10 days when the New Years celebrations continue.
During the main three days and the weekend after Adrian and I certainly made the most of the holiday. One of Adrian's friends invited us to a family BBQ, which was a great honour as this is usually a time spent just with family and not all and asunder. The BBQ was in a lovely spot overlooking the South China Sea, next to an unusually clean beach. When it was revealed that I have an interest in food to the mother of our host, she then took it upon herself to introduce me to a whole range of foods that I would not have considered or known about. Some of these were absolutely lovely--there was a really nice pudding that was sort of like rice pudding, and some sweet thing like butter brickle, that she had made. One thing people here do at BBQ's is, when they cook the meat over the coals, toward the end they paint the food with honey to make it brown and sweet--really nice--you would be surprised what tastes good cooked with honey on it. We also had some steamed fish, which I believe was flat head grouper, that had been wrapped in foil and baked next to the coals. The most unusual item, however was sparrow. This is a great delicacy, and like many delicacies, is so only in the context within which it is considered as such. The preparation process involves taking the feathers off and then putting them on a stick to make something that looks a bit like a kabob. Note that there is NO other apparent cleaning or dissecting. The skewer is then held over the coals for about 25 minutes and occasionally basted until the birds are cooked and brown. You then try to eat them. There are a lot of bones and not much meat and it is quite difficult to avoid the inside. I was able to pass off two of the first three that I was handed to others who had similarly never tried sparrow, but when the second skewer arrived on my plate those people all made themselves quite scarce. I don't believe I am sufficiently naturalised into this environment to fully appreciate the nuances of sparrow meat. It was a difficult moment, because this was a gift and was a show of respect. I have banned Adrian from announcing to people that I have an interest in food.
Eating Sparrow was not the only thing we did to celebrate the coming of the Year of the Rabbit. We also went on a walk around the hills where we live, we went out with some friends to Plover Cove, and to a village called Tai O. The compound where we live is on the top of a hill and adjacent to Shing Mun Country Park, which is huge, in fact 40% of the area of Hong Kong is comprised of country parks. There is a trail that runs through the park near us called the MacLehose Trail. Actually this trail, runs for about 100 kilometres and runs across most of the New Territories. We can access it from just up from where we live. It is actually a quite difficult trail not just because of its length, but also because it is quite hilly and populated with monkeys and abandoned dogs. When you go out on the trail you must take some sort of stick to ward off both. We just did a short circular walk to the next valley and then down the hill into Fo Tan. Adrian then walked back up the hill as he was in training for the 10K run that was part of the Hong Kong marathon (he did it in just 52 minutes and came 52nd in his race, which had 5000 participants). As I do not run in marathons or any other races, I took the bus home, but as penance I had to carry the very large stick that Adrian collected on the way to ward off the dogs. Incidentally the only dog we ran into was a very friendly dog who walked with us part of the way. The wild dogs however are present and are in the park because people abandon them (and cats) when they move to flats that do not allow pets.
The walk with Bernie and Barbara to Plover Cove the next day was very nice and characterised by beautiful views, abandoned villages, and friendly people. The walk was about 6 miles and in the middle there is a restaurant or Da Pai Dong--actually what we ate at was a bit bigger than the usual Da Pai Dong, but it broadly fits the category. Along our way we kept playing leap frog with two young men who were going camping. They had back packs on, but between them they had a bamboo pole with a cooler hanging, which they told us held their beer. We were a bit worried at this news because we thought it might signal that the restaurant was closed. In fact these two men were also going to the restaurant as one of them was good friends with the owner. When we got there he showed us how to get the beer that the restaurant sold out of the fridge and proceeded to wait on us as the person who owned the restaurant was very busy with several large parties as well as a large group of his own family members. Once we finished our meal, we said goodbye to them and proceeded around the cove. We finished the evening off with a lovely meal in Sai Kung, another one of our favourite destinations.
On the weekend we then went to Tai O. Tai O is a marvellous place--I'v put some photo's on my facebook page for those who are interested. It is a fairly large village at the end of Lantau Island (on the map it is probably closer to Macau than Central Hong Kong). What particularly characterises it, though, is the combination of canals and stilt houses, as the people who live there used to live entirely on the water in boats. Another distinguishing feature is the relative absence of evidence of globalisation despite the number of tourists who visit and the proximity to the airport and Disneyland HK. The only sign I saw was from HSBC, nothing else. This does not mean you can't get an excellent cup of coffee, a meal, or buy something; you can, but it will come from a local retailer. You can also take a boat out into the sea and see the white dolphins, though these are threatened and people are not encouraged to do so. We spent nearly the whole day walking around this lovely, thriving village and had a most enjoyable time. I am sure we will go back. I am concerned for it though as I fear it will disappear as within the next few years the building of a bridge from nearby on Lantau to Macau and then on to the mainland is planned. Tai O looks ripe for redevelopment as it will be the geographic centre of this delta. Indeed, the Pearl River delta is the most rapidly industrialising place in the world and contains over 50,000,000 (yes, 50 million) people making it also the most populated region in the world. I just don't see how Tai O can survive the onslaught of industrial capitalism, but we shall see.
While that was the end of New Year holiday for us, it does carry on for about a week and a half further, when people eat out with friends, pass out red packets (lai see) with money in them to children, subordinates, and unmarried people (so I didn't get any). This is also the period when you find the dragon dancers and lion dancers who go around and perform for lai see packets and bring good luck. All in all, Chinese New Year, in the way that is celebrates family and signals the start of spring, is a happy time that comes during a month that usually, for me, seems pretty dreary.
You may be wondering where the cats and the horses fit in? We are adopting two cats this weekend who were going to be taken to be put down just before the new year. We are very much looking forward to their addition to our family. I'll tell you about the horses another time...
The primary part of the New Year is three days here (I believe people take longer off on the mainland) and is characterised by visiting family and eating. In Hong Kong, this is THE holiday. While one could get IKEA delivery on Christmas day, one cannot have the same service over the three days of New Year--DHL certainly does not deliver as we discovered when Sheffield tried to send my marking to me. There is a really good food that you buy as a brick and then fry. It comes in both sweet and savoury and is quite lovely (not anywhere as strong or distinctive as moon cakes). At New Years you can buy this food as a dim sum as well. After the first three days have ended, there is then a period of about 10 days when the New Years celebrations continue.
During the main three days and the weekend after Adrian and I certainly made the most of the holiday. One of Adrian's friends invited us to a family BBQ, which was a great honour as this is usually a time spent just with family and not all and asunder. The BBQ was in a lovely spot overlooking the South China Sea, next to an unusually clean beach. When it was revealed that I have an interest in food to the mother of our host, she then took it upon herself to introduce me to a whole range of foods that I would not have considered or known about. Some of these were absolutely lovely--there was a really nice pudding that was sort of like rice pudding, and some sweet thing like butter brickle, that she had made. One thing people here do at BBQ's is, when they cook the meat over the coals, toward the end they paint the food with honey to make it brown and sweet--really nice--you would be surprised what tastes good cooked with honey on it. We also had some steamed fish, which I believe was flat head grouper, that had been wrapped in foil and baked next to the coals. The most unusual item, however was sparrow. This is a great delicacy, and like many delicacies, is so only in the context within which it is considered as such. The preparation process involves taking the feathers off and then putting them on a stick to make something that looks a bit like a kabob. Note that there is NO other apparent cleaning or dissecting. The skewer is then held over the coals for about 25 minutes and occasionally basted until the birds are cooked and brown. You then try to eat them. There are a lot of bones and not much meat and it is quite difficult to avoid the inside. I was able to pass off two of the first three that I was handed to others who had similarly never tried sparrow, but when the second skewer arrived on my plate those people all made themselves quite scarce. I don't believe I am sufficiently naturalised into this environment to fully appreciate the nuances of sparrow meat. It was a difficult moment, because this was a gift and was a show of respect. I have banned Adrian from announcing to people that I have an interest in food.
Eating Sparrow was not the only thing we did to celebrate the coming of the Year of the Rabbit. We also went on a walk around the hills where we live, we went out with some friends to Plover Cove, and to a village called Tai O. The compound where we live is on the top of a hill and adjacent to Shing Mun Country Park, which is huge, in fact 40% of the area of Hong Kong is comprised of country parks. There is a trail that runs through the park near us called the MacLehose Trail. Actually this trail, runs for about 100 kilometres and runs across most of the New Territories. We can access it from just up from where we live. It is actually a quite difficult trail not just because of its length, but also because it is quite hilly and populated with monkeys and abandoned dogs. When you go out on the trail you must take some sort of stick to ward off both. We just did a short circular walk to the next valley and then down the hill into Fo Tan. Adrian then walked back up the hill as he was in training for the 10K run that was part of the Hong Kong marathon (he did it in just 52 minutes and came 52nd in his race, which had 5000 participants). As I do not run in marathons or any other races, I took the bus home, but as penance I had to carry the very large stick that Adrian collected on the way to ward off the dogs. Incidentally the only dog we ran into was a very friendly dog who walked with us part of the way. The wild dogs however are present and are in the park because people abandon them (and cats) when they move to flats that do not allow pets.
The walk with Bernie and Barbara to Plover Cove the next day was very nice and characterised by beautiful views, abandoned villages, and friendly people. The walk was about 6 miles and in the middle there is a restaurant or Da Pai Dong--actually what we ate at was a bit bigger than the usual Da Pai Dong, but it broadly fits the category. Along our way we kept playing leap frog with two young men who were going camping. They had back packs on, but between them they had a bamboo pole with a cooler hanging, which they told us held their beer. We were a bit worried at this news because we thought it might signal that the restaurant was closed. In fact these two men were also going to the restaurant as one of them was good friends with the owner. When we got there he showed us how to get the beer that the restaurant sold out of the fridge and proceeded to wait on us as the person who owned the restaurant was very busy with several large parties as well as a large group of his own family members. Once we finished our meal, we said goodbye to them and proceeded around the cove. We finished the evening off with a lovely meal in Sai Kung, another one of our favourite destinations.
On the weekend we then went to Tai O. Tai O is a marvellous place--I'v put some photo's on my facebook page for those who are interested. It is a fairly large village at the end of Lantau Island (on the map it is probably closer to Macau than Central Hong Kong). What particularly characterises it, though, is the combination of canals and stilt houses, as the people who live there used to live entirely on the water in boats. Another distinguishing feature is the relative absence of evidence of globalisation despite the number of tourists who visit and the proximity to the airport and Disneyland HK. The only sign I saw was from HSBC, nothing else. This does not mean you can't get an excellent cup of coffee, a meal, or buy something; you can, but it will come from a local retailer. You can also take a boat out into the sea and see the white dolphins, though these are threatened and people are not encouraged to do so. We spent nearly the whole day walking around this lovely, thriving village and had a most enjoyable time. I am sure we will go back. I am concerned for it though as I fear it will disappear as within the next few years the building of a bridge from nearby on Lantau to Macau and then on to the mainland is planned. Tai O looks ripe for redevelopment as it will be the geographic centre of this delta. Indeed, the Pearl River delta is the most rapidly industrialising place in the world and contains over 50,000,000 (yes, 50 million) people making it also the most populated region in the world. I just don't see how Tai O can survive the onslaught of industrial capitalism, but we shall see.
While that was the end of New Year holiday for us, it does carry on for about a week and a half further, when people eat out with friends, pass out red packets (lai see) with money in them to children, subordinates, and unmarried people (so I didn't get any). This is also the period when you find the dragon dancers and lion dancers who go around and perform for lai see packets and bring good luck. All in all, Chinese New Year, in the way that is celebrates family and signals the start of spring, is a happy time that comes during a month that usually, for me, seems pretty dreary.
You may be wondering where the cats and the horses fit in? We are adopting two cats this weekend who were going to be taken to be put down just before the new year. We are very much looking forward to their addition to our family. I'll tell you about the horses another time...
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Going to and fro: busses, trains, ferries, escalators, and elevators
I took six different forms of transport to get to my office at Hong Kong University this morning. I did this for two reasons. Firstly, I did this, was because I had a bit of time and I wanted to keep my resolution of trying one new thing each week. I had not tried to get to the office with this particular routing and I wanted to see what it was like. While not the fastest way for me to get to work, it was not any more expensive and was certainly more scenic than the way I usually go, which involves a mini-bus, three MTR trains, and a double-deck large bus. Secondly, I used all these forms of public conveyance because I could. One of the amazing things about Hong Kong is the absolutely brilliant public transport system, which incorporates so many of the different forms of technology available for moving people around. My journey this morning involved an elevator in my building, a green mini-bus, two MTR trains, the Star Ferry , a double deck CityBus, several escalators sprinkled within this, and finally a couple of elevators to get from Pok Fu Lam Road to my office half way up the hill (HKU is very vertical). While I won’t talk about the escalators and the elevators in this account, I think it is worth providing a bit more about the MTR, the ferry, and the busses.
My first bus of the day was actually one of the green minibuses that one sees throughout Hong Kong. These little busses are great as they don’t always have a regular timetable, though this is not always the case. Instead there is a fleet of them running regular services along what seem to me to be shorter routes, linking the housing estates with shopping malls and transport hubs. Our route is the number 69K and there are several of these mini-busses making the circuit from the top of our hill to the Shatin station all day long and well into the evening. One must sit on these busses and they will pass you by if they are full. Fortunately, we live at the top of the hill so the only time when this really happens is in period just after the Shatin college lets out and the children take up all the places. To catch one of these busses, one needs to stand at the designated stop and wave your hand. If the bus is not full the driver will stop for you. If it is full, they will wave at you and drive right on by. Getting off is a bit more difficult as, unlike other forms of transport in Hong Kong, there is no bell or forced stop except at the end of the route. What you must do is yell out the name of your stop if you know it—ours is Sook Say (meaning quarters). Everyone also adds a please onto the end: mgoy in Cantonese. If you don’t know the name of the stop, then a “Yow Lok, mgoy” will also work. “Yow Lok” sort of means stop, but is only a phrase used on the mini-busses. You wouldn’t say this to a taxi driver, for example (actually I try not to use the Taxi’s as they are quite confusing and it is often difficult to convey where you want to go to the drivers).
