Hong Kong-ed

I have been lazy. Ever since I got home at about 130am last Wednesday morning, I have been keeping late nights and waking after 10am almost each day. My body clock is screwed and I have only managed to exercise twice since then. I have attempted to clean my room since then. My shelves of a thousand books took 3 days to wipe down. Why does dust come from? And so much. Goodness. I feel that dust also has mutated along the ecological track. It's now resistant to soap and water.

So the Pearl Of The Orient title is a tussle between Hong Kong and Penang. I saw the that reference to Penang on a cloth bag in my house. It was my first time in Hong Kong and there are many things to say about it. I could rattle on for paragraphs but I shall not. Instead, I have decided to bullet my way out of this potential novella. Only the interesting bits.

- Chep Lap Kok airport is grey. There's something about this muted colour scheme across new Asian airports. KLIA, Suvarnabhumi Bangkok and HK Intl are washed in this dull hue as if it inspires travellers to get excited about the destination they have just arrived at. Its dull man. Boring, lifeless and even clinical, in the antiseptic way.

- The apartments buildings are very tall. 40, 50 plus stories. It's stunning that so many apartments can be built over a small footptrint. The first few towers were saw were captivating to the eye. We quickly got used to the density. The extended height is the way things will go in SG too.

- Many buildings are dirty grey-brown in the day. The neon comes out at night.

- Since SARS and the recent flu epidemics, many places in Hong Kong have taken precautions against hand-borne germs by providing hot teh-o for rinsing cutlery (no kidding) and having free-to-use hand sanitizing solutions at shopping centres. People also shamelessly use face masks if they have the sniffles. They are perhaps more thoughtful than we imagine.

- Hong Kong people also don't use handicapped toilets, unless of course they are handicapped. That's kinda nice.

- I have a theory why HKers are creative people. They stand at Kowloon shores and look at Hong Kong island. Across the water are so many buildings in all matter of shape, form and height. There seems to be no limit to what developers can cram into the hilly island of 80.4 sq km (SG is about 700 sq km), all in the name of fame and commerce. The new International Financial Centre 2 building welcome visitors who arrive at the Star Ferry terminal in all its 415m glory. Stupendous (though Cheryl did mention something about not so good fengshui). The sky is the limit it seems. That anything is possible. It's awe-inspiring. How can a young Hong Konger not feel proud of this skyline (and night time light show) and not dream of bigger things to come? (There is a shopping centre in the shape of a ship in the middle of a housing estate btw)

- The Hong Kong MTR has maps with flashing LED lights to show the next station of arrival, upcoming interchange stations and intersecting lines. The maps are above most exit doors, and also have signs that show which side the doors are going to open at the next station. Like wow. Our MRT folks have something to learn.

- The food is good. I had many sweet buns that are served warm with a slice of butter - po lo yao. I am now the po lo yao man. The wan tan mee is traditionally soupy. The tea with milk (nai cha) has no sugar. Chilli is either sauce from a bottle or burnt bits of something in chilli oil. Roast goose is nice (we had at Yeung Kee, the best place to have it). Smelly tofu (chou tofu) isn't so bad. There is some weird obsession with mango going on. Curry fishballs are curry- and fish-flavoured flour balls fried in oil. Char siew and roast pork is generally fantastic anywhere. We had a fantastic vegetarian meal for HKD60 at the base of the Buddha statue hill on Lantau.

- The cable car ride at Ngong Ping 360 is so worth it.

- The streets on Mongkok get closed off to traffic so that hundreds of thousands of people can roam. With potential customers everywhere, the neon comes out in full force to get their attention. People perform on streets and passersby stop in the scores to watch. There are all manner of shops vying for our dollars. It's the same in Causeway Bay. There is so much energy in such a small space. Something hard to replicate.

- The HK govt has kept the Star Ferry with all its antique rumblings and cute eccentricities (the shipman lowers and raises the gangway by hand, and it costs SGD20 cents to make the trip from Kowloon to Hong Kong island). It's a beautiful reminder of the past and yet serves as great, efficient transport.

- There are wet markets in the heart of Kowloon and Central. No kidding - fresh fish and vege to buy home at lunchtime.

- Hong Kong men and women dress better. Maybe it's the cooler weather that supports an extended wardrobe. The high-end labels make a big show with large boutiques and even bigger ads on the side of buildings. Lower-end Giordano and H&M ads also cover 20 metre walls in MTR stations. Fashion is passion.

- Mr Chew, Gerald and I took the tram and we promptly got lost. Hennessy Road to Happy Valley to no-idea-where. It was a good experience. Go get lost, you'll learn more.

- A waitress at a bar on Knutsford Terrace told me that it was "impossible" for me to pass my 1-for-1 drink to someone else. Wow, service issues are everywhere eh. So Gerald and I upped and left to a friendlier place - All Night Long. Buds for SGD4 and white wine for SGD6. Woof.

There's probably more to write about but I shall go sleep now. You can also get the visual lowdown from the 755 images in my Flickr set.