Greetings from Hong Kong!
I had some extra vacation days and a good friend who lives in HK, so on a whim, I bought tickets to come here for a long weekend.
I am so glad I did. Hong Kong is really like no other place I've been. To be fair, I haven't spent much time traveling in Asia, but it's a really fascinating place.
We've been having a great time eating and killing time in between meals. It's also great as two of my old bosses are here and I got to catch up with both of them.
Some observations:
1) HK feels like Sim City. The city is so dense and vertical, way more so than NY.
2) HK is always awake. On my first day, we went out and got foot massages at 11 PM! I don't think you could get reputable massages in NYC at that time.
3) There are a lot of non-Asian people living here. Weirdly, I want to stop most of them and ask, "How did you end up here?" I bet the stories are fascinating
4) The food is amazing, but non-diverse. We had dinner at Yardbird on Thursday and it was some of the best food I have ever had - very Momofuku-esque, but edgier. This was my favorite dish:
I had some extra vacation days and a good friend who lives in HK, so on a whim, I bought tickets to come here for a long weekend.
I am so glad I did. Hong Kong is really like no other place I've been. To be fair, I haven't spent much time traveling in Asia, but it's a really fascinating place.
We've been having a great time eating and killing time in between meals. It's also great as two of my old bosses are here and I got to catch up with both of them.
Some observations:
1) HK feels like Sim City. The city is so dense and vertical, way more so than NY.
2) HK is always awake. On my first day, we went out and got foot massages at 11 PM! I don't think you could get reputable massages in NYC at that time.
3) There are a lot of non-Asian people living here. Weirdly, I want to stop most of them and ask, "How did you end up here?" I bet the stories are fascinating
4) The food is amazing, but non-diverse. We had dinner at Yardbird on Thursday and it was some of the best food I have ever had - very Momofuku-esque, but edgier. This was my favorite dish:
It was called Korean Fried Cauliflower and was an amazing spicy, sesame chicken-esque dish with cauliflower. It was light, surprising, really flavorful, and vegetarian! I am sad that I am likely never to have it again.
5) There are so many people - Everywhere we've been has felt like SoHo on a weekend or Oxford Street. I honestly can't fathom how there are always so many people around.
6) There are so many malls that are interconnected. As my friend's husband says, "The city is a giant shopping mall." If I had done any research before coming, I am sure I would have read that, but it was surprising just how many malls there are here, how massive they are, and how you can get from one to another through indoor tunnels.
7) It's so clean. The subway is practically sparkling!
8) It would suck to work for an American company in Hong Kong. In London, I love my mornings as NY is asleep. Here, NY is up when you get up and up when you go to sleep, so the mornings and the evenings are really hectic if you work with NY. My friend has had calls every night I've been here.
9) The people watching is amazing. Last night, we went out in an area called Lan Kwai Fun, and it was absurd - people in Christmas gear, people of all ages, people in fancy dress, a girl in fur leg warmers, a Filipino cover band singing "Jump Around," people in their 40s and 50s ordering jello shots, aggressive dancers, etc. It was really fun to watch and much more diverse than either NY and London (in my opinion).
I'm not sure what's on the agenda for today and tomorrow, but I can't wait. I know there will be pork buns and a party at a former coworker's house, so I think the rest of the weekend will be fabulous.
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