The MTR is the subway system in the Hong Kong SAR. There are several lines that make up the system. Our line, the East Rail Line, starts at the border with China and extends all the way down to Hung Hom, which is on the right side of Kowloon toward the bottom. The trains come through our station, which is Shatin station, about every minute during rush hour and about every three minutes at other times. It runs over ground until it reaches Lion Rock and then does a combination of over and underground travel until Hung Hom.. Because this is a fast train to China, it also has a first class carriage, which you can use if you buy a first class ticket or swipe your octopus card at the machine before boarding. If you don’t swipe your card and the train people catch you there is quite a fine—I’ve witnessed several people trying to talk their way out of this. While the first class is a bit more expensive, it is sometimes worth it as you can ensure that you will get a seat. The other carriages are more like standard subway carriages and are mostly standing. It took me about 15 minutes to get from our station in Shatin to the Hung Hom end of the line. At that point I changed trains to the West Rail Line, which I rode for one stop to East TST. Approximately 19 minutes in total and cost just HK$12.6 (which includes the first class upgrade). It was a comfortable, if a bit boring ride as there is pretty much no scenery. I like the MTR, though because it is fast and very efficient.
At TST East I walked (or road escalators) underground to the L6 exit. This exit brings you out on the point of Kowloon right near the Star Ferry Terminal. There are several ferries that leave from this terminal, but today I rode the ferry to Central. The ferries themselves are small wooden boats, painted green and white and have two decks. There is the lower deck, which I tend to prefer, and the upper deck which costs about HK$1 more (the cost goes up a further HK$1 on weekends and holidays, but is still very good value). The total cost today for the ferry across was just HK$2.5, so I not really much expense at all. I chose the upper deck today because it is cold and rainy and the ends have glass on the windows, so it is a bit warmer and drier than the lower deck. I love the Star Ferry partly because it is a romantic way to travel. The boats, while not the originals, have been crossing the water between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island since 1880 according the company’s web site. There are 12 ferries that that are part of the fleet, each of which has the word star as part of their name (e.g., morning star, etc.). The boats in service now date primarily from the 1950’s and 1960’s and while electric, are still wooden. The style and age of the boats add significantly to the romanticism of the journey. As you cross Victoria Harbor on the ferry one sits and sees the cityscape of Hong Kong move closer, while Black Kites fly over the water looking for fish (there are no Gulls here). It is a calming and quite experience for me; time out from what is usually the crush of movement and people and the accompanying assault of noise and smog smells that characterizes my usual journey to work. These days, as was evident this morning, the ferries are not used by commuters in the same way that they once were. This is largely due to the movement of the ferry pier from near city hall to below the IFC building (the IFC building was, until recently, Hong Kong’s tallest building). I hope it does not mean the slow decline into extinction of the ferry.
Upon exiting the Ferry I caught the second and last bus of my journey: The number 7 CityBus. This was a double decker bus similar to those you would find in the UK. Indeed, as the traffic travels on the same side of the road as is the case in the UK, I believe these busses are indeed the same models. Adrian would know more about this than I and I believe he muttered something about one of the bus companies in Sheffield is operating retired stock from Hong Kong on one of its routes. I must confess that I didn’t pay a lot of attention to this bit of trivia at the time of the telling, but I do wish I could sound a bit more authoritative at the moment about this. I sat in the tourist seats, on the top deck at the front. Most regular riders seem to keep clear of these seats, but tourists gravitate toward them. I like these seats because you can see where you are going and as I was not entirely sure how far along my stop was seeing where I was going seemed a good idea. As it turned out, this was a good idea as the stop was at an entrance to the university that I was not so familiar with and I would have missed it if I were not looking carefully. The journey of the number 7 goes up Queen’s road Central to Queen’s road East before eventually entering Pok Fu Lam Road. As one progresses along the ride the bus seems to travel back in time. The area around the ferry terminal is all reclaimed land, with tall (very tall) new buildings all proclaiming their connection to the west. By the time you reach Queen’s Road East, the streets are full of shops selling edible birds nest, shark fin, and Ginseng or red lanterns and incense to burn for the ancestors. There are also small sidewalk vendors selling bau out of the small bamboo steamer baskets and restaurants with bright yellow cooked chickens hanging in the windows. One eventually travels through a winding street, climbing up the hill, which is full of antiques sellers with widow displays of wooden Chinese furniture or ceramic pots, before finally emerging out near an overpass (which leads back over to the new Harbor tunnel to Kowloon). People have been living in the area around where Pok Fu Lam Road meets Queen’s Road East since the early 1700’s. In contrast, the area near the overpass is near the university and where the new campus is being built. In the next few years there will be a new MTR line with a station here, thereby making my journey route today even more irrelevant and seemingly inefficient, but I am sure no less interesting.
My first bus of the day was actually one of the green minibuses that one sees throughout Hong Kong. These little busses are great as they don’t always have a regular timetable, though this is not always the case. Instead there is a fleet of them running regular services along what seem to me to be shorter routes, linking the housing estates with shopping malls and transport hubs. Our route is the number 69K and there are several of these mini-busses making the circuit from the top of our hill to the Shatin station all day long and well into the evening. One must sit on these busses and they will pass you by if they are full. Fortunately, we live at the top of the hill so the only time when this really happens is in period just after the Shatin college lets out and the children take up all the places. To catch one of these busses, one needs to stand at the designated stop and wave your hand. If the bus is not full the driver will stop for you. If it is full, they will wave at you and drive right on by. Getting off is a bit more difficult as, unlike other forms of transport in Hong Kong, there is no bell or forced stop except at the end of the route. What you must do is yell out the name of your stop if you know it—ours is Sook Say (meaning quarters). Everyone also adds a please onto the end: mgoy in Cantonese. If you don’t know the name of the stop, then a “Yow Lok, mgoy” will also work. “Yow Lok” sort of means stop, but is only a phrase used on the mini-busses. You wouldn’t say this to a taxi driver, for example (actually I try not to use the Taxi’s as they are quite confusing and it is often difficult to convey where you want to go to the drivers).
The MTR is the subway system in the Hong Kong SAR. There are several lines that make up the system. Our line, the East Rail Line, starts at the border with China and extends all the way down to Hung Hom, which is on the right side of Kowloon toward the bottom. The trains come through our station, which is Shatin station, about every minute during rush hour and about every three minutes at other times. It runs over ground until it reaches Lion Rock and then does a combination of over and underground travel until Hung Hom.. Because this is a fast train to China, it also has a first class carriage, which you can use if you buy a first class ticket or swipe your octopus card at the machine before boarding. If you don’t swipe your card and the train people catch you there is quite a fine—I’ve witnessed several people trying to talk their way out of this. While the first class is a bit more expensive, it is sometimes worth it as you can ensure that you will get a seat. The other carriages are more like standard subway carriages and are mostly standing. It took me about 15 minutes to get from our station in Shatin to the Hung Hom end of the line. At that point I changed trains to the West Rail Line, which I rode for one stop to East TST. Approximately 19 minutes in total and cost just HK$12.6 (which includes the first class upgrade). It was a comfortable, if a bit boring ride as there is pretty much no scenery. I like the MTR, though because it is fast and very efficient.
At TST East I walked (or road escalators) underground to the L6 exit. This exit brings you out on the point of Kowloon right near the Star Ferry Terminal. There are several ferries that leave from this terminal, but today I rode the ferry to Central. The ferries themselves are small wooden boats, painted green and white and have two decks. There is the lower deck, which I tend to prefer, and the upper deck which costs about HK$1 more (the cost goes up a further HK$1 on weekends and holidays, but is still very good value). The total cost today for the ferry across was just HK$2.5, so I not really much expense at all. I chose the upper deck today because it is cold and rainy and the ends have glass on the windows, so it is a bit warmer and drier than the lower deck. I love the Star Ferry partly because it is a romantic way to travel. The boats, while not the originals, have been crossing the water between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island since 1880 according the company’s web site. There are 12 ferries that that are part of the fleet, each of which has the word star as part of their name (e.g., morning star, etc.). The boats in service now date primarily from the 1950’s and 1960’s and while electric, are still wooden. The style and age of the boats add significantly to the romanticism of the journey. As you cross Victoria Harbor on the ferry one sits and sees the cityscape of Hong Kong move closer, while Black Kites fly over the water looking for fish (there are no Gulls here). It is a calming and quite experience for me; time out from what is usually the crush of movement and people and the accompanying assault of noise and smog smells that characterizes my usual journey to work. These days, as was evident this morning, the ferries are not used by commuters in the same way that they once were. This is largely due to the movement of the ferry pier from near city hall to below the IFC building (the IFC building was, until recently, Hong Kong’s tallest building). I hope it does not mean the slow decline into extinction of the ferry.
Upon exiting the Ferry I caught the second and last bus of my journey: The number 7 CityBus. This was a double decker bus similar to those you would find in the UK. Indeed, as the traffic travels on the same side of the road as is the case in the UK, I believe these busses are indeed the same models. Adrian would know more about this than I and I believe he muttered something about one of the bus companies in Sheffield is operating retired stock from Hong Kong on one of its routes. I must confess that I didn’t pay a lot of attention to this bit of trivia at the time of the telling, but I do wish I could sound a bit more authoritative at the moment about this. I sat in the tourist seats, on the top deck at the front. Most regular riders seem to keep clear of these seats, but tourists gravitate toward them. I like these seats because you can see where you are going and as I was not entirely sure how far along my stop was seeing where I was going seemed a good idea. As it turned out, this was a good idea as the stop was at an entrance to the university that I was not so familiar with and I would have missed it if I were not looking carefully. The journey of the number 7 goes up Queen’s road Central to Queen’s road East before eventually entering Pok Fu Lam Road. As one progresses along the ride the bus seems to travel back in time. The area around the ferry terminal is all reclaimed land, with tall (very tall) new buildings all proclaiming their connection to the west. By the time you reach Queen’s Road East, the streets are full of shops selling edible birds nest, shark fin, and Ginseng or red lanterns and incense to burn for the ancestors. There are also small sidewalk vendors selling bau out of the small bamboo steamer baskets and restaurants with bright yellow cooked chickens hanging in the windows. One eventually travels through a winding street, climbing up the hill, which is full of antiques sellers with widow displays of wooden Chinese furniture or ceramic pots, before finally emerging out near an overpass (which leads back over to the new Harbor tunnel to Kowloon). People have been living in the area around where Pok Fu Lam Road meets Queen’s Road East since the early 1700’s. In contrast, the area near the overpass is near the university and where the new campus is being built. In the next few years there will be a new MTR line with a station here, thereby making my journey route today even more irrelevant and seemingly inefficient, but I am sure no less interesting.
Thursday, 6 January 2011
A New Year and New Experiences
Happy New Year!
I arrived back in Hong Kong on the 18th of December. I just managed to escape the airport closures. My flight left from Manchester on the 17th and was late departing and I must say I was getting nervous as I watched the flakes begin to fall. But escape I did! I expected to arrive in a warm climate, cast off my coat and enjoy the sun. There has been sun—only 2 days of cloud or rain since I arrived—but it has not been warm. Today’s high has been only 58 degrees (13 C). While this sounds ok, there is no central heating here and our flat is on the shady side of the building, thus we have no sun to warm us through the windows. I have had to purchase a jumper and a pair of slippers and I wear my coat when I go out. It has been like this since I arrived and the weather looks to stay this way for at least another 2 weeks—for those considering travel to Hong Kong in the future, do make note of this particular climatic feature!
Arriving on the 18th meant I was plunged right into Christmas preparations. It was a bit odd being here for Christmas. There were certainly decorations around in the malls and so forth, but for the most part it was a regular day for most people. For example, I purchased something from Ikea and had to ask them NOT to deliver it on Christmas Day. The children and Adrian were off school/work though and we did try to do some traditional things. Adrian had purchased the Michael Palin series Around the World in 80 Days, which is always on TV over the Christmas period, so we watched that each day. We also had Ensalada de Noche Buena (A Mexican Christmas Salad) on Christmas Even, which is a longstanding tradition in our family.
Christmas also held some new activities as well. I conquered my fear of the wet market and managed to purchase a fish that I think was a Barramundi. I poached it and had a Thai sauce that I put over it. It was really lovely and the meat was sweet. To be truthful, I don’t really remember what else we had as that night Adrian, Simon and I all woke up and were ill. We remained ill for the next three days, and there was a competition over who had to make the most trips to the bathroom to be sick (Simon won with 8, Adrian and I tied at 5). Everyone stayed pretty much in bed on Boxing Day, but Adrian and I tried to get out the following days. We went to Stanley with Grace one day, which was enjoyed by all. She doesn’t often come out with us and it was nice that she did. Another day we found a new footpath around the Peak, which has really nice views. I would definitely take visitors there. Finally, at the end of the week, Adrian and I went to Macau. Macau is really a place to go if you like to gamble. We don’t so found it a bit difficult. Fortunately the children did not go with us as they would have hated the day, which was spent mostly walking about. We did go to a very nice garden, for me only to discover there was no memory card in my camera—all photo’s left only to the imagination.
On New Year’s Day we agreed that we would write down our resolutions. Mine are to do yoga twice a week, send two papers off to journals by June, try something new each week, and improve my Cantonese. So far I’ve not done any Yoga, my books are all in the UK still and the shippers don’t look like they will send them until later this month (grrrrr), though most of what I need is available electronically, I am working on my Cantonese and I have learned a little bit more so we shall see on that one. I am doing great with the try new things though.
This week I have done two new main new things (though these were not the only new things I did). The first thing was to have my palm and face read at the Chinese temple. This was not an inexpensive venture costing about $HK500. It was very interesting though. I learned that my children will take care of me in my old age so I don’t have to worry and that Adrian and I will stay married. I also learned that I have a lucky line which means things will work out. But the first thing the woman did when she looked at my hand was look shocked when she saw my lifeline, which is apparently weak and mingled with my work. She told me to take a foreign holiday! (I kept thinking, but I’ve just gotten here!). She said that I had a good palm but that I need to take care of my health and get enough rest. I’ve told Adrian this means he has to let me have the occasional lie on the weekends!
The second was to go to see the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) doctor about my migraines (and also because I felt I needed to address this lifeline thing). As part of the benefits associated with Adrian’s job we can each access 15 visits with 2 packs of herbs each visit. This was quite an interesting experience because it was so different from anything I’ve done before. I went into the consulting room where there were two doctors training on the main doctor. I was not introduced to any of them, so I have no idea what any of them are called. The main doctor asked me several questions about whether or not I felt my blood pressure was normal or my sleep was normal or my appetite was normal. This was fine though I am not really sure what normal is. I was then asked to stick out my tongue. All three responded in a way that was similar to that of the palm reader—I am guessing my tongue does not look good. It was never explained—at least not in English. I left with about half the forest in a bag that I have to concoct into tea to be drunk three times a day for three days. The prescription is all in Chinese characters, but I do have a book that revealed what a few of the 14 different ingredients were. Of these, a few will be familiar plants to European/American readers, and they include: Lovage root, which is good for qi movement and Kudzu root, which is good for all sorts of things. I am not sure if this is the same Kudzu that is eating the American South, but it might be worth investigating! I’ve had the first day of the treatment, and feel pretty much the same so far. It was really awful tasting, but something that tastes that bad must do something for you. I have to go back to the doctor on Monday, so I wonder what that will bring!
Next week I start teaching at HKU, where I am a visiting Associate Professor. Hopefully that will go ok. I am looking forward to it and everyone has been very friendly and welcoming. I have managed to get settled in and find my way there with only limited difficulty (going through Central is not the best way from here).
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
Life in a Northern Town
It is a lovely day here in Sheffield. The temperature is in the low 20's with a few high clouds. As warm and pleasant as it gets. The students are all getting settled in and Sheffield has a real buzz about it. I enjoy the quiet of the summer, but this early term period, before everyone is ill and grumpy and down from the rain, is lovely. Actually, I am probably enjoying the autumn start of term more than usual this year because I am not responsible for anything in intro week for the first time in quite a number of years. This is despite the fact that I have a lot of new teaching in the first three weeks. It is nice not being in charge of things. I'll have to remember this.
One thing I was doing in anticipation for the start of term was go through some of the accumulated junk in my office (Yes, we are touching on the ridding theme again! A lot accumulates over the course of 10 years). I found a glasses case and when I opened it I found a pair of sunglasses that must have belonged to Simon when he was about 3 or 4 years old. It made me a bit sad. I can't throw them away, but it seems silly to move them to Hong Kong at Christmas. I may have to add some things to the storage stockpile that we have from the house. I definitely, however, will be getting rid of the accumulated piles of journals that I have collected over the past 20 years or so. (If anyone is interested in old copies of Economic Geography, Area, Regional Studies, The Annals of the AAG, Transactions or The Professional Geographer please let me know).
Another activity I have been involved with is getting things here in Sheffield organised so that I can work productively over the next 4 months. I have very particular needs around the aesthetics of work spaces and if they are not right--lighting levels, warmth, feelings of coziness, tidiness, noise, and usually view--I find it really hard to work. This may sound like procrastination, but experience has shown that a good working environment is key for my ability to think and produce what I hope is insightful writing. A few books need to find homes but I am confident the flat is nearly there and once I finish tidying the office it will be more or less ready as well. I have a good view from my office window of the tennis courts, but the view from the flat is of a car park, so it is imperative that I make that comfortable. I am also determined not to live like a student too much, and though there is a lot of Ikea in the flat I have also tried to hang pictures on the walls that are not posters but actual photographs or pieces of artwork.
While I am busy organising and starting the term here in Sheffield, my family has managed to unpack the remaining boxes that were left from when the movers arrived on the day I left Hong Kong. Adrian tells me I did not leave enough in storage, but unlike him, I gain comfort from having my things around me. My place comfort arises from the familiarity of my things, even if the setting is new. I feel grounded if I can see and touch my things. He gains comfort not from the things in the house, but from the familiarity of the place. While I nest, he return migrates--kind of like the swallows or the salmon do--always returning to the place where he grew up. At the moment we are both feeling far away from home--he because Hong Kong is not Kent, and me because my family and my things are in my new nest far away.
It is the Mid-Autumn festival in Hong Kong at the end of this week. This is a bit like a harvest festival. It is quite an important event lasting three days over the full mood--in the 8th month of the lunar calendar. The festival is has a very long history. One aspect of the festival is to observe the full moon, as the festival is linked to the worship of the moon goddess Chang E (alternative sources list her name as Chang O), the moon goddess of immortality. Unfortunately, this year, there has been a typhoon 3 warning with lots of rain associated with Typhoon Fanapi, which is not expected to clear until the day after the the moon is at its fullest. I don't believe there will be a lot of glimpses of the moon this year, but as there are also parties and everywhere there are lanterns it should be quite festive anyway. Hopefully the dragon will still wind its way through Tai Hang near Causeway bay. Our compound where we live is even having a party. A key food at the mid autumn festival are moon cakes. These are traditionally pastry filled with lotus seed paste and a salted egg yoke (to signify the moon), though there are many other varieties including ice cream. I really like moon cakes, but they are one of those foods that one either loves or hates as the combination of the flavours and textures are unusual (salty egg, sweet, stickiness of the lotus seed paste, chewiness of the pastry). People buy moon cakes and give them to friends as gifts. I gave a box to the people who watch the gates at the flat in Hong Kong before I left, and Adrian has given some to the people with whom he works. I have also brought several back to England with me. If I can't be with them on the festival day, at least I can eat what they are eating.
One thing I was doing in anticipation for the start of term was go through some of the accumulated junk in my office (Yes, we are touching on the ridding theme again! A lot accumulates over the course of 10 years). I found a glasses case and when I opened it I found a pair of sunglasses that must have belonged to Simon when he was about 3 or 4 years old. It made me a bit sad. I can't throw them away, but it seems silly to move them to Hong Kong at Christmas. I may have to add some things to the storage stockpile that we have from the house. I definitely, however, will be getting rid of the accumulated piles of journals that I have collected over the past 20 years or so. (If anyone is interested in old copies of Economic Geography, Area, Regional Studies, The Annals of the AAG, Transactions or The Professional Geographer please let me know).
Another activity I have been involved with is getting things here in Sheffield organised so that I can work productively over the next 4 months. I have very particular needs around the aesthetics of work spaces and if they are not right--lighting levels, warmth, feelings of coziness, tidiness, noise, and usually view--I find it really hard to work. This may sound like procrastination, but experience has shown that a good working environment is key for my ability to think and produce what I hope is insightful writing. A few books need to find homes but I am confident the flat is nearly there and once I finish tidying the office it will be more or less ready as well. I have a good view from my office window of the tennis courts, but the view from the flat is of a car park, so it is imperative that I make that comfortable. I am also determined not to live like a student too much, and though there is a lot of Ikea in the flat I have also tried to hang pictures on the walls that are not posters but actual photographs or pieces of artwork.
While I am busy organising and starting the term here in Sheffield, my family has managed to unpack the remaining boxes that were left from when the movers arrived on the day I left Hong Kong. Adrian tells me I did not leave enough in storage, but unlike him, I gain comfort from having my things around me. My place comfort arises from the familiarity of my things, even if the setting is new. I feel grounded if I can see and touch my things. He gains comfort not from the things in the house, but from the familiarity of the place. While I nest, he return migrates--kind of like the swallows or the salmon do--always returning to the place where he grew up. At the moment we are both feeling far away from home--he because Hong Kong is not Kent, and me because my family and my things are in my new nest far away.
It is the Mid-Autumn festival in Hong Kong at the end of this week. This is a bit like a harvest festival. It is quite an important event lasting three days over the full mood--in the 8th month of the lunar calendar. The festival is has a very long history. One aspect of the festival is to observe the full moon, as the festival is linked to the worship of the moon goddess Chang E (alternative sources list her name as Chang O), the moon goddess of immortality. Unfortunately, this year, there has been a typhoon 3 warning with lots of rain associated with Typhoon Fanapi, which is not expected to clear until the day after the the moon is at its fullest. I don't believe there will be a lot of glimpses of the moon this year, but as there are also parties and everywhere there are lanterns it should be quite festive anyway. Hopefully the dragon will still wind its way through Tai Hang near Causeway bay. Our compound where we live is even having a party. A key food at the mid autumn festival are moon cakes. These are traditionally pastry filled with lotus seed paste and a salted egg yoke (to signify the moon), though there are many other varieties including ice cream. I really like moon cakes, but they are one of those foods that one either loves or hates as the combination of the flavours and textures are unusual (salty egg, sweet, stickiness of the lotus seed paste, chewiness of the pastry). People buy moon cakes and give them to friends as gifts. I gave a box to the people who watch the gates at the flat in Hong Kong before I left, and Adrian has given some to the people with whom he works. I have also brought several back to England with me. If I can't be with them on the festival day, at least I can eat what they are eating.
Thursday, 16 September 2010
Jetlag, socks...and did I mention it is cold?
I am back in the UK. Sheffield to be more precise. Sitting in my office. I've been up since midnight (it is now midday). I have jetlag. It was just two days ago, or Tuesday whenever that was, that I was welcoming the very efficient Hong Kong members of Crown Relocation into our flat to deliver our things from Ilkley. By the end of the day, most of our stuff was unpacked--at least in a way that is livable--and I was heading off on a plane to England via Bangkok, Dubai, and Manchester (It was a VERY long flight).
I have two things to say about the transportation systems that I engaged with. Firstly, Air travel is not what it used to be. I flew with Emirates, which was fine, though the longer portion of the trip involved a plane set up for shorter passengers. I got to the airport, passport etc. in hand only to be asked for the credit card with which I purchased the ticket. I bought this ticket quite some time ago and of course the correct credit card is sitting safely in Sheffield, far, far away. I had to purchase a new ticket for about £100 more than the original, and I have been told that I can get a refund for the original. I think the £100 is a penalty for being stupid or disorganised or whatever. No doubt I will be writing about the saga of getting the refund at some point--I am still waiting full satisfaction from the Ash Cloud incident with KLM and once had to take Expedia to small claims court, so I am sure that element will not be uneventful.
While this aspect of the travel was new for me and caused quite a bit of initial anxiety, there were other things that let the experience down a bit. Firstly, when I booked the flight I had not realised that the first leg stopped in Bangkok, rather than flying straight from Hong Kong to Dubai as the outward journey had done. This stopover involved sitting on the plane while those stopping their journey got off, the cleaning crew cleaning around the remaining onward passengers, having to remove cabin luggage so that the flight staff could ensure that every piece of carry on baggage belonged to someone, and then waiting while the Bangkok to Dubai passengers boarded. I guess, given that by this time it was about 1 am Hong Kong time, I should be grateful that we were made to remain on the plane and could watch the movies, instead of being required to disembark and re board. We did get all loaded on the flight, and then were delayed because one passengers luggage had to be removed because they did not show up at the gate. The flight from Dubai Airport, which does not appear to shut down at night like North American airports--you can buy anything you want at 4am--was similarly delayed though this time by a person who was drunk and had to be escorted from the plane and the luggage off loaded. I guess what is so disappointing was the change in attitude that passengers have of air travel. It has become so ordinary. When I was a child and flew to California to visit my grandparents and father in the summer holiday I used to get dressed up in my best clothes. Air travel was something you did in a formal way as it was special and to be taken quite seriously. Now people, probably sensibly, wear sweatpants--EVEN IN FIRST CLASS--because they are comfortable. I guess if you are spending that much on a first class ticket, you can wear whatever you want, but the pageantry and specialness becomes tainted a little. It is all a little more ordinary.
Secondly, the first major thing I noticed when I got back to the UK was that the North of England is worlds away from Hong Kong with its public transportation. I had to take a train from Manchester Airport to Sheffield. This is all fine and there are such trains. However this particular station has no signs that indicate destinations. Just information about the trains. As a traveller you must be aware that the train to Cleathorps is the one you want to catch if you want to go to Sheffield. As I was trying to work this out, I kept thinking how difficult it will be for all the Chinese students who were on my flight to find the relevant trains to take them to their new universities. Nightmare. To top it off, they changed the platform and provided no announcement about this. You just had to know to look at the signs. It was probably a good thing that there was a 40 minute wait for the train as the time was needed to sort out where to go and to unpack jumpers from the suitcase (did I mention that it is quite cold and rainy here just now?). In Hong Kong, the same distance would have cost a fraction of the £18 that I paid for my one way ticket and there would have been trains every one to three minutes. Arriving in Sheffield I then had to wait a further 10 minutes for the tram to take me to the flat. It is no wonder the English are so good a queuing. There is plenty of time to practice and the stakes are high if you miss what you are queuing for. No need to que in Hong Kong as another train or whatever will arrive at any minute.
What is nice about the return is the fact that the leaves are beginning to turn and they are pretty. It is a bit cold here (did I mention that?) and so there is a feeling of autumn. I have had to put on socks for the first time since early August today. One of my workmates said thy put the fire (heater) on last night for the first time. People are wearing coats. There is something quite business-like about having to wear socks and put the heater on. It marks a transition from holiday to work time. Of course I can imagine other ways of marking that transition as well, but this is what I have to work with at the moment, and as I have much work to do I must pull up my socks and get on with it until I can go back to the warmth of Hong Kong, see my family and leave my socks at the door.
I have two things to say about the transportation systems that I engaged with. Firstly, Air travel is not what it used to be. I flew with Emirates, which was fine, though the longer portion of the trip involved a plane set up for shorter passengers. I got to the airport, passport etc. in hand only to be asked for the credit card with which I purchased the ticket. I bought this ticket quite some time ago and of course the correct credit card is sitting safely in Sheffield, far, far away. I had to purchase a new ticket for about £100 more than the original, and I have been told that I can get a refund for the original. I think the £100 is a penalty for being stupid or disorganised or whatever. No doubt I will be writing about the saga of getting the refund at some point--I am still waiting full satisfaction from the Ash Cloud incident with KLM and once had to take Expedia to small claims court, so I am sure that element will not be uneventful.
While this aspect of the travel was new for me and caused quite a bit of initial anxiety, there were other things that let the experience down a bit. Firstly, when I booked the flight I had not realised that the first leg stopped in Bangkok, rather than flying straight from Hong Kong to Dubai as the outward journey had done. This stopover involved sitting on the plane while those stopping their journey got off, the cleaning crew cleaning around the remaining onward passengers, having to remove cabin luggage so that the flight staff could ensure that every piece of carry on baggage belonged to someone, and then waiting while the Bangkok to Dubai passengers boarded. I guess, given that by this time it was about 1 am Hong Kong time, I should be grateful that we were made to remain on the plane and could watch the movies, instead of being required to disembark and re board. We did get all loaded on the flight, and then were delayed because one passengers luggage had to be removed because they did not show up at the gate. The flight from Dubai Airport, which does not appear to shut down at night like North American airports--you can buy anything you want at 4am--was similarly delayed though this time by a person who was drunk and had to be escorted from the plane and the luggage off loaded. I guess what is so disappointing was the change in attitude that passengers have of air travel. It has become so ordinary. When I was a child and flew to California to visit my grandparents and father in the summer holiday I used to get dressed up in my best clothes. Air travel was something you did in a formal way as it was special and to be taken quite seriously. Now people, probably sensibly, wear sweatpants--EVEN IN FIRST CLASS--because they are comfortable. I guess if you are spending that much on a first class ticket, you can wear whatever you want, but the pageantry and specialness becomes tainted a little. It is all a little more ordinary.
Secondly, the first major thing I noticed when I got back to the UK was that the North of England is worlds away from Hong Kong with its public transportation. I had to take a train from Manchester Airport to Sheffield. This is all fine and there are such trains. However this particular station has no signs that indicate destinations. Just information about the trains. As a traveller you must be aware that the train to Cleathorps is the one you want to catch if you want to go to Sheffield. As I was trying to work this out, I kept thinking how difficult it will be for all the Chinese students who were on my flight to find the relevant trains to take them to their new universities. Nightmare. To top it off, they changed the platform and provided no announcement about this. You just had to know to look at the signs. It was probably a good thing that there was a 40 minute wait for the train as the time was needed to sort out where to go and to unpack jumpers from the suitcase (did I mention that it is quite cold and rainy here just now?). In Hong Kong, the same distance would have cost a fraction of the £18 that I paid for my one way ticket and there would have been trains every one to three minutes. Arriving in Sheffield I then had to wait a further 10 minutes for the tram to take me to the flat. It is no wonder the English are so good a queuing. There is plenty of time to practice and the stakes are high if you miss what you are queuing for. No need to que in Hong Kong as another train or whatever will arrive at any minute.
What is nice about the return is the fact that the leaves are beginning to turn and they are pretty. It is a bit cold here (did I mention that?) and so there is a feeling of autumn. I have had to put on socks for the first time since early August today. One of my workmates said thy put the fire (heater) on last night for the first time. People are wearing coats. There is something quite business-like about having to wear socks and put the heater on. It marks a transition from holiday to work time. Of course I can imagine other ways of marking that transition as well, but this is what I have to work with at the moment, and as I have much work to do I must pull up my socks and get on with it until I can go back to the warmth of Hong Kong, see my family and leave my socks at the door.
Sunday, 5 September 2010
Home and Work
I realise it has been a while since I've posted anything. This is not because we have been sitting on our hands at home doing nothing worthy of writing about, it is just that I have been having difficulty thinking how I would organise this post. I've decided on a geographical organisation (rather than chronological or topical), though like most things geographical there are certainly instances where spaces fold on themselves, making linkages between non-spatially proximate places...
Starting farther away, we were recently visited by some friends from Ilkley who had been travelling in Australia and were on their way home. Simon and I were quite pleased to spend a Saturday afternoon with the Pattersons who had flown in early in the morning. I think the heat might have been a bit of a shock, as was the speed at which storms move through Hong Kong. As it is currently winter in Australia, the 34 degrees (C) and high humidity was a bit different than what they were used to. They were staying in the centre of Mong Kok in Kowloon and so we got the 7 bus from across the street (after an unusual bit of a wait) and rode it down to the ferry terminal at TST. Rather than jump on the ferry we went into Star House and had lunch at a Viet Nameese restaurant called Rice Paper, which has pretty good food. This proved to be a good decision because a cracking storm came through, complete with lightning, while we were eating. The storm soon passed, the weather cleared, the sun came out and by the time we had finished eating and looked around the mall a bit, we were able to get the star ferry over to central. We then took the train to Admiralty and walked through Hong Kong Park to the Peak Tram and went up to the top for a reasonable view. It was still a bit of a hazy day, but one could still see the sights. We then went back down and said goodbye in the late afternoon at the Mong Kok station. I am pretty sure they made it back to their hotel as I did receive a text. They were off to UK the next day, but it was great to see them. I hope they liked Hong Kong.
The Sunday saw a return visit for Adrian and I to Mong Kok. Mong Kok is in the centre of Kowloon and is where all the markets are. Our purpose was to go and find some cooking supplies. We were out and about in the early afternoon and it was surprisingly quiet. Mong Kok gets so busy and full of people that often one cannot see anything but crowds of bodies moving against each other. Think busy disco on a Saturday night. This particular Sunday, however, it was like a quiet street in Ilkley. We could not figure it out and thought is may have been due to the T1 warning. A T1 is the warning that is hoisted when there is a Typhoon in the area that could possibly hit Hong Kong. It did not come to HK in the end and we subsequently learned that the only people who pay any attention to the T1's are nervous expats and tourists. Everyone else doesn't get excited until the warning level is at 8. We still don't know why it was so quiet, but we did find a very interesting building on Reclamation street housing a market, which looks like it has been there since before Hong Kong was a British colony. This old, labrintine building with its corrugated roofing and dilapidated walls is surrounded, of course, by high rise buildings, but by squinting one might imagine what things were like before all the high rises came. We were able to buy a cast iron wok for about £4. There are much more expensive wok's but we have been informed that the best are cast iron. These are thinner than the heavy cast iron skillets that one gets in the US. Like the skillet, the woks also need seasoning before use. Properly seasoned, cast iron is great to cook on as it is non-stick but you can use metal cooking tools. We were given instructions to use pig fat and red chilli's to season the wok. You heat the wok on the stove and put the pig fat and chilli's in and stir them around for about a half hour ensuring that the pig fat is fully melted and the air in the house if full of smoke. Then you let this sit for 24 hours. Wipe out and you can use your wok. it works wonderfully and we have made a number of excellent meals since. We also purchased a fish knife made in Japan that has just one side of the blade sharpened and is perfect for cutting fish into sashimi, a very large cleaver and cutting board. The cooking supply shops make the cleavers and the woks right on the premises and you can see the shop owners pounding away in the back. On our way home we stopped off at the market in Sui Wo Court (just below where we live) and showed the wok to the butcher who immediately gave us a piece of pork fat for our new wok. A very successful outing!
The children have been fully engaged in activities much closer to home. Both are settled into their school, which is just across the road from where we live. Both have commented on how friendly all the other children are to them. Indeed Simon has been to a birthday party of one child already and Grace was invited to a movie last weekend and for a sleepover this coming weekend. Both are also finding the volume of homework something of a surprise. The expectation is that they spend 1-2 hours a night doing their work. This is involving a change of focus for them after school. No longer can they lay around or play on the Xbox, but must get right on it if they don't want to be up until 10:30 at night finishing writing tasks as Grace was the other night. They seem to be rising to the challenge and Grace in particular has distinguished herself having had her poem chosen by the teacher to be read out. She read it to us and we were similarly quite impressed. She will be very embarrassed at these comments, but it really was quite good. Simon has been selected for the school football (soccer) team and may actually end up playing for the age group above his year. He was a bit worried about the try outs, but as he scored two goals within about two minutes it turns out he needn't have been. He also is learning Mandarin chinese at quite a pace.
We had an interesting outing to Sai Kung this weekend. Sai Kung is in the New Territories and while boasting a Starbucks and quite a few ex -pats who are "escaping" from central, it is still quite rural and chinese. There main attraction is the seafront with its boat rides and seafood restaurants. You can either purchase fresh fish directly from the boats and have the restaurant cook it for you, or you can buy from the tanks that are at many of the restaurants themselves. The guidebook we had indicated that one could get a ferry from the pier out to one of the outlying islands where there is a golf course, a temple, and some ruins. It turns out that if you want to go to the south side of the island, not the side where the golf course is, you have to get a separate ferry located at some unknown (at least to us) place. We got the ferry to the golf course and discovered, once there that all that can be done from this ferry is play golf. So that is what we (Simon, Adrian, and I) did. We actually practiced hitting balls from the practice range. Neither Adrian nor I have played golf in years and years (and even then I was pretty rubbish) and Simon had never played, but we all agreed that the practice hitting we did was pretty fun. The practice range was in the shade and we were able to get a family pass for about £20, which included 1.5 hours on the range, unlimited balls, and the rental of two 5 irons and some other smaller club for Simon, and the ferry trip. By the end we were all able to hit the ball out toward the 60 yard marker. I think this is something we may do again. It was certainly something different than what we normally do on a Sunday afternoon. Moreover the setting was absolutely stunning. I've taken some photographs, but as these are on my big camera, rather than my Iphone they will have to wait until I get back to Sheffield before I can upload them.
This week is a busy one for us as we have several social obligations and we are hoping to go to Macau at the weekend. The boat with our things should also arrive in Hong Kong on Friday, and if we are lucky should be at the flat on Monday or Tuesday--just in time before I leave to go back to the UK on the Tuesday night.
Starting farther away, we were recently visited by some friends from Ilkley who had been travelling in Australia and were on their way home. Simon and I were quite pleased to spend a Saturday afternoon with the Pattersons who had flown in early in the morning. I think the heat might have been a bit of a shock, as was the speed at which storms move through Hong Kong. As it is currently winter in Australia, the 34 degrees (C) and high humidity was a bit different than what they were used to. They were staying in the centre of Mong Kok in Kowloon and so we got the 7 bus from across the street (after an unusual bit of a wait) and rode it down to the ferry terminal at TST. Rather than jump on the ferry we went into Star House and had lunch at a Viet Nameese restaurant called Rice Paper, which has pretty good food. This proved to be a good decision because a cracking storm came through, complete with lightning, while we were eating. The storm soon passed, the weather cleared, the sun came out and by the time we had finished eating and looked around the mall a bit, we were able to get the star ferry over to central. We then took the train to Admiralty and walked through Hong Kong Park to the Peak Tram and went up to the top for a reasonable view. It was still a bit of a hazy day, but one could still see the sights. We then went back down and said goodbye in the late afternoon at the Mong Kok station. I am pretty sure they made it back to their hotel as I did receive a text. They were off to UK the next day, but it was great to see them. I hope they liked Hong Kong.
The Sunday saw a return visit for Adrian and I to Mong Kok. Mong Kok is in the centre of Kowloon and is where all the markets are. Our purpose was to go and find some cooking supplies. We were out and about in the early afternoon and it was surprisingly quiet. Mong Kok gets so busy and full of people that often one cannot see anything but crowds of bodies moving against each other. Think busy disco on a Saturday night. This particular Sunday, however, it was like a quiet street in Ilkley. We could not figure it out and thought is may have been due to the T1 warning. A T1 is the warning that is hoisted when there is a Typhoon in the area that could possibly hit Hong Kong. It did not come to HK in the end and we subsequently learned that the only people who pay any attention to the T1's are nervous expats and tourists. Everyone else doesn't get excited until the warning level is at 8. We still don't know why it was so quiet, but we did find a very interesting building on Reclamation street housing a market, which looks like it has been there since before Hong Kong was a British colony. This old, labrintine building with its corrugated roofing and dilapidated walls is surrounded, of course, by high rise buildings, but by squinting one might imagine what things were like before all the high rises came. We were able to buy a cast iron wok for about £4. There are much more expensive wok's but we have been informed that the best are cast iron. These are thinner than the heavy cast iron skillets that one gets in the US. Like the skillet, the woks also need seasoning before use. Properly seasoned, cast iron is great to cook on as it is non-stick but you can use metal cooking tools. We were given instructions to use pig fat and red chilli's to season the wok. You heat the wok on the stove and put the pig fat and chilli's in and stir them around for about a half hour ensuring that the pig fat is fully melted and the air in the house if full of smoke. Then you let this sit for 24 hours. Wipe out and you can use your wok. it works wonderfully and we have made a number of excellent meals since. We also purchased a fish knife made in Japan that has just one side of the blade sharpened and is perfect for cutting fish into sashimi, a very large cleaver and cutting board. The cooking supply shops make the cleavers and the woks right on the premises and you can see the shop owners pounding away in the back. On our way home we stopped off at the market in Sui Wo Court (just below where we live) and showed the wok to the butcher who immediately gave us a piece of pork fat for our new wok. A very successful outing!
The children have been fully engaged in activities much closer to home. Both are settled into their school, which is just across the road from where we live. Both have commented on how friendly all the other children are to them. Indeed Simon has been to a birthday party of one child already and Grace was invited to a movie last weekend and for a sleepover this coming weekend. Both are also finding the volume of homework something of a surprise. The expectation is that they spend 1-2 hours a night doing their work. This is involving a change of focus for them after school. No longer can they lay around or play on the Xbox, but must get right on it if they don't want to be up until 10:30 at night finishing writing tasks as Grace was the other night. They seem to be rising to the challenge and Grace in particular has distinguished herself having had her poem chosen by the teacher to be read out. She read it to us and we were similarly quite impressed. She will be very embarrassed at these comments, but it really was quite good. Simon has been selected for the school football (soccer) team and may actually end up playing for the age group above his year. He was a bit worried about the try outs, but as he scored two goals within about two minutes it turns out he needn't have been. He also is learning Mandarin chinese at quite a pace.
We had an interesting outing to Sai Kung this weekend. Sai Kung is in the New Territories and while boasting a Starbucks and quite a few ex -pats who are "escaping" from central, it is still quite rural and chinese. There main attraction is the seafront with its boat rides and seafood restaurants. You can either purchase fresh fish directly from the boats and have the restaurant cook it for you, or you can buy from the tanks that are at many of the restaurants themselves. The guidebook we had indicated that one could get a ferry from the pier out to one of the outlying islands where there is a golf course, a temple, and some ruins. It turns out that if you want to go to the south side of the island, not the side where the golf course is, you have to get a separate ferry located at some unknown (at least to us) place. We got the ferry to the golf course and discovered, once there that all that can be done from this ferry is play golf. So that is what we (Simon, Adrian, and I) did. We actually practiced hitting balls from the practice range. Neither Adrian nor I have played golf in years and years (and even then I was pretty rubbish) and Simon had never played, but we all agreed that the practice hitting we did was pretty fun. The practice range was in the shade and we were able to get a family pass for about £20, which included 1.5 hours on the range, unlimited balls, and the rental of two 5 irons and some other smaller club for Simon, and the ferry trip. By the end we were all able to hit the ball out toward the 60 yard marker. I think this is something we may do again. It was certainly something different than what we normally do on a Sunday afternoon. Moreover the setting was absolutely stunning. I've taken some photographs, but as these are on my big camera, rather than my Iphone they will have to wait until I get back to Sheffield before I can upload them.
This week is a busy one for us as we have several social obligations and we are hoping to go to Macau at the weekend. The boat with our things should also arrive in Hong Kong on Friday, and if we are lucky should be at the flat on Monday or Tuesday--just in time before I leave to go back to the UK on the Tuesday night.
Monday, 23 August 2010
Lost in the mall beyond ordinary life
I got lost in the Harbour City Mall yesterday. Actually I got lost twice. The first time was on the way to the mall when I got confused about which train stop to exit. I first left the train at Yau Ma Tei when I should have gone on to Tsim Sha Tsui. Those who have been to Hong Kong will know that confusing the two is a fairly glaring mistake--one you notice immediately once you've made it. Yau Ma Tei is at the top of Nathan Road and is where all the small stores and markets are. Indeed, there is a Jade market just off one of the subway exits. It is also the area where regular Hong Kong people shop--the operative word here is regular as in those who do not tend to spend a month's or even a year's wages on a pair of shoes. There are enormous differences between those at the top of the pay scale and those at the bottom here in Hong Kong and while the average wage is about HK$224,000 ($28810 (US) or £18,500) there are those in employmnet who only make $HK5000.
At the other end of Nathan Road and at the tip of Kowloon is Tsim Sha Tsui. This is where the designer shops are located as well as The Penn, the White Star Ferry to Central, and where the cruise ships dock. The Penn, or the Peninsula Hotel, was built in the 1920's and still exudes that old style British elegance that one might expect from a hotel that was the final stop of the Orient Express. It is in the same league as the Taj, the Ritz, or the Savoy. Ordinary mortals can have high tea in the lobby at the Penn, but be warned that they do not take reservations and while tea is served from 2-7 seating is first come first served--meaning that the que at 4pm is quite long. Along the waterfront, on what is infill (the Penn used to be on the waterfront but is no longer) and to the right of the Penn a couple of blocks is the new Harbour City Mall. This is where I got lost the second time.
According to the information produced by Harbour City, this mall is "the largest shopping mall in Hong Kong with an area of 2 million square feet." The mall itself has over 700 shops, plus there are several office towers reaching at least 50 stories and a hotel. The mall is actually 5 buildings comprising of the Gateway Arcade, Ocean Centre, Ocean Terminal, Marco Polo Hotel Arcade, and Star City. You will not find the equivalent of a Pound shop or Dollar General Store in this mall. Instead there is Gucci, Prada, Armani, Louis Vitton, Chanel, Ferrigamo (that is for you mom), Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choo...I will stop here as the list of designer names goes on and on--remember there are 700 shops. Firstly these stores are also not small. The Vitton store covers three levels. Secondly, these are also not just the high street versions of these designer brands. While you can, for example get the Anglomania brand of clothes by Vivienne Westwood, you can also buy Red. Perhaps more illustrative of the designer availability is that while I was having a coffee I looked through a Vogue. In Vogue there are always lots of adverts for about a million different designer labels with young, attractive and extremely skinny models in impossible positions wearing the most fantastic clothes--clothes you see on the catwalks but that never seem to make it into the shops that purport to sell these designer items, at least that is my experience. I now understand where they all are; they are all here in Hong Kong at this mall. If you see something in Vogue, have enough money, and want to buy it, you now can. All you need do is go to the Harbour City shop of that design house. Even in New York and London I have not seen this sort of display (no I did not buy anything). So while Yau Ma Tei and Tsim Sha Tsui are only three subway stops from each other, they are worlds apart.
While some of you won't question my presence in this mall at all, others may be wondering why I was in such a place in the first instance. I was there because for our 15th anniversary Adrian purchased a spa afternoon for me. I got lost trying to find the Oasis spa, which turned out to be on the 10th floor of one of the office towers at the Gateway Arcade part of the mall. Because the spa was not in the main shopping mall it was not listed on the map. Because the office towers are not officially part of the consumption experience either, they are similarly not shown on the map, so I got lost trying to find tower 2. I found the elevator eventually next to the HSBC and just up from the Emporio Armani.
The spa itself was lovely. Not like European Spas that, to my mind resemble a doctors office more that a place to relax. This spa was all sliding doors, waterfalls, soft music, dim light, neutral colours, subtle tropical smells. Adrian had purchased for me a triple treat that included a whole list of things from which I could choose. I opted for the rose body wrap, the Hot Strap slimming treatment, and the Parafin Hand treatment. The Rose body wrap was first and it was wonderful. I was led into a room and laid down on a bed. The lights were low and I was covered up in towels. Soft Zen music played in the background. The lovely women who administered the body wrap spoke not a word of English. She was wonderful. Getting the body wrap involved having first some type of scrub rubbed all over my body--this is all done very discretely and is not embarrassing as I was covered the whole time by towels that are strategically folded back to reveal the portion that is being worked on at a particular moment. A sort of oil follows the scrub and then a kind of mud stuff follows that. It is both warm and cool at the same time. Then once covered in all these layers of stuff and strewn with rose petals, I was wrapped first in a kind of plastic wrap, then towels, then a sort of heavy blanket to steep for about 20 minutes. This sounds not particularly nice, but it was great and very relaxing. The lights are turned down low and it is calm. I think I must have fallen asleep because I woke with a start and scared both myself and the technician when I lurched awake. Once I was done stewing I was unwrapped, covered in towels and a robe and led to the shower which had both a normal shower head and a rain head. It was really wonderful. I shall leave the description of the slimming body strap to your imagination, but I will say it was also not embarrassing and quite nice, though I am not convinced I am any slimmer as a result. The whole event took about 2-2.5 hours. I felt pampered and it was something I would certainly do again. This particular spa offers other treats as well such as the Red Wine Rosey Fantasy and the Chocolate Cream and Ginseng Powder Body Wrap, as well as Stone Massages and Facials. The best thing is that they have offers so one does not have to take out a bank loan to participate, and even at normal price, the cost is comparative to what one might spend on a nice spa treatment in Seattle or in England. One need only put aside the guilt of participating in class privilege.
At the other end of Nathan Road and at the tip of Kowloon is Tsim Sha Tsui. This is where the designer shops are located as well as The Penn, the White Star Ferry to Central, and where the cruise ships dock. The Penn, or the Peninsula Hotel, was built in the 1920's and still exudes that old style British elegance that one might expect from a hotel that was the final stop of the Orient Express. It is in the same league as the Taj, the Ritz, or the Savoy. Ordinary mortals can have high tea in the lobby at the Penn, but be warned that they do not take reservations and while tea is served from 2-7 seating is first come first served--meaning that the que at 4pm is quite long. Along the waterfront, on what is infill (the Penn used to be on the waterfront but is no longer) and to the right of the Penn a couple of blocks is the new Harbour City Mall. This is where I got lost the second time.
According to the information produced by Harbour City, this mall is "the largest shopping mall in Hong Kong with an area of 2 million square feet." The mall itself has over 700 shops, plus there are several office towers reaching at least 50 stories and a hotel. The mall is actually 5 buildings comprising of the Gateway Arcade, Ocean Centre, Ocean Terminal, Marco Polo Hotel Arcade, and Star City. You will not find the equivalent of a Pound shop or Dollar General Store in this mall. Instead there is Gucci, Prada, Armani, Louis Vitton, Chanel, Ferrigamo (that is for you mom), Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choo...I will stop here as the list of designer names goes on and on--remember there are 700 shops. Firstly these stores are also not small. The Vitton store covers three levels. Secondly, these are also not just the high street versions of these designer brands. While you can, for example get the Anglomania brand of clothes by Vivienne Westwood, you can also buy Red. Perhaps more illustrative of the designer availability is that while I was having a coffee I looked through a Vogue. In Vogue there are always lots of adverts for about a million different designer labels with young, attractive and extremely skinny models in impossible positions wearing the most fantastic clothes--clothes you see on the catwalks but that never seem to make it into the shops that purport to sell these designer items, at least that is my experience. I now understand where they all are; they are all here in Hong Kong at this mall. If you see something in Vogue, have enough money, and want to buy it, you now can. All you need do is go to the Harbour City shop of that design house. Even in New York and London I have not seen this sort of display (no I did not buy anything). So while Yau Ma Tei and Tsim Sha Tsui are only three subway stops from each other, they are worlds apart.
While some of you won't question my presence in this mall at all, others may be wondering why I was in such a place in the first instance. I was there because for our 15th anniversary Adrian purchased a spa afternoon for me. I got lost trying to find the Oasis spa, which turned out to be on the 10th floor of one of the office towers at the Gateway Arcade part of the mall. Because the spa was not in the main shopping mall it was not listed on the map. Because the office towers are not officially part of the consumption experience either, they are similarly not shown on the map, so I got lost trying to find tower 2. I found the elevator eventually next to the HSBC and just up from the Emporio Armani.
The spa itself was lovely. Not like European Spas that, to my mind resemble a doctors office more that a place to relax. This spa was all sliding doors, waterfalls, soft music, dim light, neutral colours, subtle tropical smells. Adrian had purchased for me a triple treat that included a whole list of things from which I could choose. I opted for the rose body wrap, the Hot Strap slimming treatment, and the Parafin Hand treatment. The Rose body wrap was first and it was wonderful. I was led into a room and laid down on a bed. The lights were low and I was covered up in towels. Soft Zen music played in the background. The lovely women who administered the body wrap spoke not a word of English. She was wonderful. Getting the body wrap involved having first some type of scrub rubbed all over my body--this is all done very discretely and is not embarrassing as I was covered the whole time by towels that are strategically folded back to reveal the portion that is being worked on at a particular moment. A sort of oil follows the scrub and then a kind of mud stuff follows that. It is both warm and cool at the same time. Then once covered in all these layers of stuff and strewn with rose petals, I was wrapped first in a kind of plastic wrap, then towels, then a sort of heavy blanket to steep for about 20 minutes. This sounds not particularly nice, but it was great and very relaxing. The lights are turned down low and it is calm. I think I must have fallen asleep because I woke with a start and scared both myself and the technician when I lurched awake. Once I was done stewing I was unwrapped, covered in towels and a robe and led to the shower which had both a normal shower head and a rain head. It was really wonderful. I shall leave the description of the slimming body strap to your imagination, but I will say it was also not embarrassing and quite nice, though I am not convinced I am any slimmer as a result. The whole event took about 2-2.5 hours. I felt pampered and it was something I would certainly do again. This particular spa offers other treats as well such as the Red Wine Rosey Fantasy and the Chocolate Cream and Ginseng Powder Body Wrap, as well as Stone Massages and Facials. The best thing is that they have offers so one does not have to take out a bank loan to participate, and even at normal price, the cost is comparative to what one might spend on a nice spa treatment in Seattle or in England. One need only put aside the guilt of participating in class privilege.
Monday, 16 August 2010
It is the little suprises
It is the little things that make living in Hong Kong so great. Here are just a few:
1. Bread. The bread products are absolutely wonderful here. Not really what I expected. Today's selection is a wonderful crusty loaf that is pretty much dripping with butter, a walnut, hazelnut bun, a fruit loaf that is similar to the crusty loaf but with fruit bits in it, and something referred to as a Mexican bun (though we saw nothing like this in Mexico--it has some sort of custard in the centre).
2. Juice. I have taken to buying the Wheat Grass drink. I prefer this to the stuff with Aloe in it as well as when one drinks the Aloe version you end up with bits of Aloe pulp, which is a bit off putting. The plain wheat grass drink, however is really yummy in its vivid greenness.
3. Octopus cards. I have mentioned these before, but they are worth including in the list. You can go anywhere with them and quite often use them to buy things as well. Starbucks, for instance, has a card reader to you can pay for your drinks with the card. Simon has one with his picture on it and will use it to sign in to school.
4. Transportation system. The trains go most places, the buses make up for what the trains won't do, and there are Taxi's everywhere and they are very cheap. it is HK$18* for the first couple of Kilometres and then HK$2 for every Kilometre after that. Then there is an army of delivery people. When I purchased the plants for the flat at the market, the woman who sold them to me made a call to a man with a van who showed up in about 10 minutes, loaded up my plants and transported both them and me to the flat--all for $HK82. We can then add in all the public escalators, elevators, trolleys, cable cars, and ferries. And what is more, they are really frequent. I have yet to wait more than 5 minutes for anything.
5. Variety. It seems that whatever you want you can get here, and if it is not readily available it can be made for you.
6. Friendliness. We have found most people to be both friendly and helpful. It is really wonderful. People explain things to you to make sure you understand but in a way that is not patronising. I really appreciate this. M-Goy and Jo Sun are key phrases (M-Goy is thank you/please and Jo Sun is good morning--I've not learned good afternoon yet). At times this helpfulness can be a bit overwhelming--for instance in shops where shop assistants follow you around suggesting things that would be more suitable for you than what you have selected or if you have not selected anything. But overall, and in most other situations the friendliness is really nice. Some of the younger people want to try out their English with you, which can lead to some strange conversations at times. We find that the people at the front gate to where we live are particularly friendly and each of us has our favourite. Mine is the woman who opens the car barrier for me so I don't have to walk around. I was quite sad to learn from one of our friends here that a number of the residents just ignore the gate people. Don't really understand that behaviour.
7. Weather. I think the weather is wonderful here and we are supposed to be in the season that has the worst weather. It is hot, but what we find is that there is one day a week or so when it rains all day. Most days start warm and sunny and then mid morning a storm will go through and then the sun will return in the afternoon. I might sing a much different tune when I live through my first real storm, but so far nothing to drastic yet. Simon is getting quite tan from all his swimming. I love being able to wear all my summer clothes that I have not had opportunity to wear since I think I lived in New Orleans--I only wish I looked as good in them now as I did when I lived in New Orleans...
8. Opening hours. We still do not have a TV--though Simon has one for his XBox (complete with XBox live). Instead we can choose to go out in the evening and do things because everything is open quite late. In fact, while the Starbucks opens at 7 in the morning, most things do not open until 10 or 11 but they stay open until 10:30 or so at night. This means that we can meet somewhere for dinner and then do errands after--including visiting the dentist or doctor, getting one's hair done, going to the bank, etc. etc. And this is 7 days a week more or less. There is none of that mad dash to get everything done during what would be called "working hours" in the UK. Mind you these are "working hours" for some other poor person who has to stay up late serving in a shop or looking at people's teeth.
9. Scenery. It is beautiful here. Every day when I go to bed and when I get up and look out the window I am reminded of how lovely it is. We are, of course, lucky that we live where we do and can see nature as well as city. I think that might be different in some of the High rises in Hong Kong and on Kowloon. Particularly on Hong Kong Island where there are so many very tall buildings that one could find oneself looking at the wall of the next building over and never seeing the sun. But, no matter where one lives, there are opportunities for finding nice views very easily. There are so many parks and beaches that one can visit.
10. English. While a lot of people do not speak English, many do and all the signs, labels, etc are in English so it is fairly easy to work out what it is that you are getting and how to work it. There are also English films at the cinema and several English bookstores. There is one bookstore called PageOne in the Festival Walk mall that has probably the largest selection of cook books I have seen in one place as well as a huge selection of architecture and design books, as well as the usual popular books. The bookstore in our mall appears to have academic press and education books, so I will have to check that out soon.
This is just a short list, there is much more that I could add...
* Broadly the exchange rate is 1£=HK$12 or US$1= HK$7.
1. Bread. The bread products are absolutely wonderful here. Not really what I expected. Today's selection is a wonderful crusty loaf that is pretty much dripping with butter, a walnut, hazelnut bun, a fruit loaf that is similar to the crusty loaf but with fruit bits in it, and something referred to as a Mexican bun (though we saw nothing like this in Mexico--it has some sort of custard in the centre).
2. Juice. I have taken to buying the Wheat Grass drink. I prefer this to the stuff with Aloe in it as well as when one drinks the Aloe version you end up with bits of Aloe pulp, which is a bit off putting. The plain wheat grass drink, however is really yummy in its vivid greenness.
3. Octopus cards. I have mentioned these before, but they are worth including in the list. You can go anywhere with them and quite often use them to buy things as well. Starbucks, for instance, has a card reader to you can pay for your drinks with the card. Simon has one with his picture on it and will use it to sign in to school.
4. Transportation system. The trains go most places, the buses make up for what the trains won't do, and there are Taxi's everywhere and they are very cheap. it is HK$18* for the first couple of Kilometres and then HK$2 for every Kilometre after that. Then there is an army of delivery people. When I purchased the plants for the flat at the market, the woman who sold them to me made a call to a man with a van who showed up in about 10 minutes, loaded up my plants and transported both them and me to the flat--all for $HK82. We can then add in all the public escalators, elevators, trolleys, cable cars, and ferries. And what is more, they are really frequent. I have yet to wait more than 5 minutes for anything.
5. Variety. It seems that whatever you want you can get here, and if it is not readily available it can be made for you.
6. Friendliness. We have found most people to be both friendly and helpful. It is really wonderful. People explain things to you to make sure you understand but in a way that is not patronising. I really appreciate this. M-Goy and Jo Sun are key phrases (M-Goy is thank you/please and Jo Sun is good morning--I've not learned good afternoon yet). At times this helpfulness can be a bit overwhelming--for instance in shops where shop assistants follow you around suggesting things that would be more suitable for you than what you have selected or if you have not selected anything. But overall, and in most other situations the friendliness is really nice. Some of the younger people want to try out their English with you, which can lead to some strange conversations at times. We find that the people at the front gate to where we live are particularly friendly and each of us has our favourite. Mine is the woman who opens the car barrier for me so I don't have to walk around. I was quite sad to learn from one of our friends here that a number of the residents just ignore the gate people. Don't really understand that behaviour.
7. Weather. I think the weather is wonderful here and we are supposed to be in the season that has the worst weather. It is hot, but what we find is that there is one day a week or so when it rains all day. Most days start warm and sunny and then mid morning a storm will go through and then the sun will return in the afternoon. I might sing a much different tune when I live through my first real storm, but so far nothing to drastic yet. Simon is getting quite tan from all his swimming. I love being able to wear all my summer clothes that I have not had opportunity to wear since I think I lived in New Orleans--I only wish I looked as good in them now as I did when I lived in New Orleans...
8. Opening hours. We still do not have a TV--though Simon has one for his XBox (complete with XBox live). Instead we can choose to go out in the evening and do things because everything is open quite late. In fact, while the Starbucks opens at 7 in the morning, most things do not open until 10 or 11 but they stay open until 10:30 or so at night. This means that we can meet somewhere for dinner and then do errands after--including visiting the dentist or doctor, getting one's hair done, going to the bank, etc. etc. And this is 7 days a week more or less. There is none of that mad dash to get everything done during what would be called "working hours" in the UK. Mind you these are "working hours" for some other poor person who has to stay up late serving in a shop or looking at people's teeth.
9. Scenery. It is beautiful here. Every day when I go to bed and when I get up and look out the window I am reminded of how lovely it is. We are, of course, lucky that we live where we do and can see nature as well as city. I think that might be different in some of the High rises in Hong Kong and on Kowloon. Particularly on Hong Kong Island where there are so many very tall buildings that one could find oneself looking at the wall of the next building over and never seeing the sun. But, no matter where one lives, there are opportunities for finding nice views very easily. There are so many parks and beaches that one can visit.
10. English. While a lot of people do not speak English, many do and all the signs, labels, etc are in English so it is fairly easy to work out what it is that you are getting and how to work it. There are also English films at the cinema and several English bookstores. There is one bookstore called PageOne in the Festival Walk mall that has probably the largest selection of cook books I have seen in one place as well as a huge selection of architecture and design books, as well as the usual popular books. The bookstore in our mall appears to have academic press and education books, so I will have to check that out soon.
This is just a short list, there is much more that I could add...
* Broadly the exchange rate is 1£=HK$12 or US$1= HK$7.
Sunday, 8 August 2010
Lift off and landing
This has been an eventful week. Perhaps this is an understatement.
This week we sold our house (finally--long and very stressful story), got on a plane, and arrived in Hong Kong as residents. I am now sitting in the lounge of our flat at about two in the morning local time--Jet lag takes its toll. The flat is great. It has a wonderful view. There is a balcony and a large glass window across all of one end. Looking out one direction we see mountains and out the other 50+ story housing buildings. Our building is located near the top of a tall and steep hill and the housing we see is located below us about half way up the hill, but the tops of these buildings extend higher into the sky than our building. Looking out between these closest buildings we can see the bay. As it happens, the area we see is called Fo Tan and it is built on reclaimed land as the valley was once part of the bay. In fact, I learned recently that this bay is on a fault line. I will try not to think about that too much.
We've been here two days. In that time, we have visited the IKEA to buy hangers (it is in the mall that is at the bottom of the hill, so very convenient), seen (by accident) a light show of the buildings on Hong Kong Island from the Kowloon side, ridden the ferry across the harbour and the mid-level escalator up into SOHO, visited the markets in Kowloon, watched a thunder and lightning storm from our flat, witnessed the domestic helpers on their day off and had glorious, sunny weather (yes, with blue sky). It is warm, but it is also easy to escape this as air-conditioning is readily available, all one need do is enter a shop or jump on a bus. There are wonderful smells here and great fruit, fruit juice, tea, and fish to be had though I do not feel hungry. Today I had a green tea frapachino at Starbucks (yummy) in a shop on the mid-levels and a lemon grass and green tea drink at the RBT in Mon Kok. We had intended to buy curtains for the children's rooms, but we ended up with a TV for Simon instead. I had promised him the TV for doing well on his exams (Grace got a trip to Rome). The man will deliver it on Wednesday and another will come and set it all up.
The TV is Simon's and will live in his room for his xbox. He has xbox live, so should be able to meet up with his friends once we figure out how to make the broadband wireless. The TV is all Internet based here, so I am not sure how that will work. To be honest, I have not missed watching it. There is so much to do here in the evenings. Shopping centers are open until 10:30 at night and there is a pool here in the compound. The pool is open from about 7 in the morning until 9:30 at night, with closure during meal times, and also has a life guard. Simon has taken full advantage of this facility. He is using it as a way to meet people in the compound and to "get fit". He has decided that he will be swimming to exercise. He has actually jumped into the life here with both feet. There is a confidence about him that I did not expect or even that one would not normally expect from an 11 year old. He is happy to go to the pool by himself. I can see him making his way down the hill via the minibus to the mall in no time. In six months I expect him to own this city.
Grace has been somewhat more reluctant. She spent the first day locked in her room refusing to talk to anyone--she is a bit angry about having to move and wants to make sure everyone knows. We did manage to wedge her out of the house yesterday. By the end of the day there was enthusiasm. I am sure she has come to realise that the opportunities here are endless and that it is not difficult to get around. While it is certainly very Chinese and nothing like Ilkley, it is also not too hard to navigate. People are friendly and speak English so she was able to manage much more than I think she thought she would be able to do. She, of course won't admit finding Hong Kong to her liking though. She continues to behave as a 14 year old in the extremes of selfishness that only 14 year olds can manage.
As a family, we have pretty much decided we prefer the buses to the trains. The trains get you to where you want to go much more quickly, but they are crowded and you have to stand. The buses afford a view and so far we have been able to sit. We all have Octopus cards that allow us to ride the transport without having to dish out change each time. Much easier. I would recommend this as a first purchase for anyone visiting Hong Kong. One can even ride the ferries with this little card. Our little bus is the 69K, but there are others that will be key--the 7 goes along the bottom of Kowloon down to the Star Ferry.
In an early post I indicated that I was quite worried about how I was going to manage the shopping. I am now less worried about this. In the housing half way down the hill there is a small market with fresh veg and a small Park and Shop (kind of like Tesco or Safeway). The Park and Shop is pretty basic, but very cheap. In the big mall there is a very fancy--kind of like whole foods--store that sells groceries and also ready made food. Simon and I had Sushi from there for dinner tonight. Everything is available from this store from Belgian beer to designer chocolate to tortilla chips to American peanut butter. It is more expensive, though some things are very good value. The sushi I had tonight was wonderful and fresh with about 9 pieces for about £4. There is also a Taste in the big mall near where Adrian works. This store is somewhere between the Park and Shop and the fancy store. It sells Waitrose branded food and has a stunningly deep fish section and fruit and vegetable section. I think I could quite easily live off the fish and fruit with a bit of rice thrown in to bulk it out (Adrian bought a rice cooker and we are making rice in volumes--everyone should have a rice cooker as they are great).
While people do speak English, I realise I will need to expand my language skills fairly quickly. I have learned to say the name of the bus stop where we live: Souk Say (it means quarters). One can throw in a "m-goy" at the end sort of as a please. This is important to know as you have to shout it out to get the minibus that brings us up the hill to stop where we live. No bells to press, so shouting is necessary. It isn't actually the end of the world to go beyond the top as it is only about a 10 minute walk down from the end of the line. Felix, one of my work colleagues in Sheffield said numbers would be useful and he is right. The way the numbers work is not difficult as it is all base ten. To say twenty, for example one would say two tens; twenty two is two tens two. A bit like listing out the units on an abacus. But one still has to learn the basic numbers to begin with, which I have yet to do. Also, you bargain for about everything apparently. Even in some of the big shops--though not in places like IKEA. This will be a bit hard I think.
There are stores for everything here. Adrian got some coffee for us at a shop that sells only Egyptian coffee beans. We went into a place today that sells only orchid plants. There is a chain of English language book stores here that we went into today and I was able to buy a Big Red Book, which is sort of a directory of places to purchase things that is indexed. As a listing it feels a bit to focused on Ex-Pat folk, but it does provide a listing of where one can find Louis Vitton handbags at 50% off and purchase hand made shoes and tailored dresses-- The tailors will even copy a picture for you or work from your own designs. I can't wait to visit these places!
I have now been up about an hour in the middle of the night. I am off to fix myself a cup of tea and try to go back to sleep. I have brought my camera, so in some future post I shall try to upload some photos. It is really lovely here and exciting. I look forward to some opportunity to just rest a bit--Adrian has taken some days off work so we are being tourists quite a bit. I am also looking forward to a chance to do some exploring on my own. There is so much near by, but getting further afield is not difficult to do (the 80M bus that leaves from Sui Wo Court goes all the way into Kowloon Tong). So far, I am glad we've come.
This week we sold our house (finally--long and very stressful story), got on a plane, and arrived in Hong Kong as residents. I am now sitting in the lounge of our flat at about two in the morning local time--Jet lag takes its toll. The flat is great. It has a wonderful view. There is a balcony and a large glass window across all of one end. Looking out one direction we see mountains and out the other 50+ story housing buildings. Our building is located near the top of a tall and steep hill and the housing we see is located below us about half way up the hill, but the tops of these buildings extend higher into the sky than our building. Looking out between these closest buildings we can see the bay. As it happens, the area we see is called Fo Tan and it is built on reclaimed land as the valley was once part of the bay. In fact, I learned recently that this bay is on a fault line. I will try not to think about that too much.
We've been here two days. In that time, we have visited the IKEA to buy hangers (it is in the mall that is at the bottom of the hill, so very convenient), seen (by accident) a light show of the buildings on Hong Kong Island from the Kowloon side, ridden the ferry across the harbour and the mid-level escalator up into SOHO, visited the markets in Kowloon, watched a thunder and lightning storm from our flat, witnessed the domestic helpers on their day off and had glorious, sunny weather (yes, with blue sky). It is warm, but it is also easy to escape this as air-conditioning is readily available, all one need do is enter a shop or jump on a bus. There are wonderful smells here and great fruit, fruit juice, tea, and fish to be had though I do not feel hungry. Today I had a green tea frapachino at Starbucks (yummy) in a shop on the mid-levels and a lemon grass and green tea drink at the RBT in Mon Kok. We had intended to buy curtains for the children's rooms, but we ended up with a TV for Simon instead. I had promised him the TV for doing well on his exams (Grace got a trip to Rome). The man will deliver it on Wednesday and another will come and set it all up.
The TV is Simon's and will live in his room for his xbox. He has xbox live, so should be able to meet up with his friends once we figure out how to make the broadband wireless. The TV is all Internet based here, so I am not sure how that will work. To be honest, I have not missed watching it. There is so much to do here in the evenings. Shopping centers are open until 10:30 at night and there is a pool here in the compound. The pool is open from about 7 in the morning until 9:30 at night, with closure during meal times, and also has a life guard. Simon has taken full advantage of this facility. He is using it as a way to meet people in the compound and to "get fit". He has decided that he will be swimming to exercise. He has actually jumped into the life here with both feet. There is a confidence about him that I did not expect or even that one would not normally expect from an 11 year old. He is happy to go to the pool by himself. I can see him making his way down the hill via the minibus to the mall in no time. In six months I expect him to own this city.
Grace has been somewhat more reluctant. She spent the first day locked in her room refusing to talk to anyone--she is a bit angry about having to move and wants to make sure everyone knows. We did manage to wedge her out of the house yesterday. By the end of the day there was enthusiasm. I am sure she has come to realise that the opportunities here are endless and that it is not difficult to get around. While it is certainly very Chinese and nothing like Ilkley, it is also not too hard to navigate. People are friendly and speak English so she was able to manage much more than I think she thought she would be able to do. She, of course won't admit finding Hong Kong to her liking though. She continues to behave as a 14 year old in the extremes of selfishness that only 14 year olds can manage.
As a family, we have pretty much decided we prefer the buses to the trains. The trains get you to where you want to go much more quickly, but they are crowded and you have to stand. The buses afford a view and so far we have been able to sit. We all have Octopus cards that allow us to ride the transport without having to dish out change each time. Much easier. I would recommend this as a first purchase for anyone visiting Hong Kong. One can even ride the ferries with this little card. Our little bus is the 69K, but there are others that will be key--the 7 goes along the bottom of Kowloon down to the Star Ferry.
In an early post I indicated that I was quite worried about how I was going to manage the shopping. I am now less worried about this. In the housing half way down the hill there is a small market with fresh veg and a small Park and Shop (kind of like Tesco or Safeway). The Park and Shop is pretty basic, but very cheap. In the big mall there is a very fancy--kind of like whole foods--store that sells groceries and also ready made food. Simon and I had Sushi from there for dinner tonight. Everything is available from this store from Belgian beer to designer chocolate to tortilla chips to American peanut butter. It is more expensive, though some things are very good value. The sushi I had tonight was wonderful and fresh with about 9 pieces for about £4. There is also a Taste in the big mall near where Adrian works. This store is somewhere between the Park and Shop and the fancy store. It sells Waitrose branded food and has a stunningly deep fish section and fruit and vegetable section. I think I could quite easily live off the fish and fruit with a bit of rice thrown in to bulk it out (Adrian bought a rice cooker and we are making rice in volumes--everyone should have a rice cooker as they are great).
While people do speak English, I realise I will need to expand my language skills fairly quickly. I have learned to say the name of the bus stop where we live: Souk Say (it means quarters). One can throw in a "m-goy" at the end sort of as a please. This is important to know as you have to shout it out to get the minibus that brings us up the hill to stop where we live. No bells to press, so shouting is necessary. It isn't actually the end of the world to go beyond the top as it is only about a 10 minute walk down from the end of the line. Felix, one of my work colleagues in Sheffield said numbers would be useful and he is right. The way the numbers work is not difficult as it is all base ten. To say twenty, for example one would say two tens; twenty two is two tens two. A bit like listing out the units on an abacus. But one still has to learn the basic numbers to begin with, which I have yet to do. Also, you bargain for about everything apparently. Even in some of the big shops--though not in places like IKEA. This will be a bit hard I think.
There are stores for everything here. Adrian got some coffee for us at a shop that sells only Egyptian coffee beans. We went into a place today that sells only orchid plants. There is a chain of English language book stores here that we went into today and I was able to buy a Big Red Book, which is sort of a directory of places to purchase things that is indexed. As a listing it feels a bit to focused on Ex-Pat folk, but it does provide a listing of where one can find Louis Vitton handbags at 50% off and purchase hand made shoes and tailored dresses-- The tailors will even copy a picture for you or work from your own designs. I can't wait to visit these places!
I have now been up about an hour in the middle of the night. I am off to fix myself a cup of tea and try to go back to sleep. I have brought my camera, so in some future post I shall try to upload some photos. It is really lovely here and exciting. I look forward to some opportunity to just rest a bit--Adrian has taken some days off work so we are being tourists quite a bit. I am also looking forward to a chance to do some exploring on my own. There is so much near by, but getting further afield is not difficult to do (the 80M bus that leaves from Sui Wo Court goes all the way into Kowloon Tong). So far, I am glad we've come.
Friday, 11 June 2010
Looking forward to the heat
It is a balmy 52 degrees today and looks like rain here in Ilkley. It is 82 degrees in Hong Kong and while it looks like it might be raining there as well, somehow 82 and rainy seems so much better. I am a bit tired of being cold.
Quite a bit has happened since my last post. Things are beginning to fall into place. For example, we have sold our house, thought I hesitate to say this as the contracts have not been exchanged yet so things could still go wrong. I think we may have gotten lucky with that as there seemed to be a bit of a flurry of activity in the housing market in April and then it slowed down again around the election. Unfortunately the buyers do not want the refrigerator, so I have to figure out how to get rid of that before we move. Small price to pay if it all goes through.
I also have been granted leave of absence from my job starting in the winter term next year. This is a huge relief as it holds my job for me for 18 months. Related to that it looks like I will be granted Adjunct status at Hong Kong University in Geography. This visiting status is quite an honour as the university has quite high status on the world stage. In addition to being ranked the top university in Asia, it is ranked 24 on the world stage (for reference Sheffield is 82, Leeds is 99, and Columbia is 11). I will also be able to do a bit of teaching and postgraduate supervision, as well as use it as a base for writing and doing research. I am very excited at the opportunity for doing some food research in Hong Kong. I am working on a book prospectus at the moment and writing time will be really useful--I have got to be careful not to pack in too much though as I do really want to spend some time enjoying the region, taking photographs, and learning Cantonese.
I have been trying to learn a bit more about the culture as well as get the kids excited. We have discovered that our new favorite breakfast food is Nan Wong Bao (a steamed dumpling with coconut filling). They are really good with strawberries and a bit of bacon on the side. The salt of the bacon and the tarness of the berries offset the sweet coconut inside the Bao. I have dreams about eating this. I have also purchased a number of films by Wan Kar Wai, who is a favorite of Quentin Tarantino. The films are not the usual Jacki Chan kind of film that one usually thinks of with regard to Hong Kong Cinema. We also have the film Infernal Affairs, which is what The Departed is an American copy. It is pretty good. We've also been listening to the music of Faye Wong. She does a cover of a Cranberries song that is absolutely lovely. I prefer it. Of course I have also been reading everything I can get my hands on about Hong Kong. There is a book by McDonogh and Wong (2005) called Global Hong Kong, that is informative, though not without its flaws. The first aim is seceding, the second not so much.
Finally, we got word the other day that our visa's have been approved and are on their way in the post. Lets hope things continue to progress as they have been!
Quite a bit has happened since my last post. Things are beginning to fall into place. For example, we have sold our house, thought I hesitate to say this as the contracts have not been exchanged yet so things could still go wrong. I think we may have gotten lucky with that as there seemed to be a bit of a flurry of activity in the housing market in April and then it slowed down again around the election. Unfortunately the buyers do not want the refrigerator, so I have to figure out how to get rid of that before we move. Small price to pay if it all goes through.
I also have been granted leave of absence from my job starting in the winter term next year. This is a huge relief as it holds my job for me for 18 months. Related to that it looks like I will be granted Adjunct status at Hong Kong University in Geography. This visiting status is quite an honour as the university has quite high status on the world stage. In addition to being ranked the top university in Asia, it is ranked 24 on the world stage (for reference Sheffield is 82, Leeds is 99, and Columbia is 11). I will also be able to do a bit of teaching and postgraduate supervision, as well as use it as a base for writing and doing research. I am very excited at the opportunity for doing some food research in Hong Kong. I am working on a book prospectus at the moment and writing time will be really useful--I have got to be careful not to pack in too much though as I do really want to spend some time enjoying the region, taking photographs, and learning Cantonese.
I have been trying to learn a bit more about the culture as well as get the kids excited. We have discovered that our new favorite breakfast food is Nan Wong Bao (a steamed dumpling with coconut filling). They are really good with strawberries and a bit of bacon on the side. The salt of the bacon and the tarness of the berries offset the sweet coconut inside the Bao. I have dreams about eating this. I have also purchased a number of films by Wan Kar Wai, who is a favorite of Quentin Tarantino. The films are not the usual Jacki Chan kind of film that one usually thinks of with regard to Hong Kong Cinema. We also have the film Infernal Affairs, which is what The Departed is an American copy. It is pretty good. We've also been listening to the music of Faye Wong. She does a cover of a Cranberries song that is absolutely lovely. I prefer it. Of course I have also been reading everything I can get my hands on about Hong Kong. There is a book by McDonogh and Wong (2005) called Global Hong Kong, that is informative, though not without its flaws. The first aim is seceding, the second not so much.
Finally, we got word the other day that our visa's have been approved and are on their way in the post. Lets hope things continue to progress as they have been!
Monday, 1 March 2010
The visit
What a great trip. What a great place. When can we leave???
It will be hard to write this in whole paragraphs as I am still processing the visit to Hong Kong in flashes of impression. As just a bit of context Adrian and I when to Hong Kong for a few days. We left on Tuesday last week. Arrived sometime on Wednesday in the evening. We then returned on Sunday, leaving quite early in the morning, so just three whole days in the city.
I guess one of my first impressions is that to call Hong Kong a city is really not right. It is more like a region. Hong Kong island itself is not a city as there are quite large areas of non-city and if you travel around the island to Stanley, one feels quite in another place. It takes very little time on the bus to do this. The bus ride involves traveling through a tunnel to get to the other side, rather than following a coastal path. Kowloon, across from Hong Kong, is connected to HK in that there are any number of ways to cross over--ferry, train (under the water), by car/bus over a bridge, but it is also quite separate as in Kowloon you must make a change to another train or bus that will transport you around this side of the water. Also, there are different colour taxis for this part of HK than for the island. Kowloon provides a very impressive vista for those on HK island, but this is mutual. In other words, incredibly tall buildings on both sides. The waterfront on the Kowloon side is a lovely place to walk around--day or night--and there are some wonderful restaurants and museums. Then there is the new territories, which we really did not get into that much. But because of the really great public transport system in this city/region the ability to travel quite far into them is not difficult to do rather quickly.
Second, unlike many other cities I have been to in countries where English is not the first language, I felt very comfortable and confident in my ability to get around. I think this was partially because there was enough that looked familiar, pretty much most things were written in English as well and in Cantonese, and there are enough people around who understand English and can tell you what you need to know if you get lost. So the infrastructure for people who are not Chinese is there. I wouldn't put this down too much to the fact that Hong Kong is a fairly recently former territory. The bodies are very much largely Chinese bodies walking around. I did see a few non-Chinese people, but this difference was not something that was foregrounded. Indeed, I notice the difference much more when I have visited China Towns in the US or UK much more than I did in Hong Kong. This might be the result of apparent middle-classness, though a large proportion of the city does not earn enough to be required to pay the 15% income tax. Moreover, one is aware that Hong Kong is not American or European. It is its own city, but it is a comfortable one to be in. At least it was for me. It is a place that puts you at ease, while at the same time is exciting.
Third, while Hong Kong is very full of people, this again is not the overriding impression one gets. There are amazingly tall building, and looking at them you know the population density is incredible. Some of this housing is quite grim, but that is the same in all cities. So much of Hong Kong is new build, however, so the decay that comes from prolonged use, high humidity, and so forth is not a present. Plus, there is a lot of green space--not really grass, but green: Trees, tropical plants, etc. Quite a bit of Hong Kong is not built upon, probably because the landscape is so steep. Incredibly steep. At times overwhelmingly steep. Exhaustingly steep.
Fourth, this is a very efficient place. I understand that there is as much bureaucracy here as one might think given that it has its roots in the UK and its crown in China, but there is a work ethic and a competence I just don't find in the UK. Maybe this is linked to some degree to an overall culture of humility rather than arrogance and an ethic of consideration for others and open friendliness, rather than a selfishness that seems to permeate British life. I can't comment on the potential differences/similarities between HK and China. While we were there we were able to get octopus cards, which get you on to the transport system kind of like the pay as you go sim cards for mobile phones (you can also buy coffee at Starbucks and groceries with your octopus card and the school uses them for registering the children and for paying for school lunches and printing). We also got a mobile phone that we can use in HK, a bank account, an apartment, almost a school for the children, an amazing amount of intelligence about how to work and live in the area, and some new friends. Adrian and I both commented that this just would not have been the case in any other place were we have lived.
Fifth, Hong Kong is en engineering wonder. Not only are there some (several) of the tallest buildings in the world here, but they are build on some of the steepest terrain. In Hong Kong itself, you see buildings being built and wonder how in the world they got the equipment up the narrow and winding roads to the site. There are tunnels cutting through mountains and under all this there is an underground transport system that is not only extensive but very reliable. Just about every form of transportation is available here--buses, ferries, mini-buses, trams, funiculars, elevated cable cars, subways, trains, and even an outdoor escalator. This last transport mode is particularly incredible as not only can you travel around most of the second and third stories of the central part of the city via passageways through the buildings, which you access via escalator, but you can also travel from the ferry terminal to the upper part of the mid-levels via a half hour escalator ride. This is covered and runs down hill for the morning commute, but up hill most of the day. Not only does this mean that the thing is reversed every day, but because of the high humidity and rain one would think that it would always be broken down. But it is not. Stunning. We noticed advertisements in estate agent windows that there is a rent gradient based on distance from these escalators. Given how steep it is, this makes a lot of sense. We did walk up through a residential neighborhood and this is something one would not want to do out of necessity. Added to all this is the fact that while the tram is several blocks inland now, it once ran along the waterfront. The amount of reclamation is amazing. You would not immediately understand that so much of what is the present day commercial Hong Kong is on reclaimed land, but once you know this you understand why the area where all the tall commercial buildings are is also quite flat.
Sixth, the food is great. Not only is there really good Cantonese food (my favorite type of Chinese), but you can get every other cuisine you want at about any price range. While we were there we ate Cantonese food as well as food from other regions in China, Vietnamese, and Japanese. We had coffee in an American style coffee shop (at 7 in the morning at the nearby mall). We also learned that the restaurants located in the big shopping malls are not to be avoided. Indeed, the Japanese restaurant we ate in was located on the the tip of Kowloon in a shopping mall that was focused on the eating, with shopping interspersed between the restaurants. It was great. We also went to one of the grocery stores. Admittedly this was the posh store--for those of you in the UK it was like Waitrose, and indeed there were Waitrose branded products on the shelves. Prices were largely similar to UK prices, with the exception of things like cheese and yogurt, which are imported from Australia. The equivalent to £6 or $8 for a large container of yogurt. I don't really like yogurt that much so this won't bother me too much. I guess I shall have to learn to enjoy my coffee with soya milk instead of cows milk. I can adjust. I like soya milk. The cheese will be a bit harder to go without, but I am thinking that my waistline could benefit from this. Thankfully, and contrary to what we expected, wine is not more expensive.
While these impressions are largely positive, I don't want to sugggest that everything was rosy. I did learn that it will be quite difficult for me to get a job. I met with one of the heads of department at one university and learned that not only would my research never fit with their idea of sensible and useful work (quantitative, rational choice models, neoclassical), but also that I was not chinese enough and too old! The Chinese bit I may or may not be able to overcome by learning the language, but age is someting one cannot mess with. No such thing as age discrimination there. There were some gender issues at another university that will make it difficult for me. But the third place I visited was very welcoming, and even if I don't get a job with them, I feel that there is the possibility for connection and collaboration. I am very excited at the prospects of doing research in Hong Kong. There is a lot of work that I can envision doing that builds on my existing research and which focuses on sustainablity issues.
Most of the people we met also have some form of domestic help. This can range from what has historically been referred to as an Amah, a term that is now not considered politically correct. Flats for middle class people all have an area off a laundry room off a kitchen consisting of a bedroom and a bathroom for the helper to live. This room in the flats we looked at, but which appear to be equally as small elsewhere was miniscule. Just enough room for a narrow bed and not really anything else. In fact, the room in our flat has no window. There is a window in the bathroom, which has a shower, toilet and sink. I can't imagine living there, so I guess no Amah for us. Others have helpers come once a day or a couple of times a week. Some of these women are doing this work illegally as they are Amahs for another family already. Some are Chinese women. Many people I spoke with said that the helper would do the shopping and cooking for you, which is an advantage because the helpers have the skills to bargain at the wet market, thus saving money on food buying. The wet markets are less expensive than the grocery stores. I shall just have to learn enough cantonese to do this, or pay more at the supermarket, most of which will deliver dry goods to your home for you. I was also told that while some locally produced food is available, culturally the imported food is considered better food, and this is not just because it is more expensive. I expect some of this is linked to the recent health scares over things like tainted milk and beef products.
Overall a brilliant trip. I am really looking forward to going back. I hope something works out for me on the employment front as I am having some difficulties with getting leave from my current employer. I think I just must be patient and keep trying. I will keep updating...
It will be hard to write this in whole paragraphs as I am still processing the visit to Hong Kong in flashes of impression. As just a bit of context Adrian and I when to Hong Kong for a few days. We left on Tuesday last week. Arrived sometime on Wednesday in the evening. We then returned on Sunday, leaving quite early in the morning, so just three whole days in the city.
I guess one of my first impressions is that to call Hong Kong a city is really not right. It is more like a region. Hong Kong island itself is not a city as there are quite large areas of non-city and if you travel around the island to Stanley, one feels quite in another place. It takes very little time on the bus to do this. The bus ride involves traveling through a tunnel to get to the other side, rather than following a coastal path. Kowloon, across from Hong Kong, is connected to HK in that there are any number of ways to cross over--ferry, train (under the water), by car/bus over a bridge, but it is also quite separate as in Kowloon you must make a change to another train or bus that will transport you around this side of the water. Also, there are different colour taxis for this part of HK than for the island. Kowloon provides a very impressive vista for those on HK island, but this is mutual. In other words, incredibly tall buildings on both sides. The waterfront on the Kowloon side is a lovely place to walk around--day or night--and there are some wonderful restaurants and museums. Then there is the new territories, which we really did not get into that much. But because of the really great public transport system in this city/region the ability to travel quite far into them is not difficult to do rather quickly.
Second, unlike many other cities I have been to in countries where English is not the first language, I felt very comfortable and confident in my ability to get around. I think this was partially because there was enough that looked familiar, pretty much most things were written in English as well and in Cantonese, and there are enough people around who understand English and can tell you what you need to know if you get lost. So the infrastructure for people who are not Chinese is there. I wouldn't put this down too much to the fact that Hong Kong is a fairly recently former territory. The bodies are very much largely Chinese bodies walking around. I did see a few non-Chinese people, but this difference was not something that was foregrounded. Indeed, I notice the difference much more when I have visited China Towns in the US or UK much more than I did in Hong Kong. This might be the result of apparent middle-classness, though a large proportion of the city does not earn enough to be required to pay the 15% income tax. Moreover, one is aware that Hong Kong is not American or European. It is its own city, but it is a comfortable one to be in. At least it was for me. It is a place that puts you at ease, while at the same time is exciting.
Third, while Hong Kong is very full of people, this again is not the overriding impression one gets. There are amazingly tall building, and looking at them you know the population density is incredible. Some of this housing is quite grim, but that is the same in all cities. So much of Hong Kong is new build, however, so the decay that comes from prolonged use, high humidity, and so forth is not a present. Plus, there is a lot of green space--not really grass, but green: Trees, tropical plants, etc. Quite a bit of Hong Kong is not built upon, probably because the landscape is so steep. Incredibly steep. At times overwhelmingly steep. Exhaustingly steep.
Fourth, this is a very efficient place. I understand that there is as much bureaucracy here as one might think given that it has its roots in the UK and its crown in China, but there is a work ethic and a competence I just don't find in the UK. Maybe this is linked to some degree to an overall culture of humility rather than arrogance and an ethic of consideration for others and open friendliness, rather than a selfishness that seems to permeate British life. I can't comment on the potential differences/similarities between HK and China. While we were there we were able to get octopus cards, which get you on to the transport system kind of like the pay as you go sim cards for mobile phones (you can also buy coffee at Starbucks and groceries with your octopus card and the school uses them for registering the children and for paying for school lunches and printing). We also got a mobile phone that we can use in HK, a bank account, an apartment, almost a school for the children, an amazing amount of intelligence about how to work and live in the area, and some new friends. Adrian and I both commented that this just would not have been the case in any other place were we have lived.
Fifth, Hong Kong is en engineering wonder. Not only are there some (several) of the tallest buildings in the world here, but they are build on some of the steepest terrain. In Hong Kong itself, you see buildings being built and wonder how in the world they got the equipment up the narrow and winding roads to the site. There are tunnels cutting through mountains and under all this there is an underground transport system that is not only extensive but very reliable. Just about every form of transportation is available here--buses, ferries, mini-buses, trams, funiculars, elevated cable cars, subways, trains, and even an outdoor escalator. This last transport mode is particularly incredible as not only can you travel around most of the second and third stories of the central part of the city via passageways through the buildings, which you access via escalator, but you can also travel from the ferry terminal to the upper part of the mid-levels via a half hour escalator ride. This is covered and runs down hill for the morning commute, but up hill most of the day. Not only does this mean that the thing is reversed every day, but because of the high humidity and rain one would think that it would always be broken down. But it is not. Stunning. We noticed advertisements in estate agent windows that there is a rent gradient based on distance from these escalators. Given how steep it is, this makes a lot of sense. We did walk up through a residential neighborhood and this is something one would not want to do out of necessity. Added to all this is the fact that while the tram is several blocks inland now, it once ran along the waterfront. The amount of reclamation is amazing. You would not immediately understand that so much of what is the present day commercial Hong Kong is on reclaimed land, but once you know this you understand why the area where all the tall commercial buildings are is also quite flat.
Sixth, the food is great. Not only is there really good Cantonese food (my favorite type of Chinese), but you can get every other cuisine you want at about any price range. While we were there we ate Cantonese food as well as food from other regions in China, Vietnamese, and Japanese. We had coffee in an American style coffee shop (at 7 in the morning at the nearby mall). We also learned that the restaurants located in the big shopping malls are not to be avoided. Indeed, the Japanese restaurant we ate in was located on the the tip of Kowloon in a shopping mall that was focused on the eating, with shopping interspersed between the restaurants. It was great. We also went to one of the grocery stores. Admittedly this was the posh store--for those of you in the UK it was like Waitrose, and indeed there were Waitrose branded products on the shelves. Prices were largely similar to UK prices, with the exception of things like cheese and yogurt, which are imported from Australia. The equivalent to £6 or $8 for a large container of yogurt. I don't really like yogurt that much so this won't bother me too much. I guess I shall have to learn to enjoy my coffee with soya milk instead of cows milk. I can adjust. I like soya milk. The cheese will be a bit harder to go without, but I am thinking that my waistline could benefit from this. Thankfully, and contrary to what we expected, wine is not more expensive.
While these impressions are largely positive, I don't want to sugggest that everything was rosy. I did learn that it will be quite difficult for me to get a job. I met with one of the heads of department at one university and learned that not only would my research never fit with their idea of sensible and useful work (quantitative, rational choice models, neoclassical), but also that I was not chinese enough and too old! The Chinese bit I may or may not be able to overcome by learning the language, but age is someting one cannot mess with. No such thing as age discrimination there. There were some gender issues at another university that will make it difficult for me. But the third place I visited was very welcoming, and even if I don't get a job with them, I feel that there is the possibility for connection and collaboration. I am very excited at the prospects of doing research in Hong Kong. There is a lot of work that I can envision doing that builds on my existing research and which focuses on sustainablity issues.
Most of the people we met also have some form of domestic help. This can range from what has historically been referred to as an Amah, a term that is now not considered politically correct. Flats for middle class people all have an area off a laundry room off a kitchen consisting of a bedroom and a bathroom for the helper to live. This room in the flats we looked at, but which appear to be equally as small elsewhere was miniscule. Just enough room for a narrow bed and not really anything else. In fact, the room in our flat has no window. There is a window in the bathroom, which has a shower, toilet and sink. I can't imagine living there, so I guess no Amah for us. Others have helpers come once a day or a couple of times a week. Some of these women are doing this work illegally as they are Amahs for another family already. Some are Chinese women. Many people I spoke with said that the helper would do the shopping and cooking for you, which is an advantage because the helpers have the skills to bargain at the wet market, thus saving money on food buying. The wet markets are less expensive than the grocery stores. I shall just have to learn enough cantonese to do this, or pay more at the supermarket, most of which will deliver dry goods to your home for you. I was also told that while some locally produced food is available, culturally the imported food is considered better food, and this is not just because it is more expensive. I expect some of this is linked to the recent health scares over things like tainted milk and beef products.
Overall a brilliant trip. I am really looking forward to going back. I hope something works out for me on the employment front as I am having some difficulties with getting leave from my current employer. I think I just must be patient and keep trying. I will keep updating...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
