A collection of thoughts
I arrived on wednesday night - about 7pm and was met by Eric and his Auntie Jeanie at Kai Tak. The airport experience was exactly what you expect. Queues, people, a babel of voices, stern, uniformed men; every airport in every city. The first hint that I wasn't at home was the sub-machine gun toting cop. He was built like a brick shit-house as they say, and I think he knew it - the nicely tailored shirt suggested this guy knew what his assets were.
Once through I had a late dinner (breakfast or something) with Eric and Auntie Jeanie. Then into the city. They have a train to the city from the airport - how civilized. The trip is expensive by Hong Kong standards - more than $100HKD (that's about $15 Canadian). You pay it with a thing called an Octopus Card (no idea why the name - they don't even have a good logo, they should have Hamish design that, it'd be cute). This is a card you can 'charge' up with cash in 7-11 or at the MTR (the subway stations), and other places. Once you put cash on this thing you can use it for any transportation. (A word about that - the transport here is a mix of public and private. The MTR is the subway, the buses are a mix of companies, then there's the mini-buses, little 16 seat buses that boot around on routes all over the place, the prices are all over the place too, $9 to got Stanley, $3.70 to get from the MTR to our hotel.) But the Octopus can work on all of them you just touch the card (or your wallet) against a reader and deducts the price.
The system is really cool because you can use the money on the card to buy stuff in stores. It's very clever really, if they install it in bars that'd be wicked cool really. So yes in some ways the transport system here kicks Toronto's ass. However the city street design was laid out by a pigeon on opium in the 14th century, so finding your way around here is madness. It's completely 'wild west'.
***
Since I got here things have been pretty busy. I had one day by myself, then the next day i had two (well supposed to be 3) interviews. They went very well (both English schools, proving everyone who said I'd have an easy time of it, right). The third was a meeting with a placement agency here in HK. However jet lag kicked me in the ass and slept through it. I will call and grovel a bit today about that (yesterday was a bank holiday). So we walked a lot this weekend, hit the gay bars, and yesterday we went to the south side of the island, to a place called Stanley. Stanley (and Repulse Bay) is the resort-y end of things. It was truly beautiful. We sat on the patio of a bar and had a pint in the sun. It was very magical. Lots of expats, but still a nice place.
***
Impressions:
Hong Kong is a hill (mountain?), the island (and the other islands in the archipelago) are tall, steep green hills that pop up out of the South China Sea at improbable angles and elevations. Everything here is sheer and steep, with buildings perched on edges and faces of this place that would seem inhospitable were it not for the fact that there is no place else to build. There is no 'flat', so your apartment could be twenty stories tall (or 50 for that matter) and yet be half as tall as the one behind it; one block over and the elevation has increased 50 feet.
The buildings here are all impossibly thin too. Often no more than two or three apartments per floor. Someone told me that's because there are limitations to the size (footprint) of the buildings so that they present a slimmer profile to the considerable winds that blow up and down the mountain especially during monsoon season. The result are spires that rise into the sky. Added to the fact that they're perched on the edge of mountain elevations, and you've got one spectacular skyline. It's famous for good reason.
It's loud here. From the cackling sounds of the tropical birds that screech in the morning, to the trams, buses and, of course, people, talking on their mobile phones, the place is fucking loud. You can use your cell phone EVERYWHERE here, there are no black-holes. In Toronto every basement and elevator is a black-out zone. In HK you can use your phone on the subway. Sounds convenient eh? Mostly it's just annoying.
***
Things I like about HK
• Beer is about $1.25 at 7-11
• Tax rate is only 15%
• The, um, 'scenery'
• The MTR (Subway)
• The Octopus Card
• No last call
• Taxis are CHEAP (ten minute ride, $40HKD or about $5CDN)
Things I don't like about HK
• Smoking is still allowed in some bars
• The transport system is confusing (outside of the MTR)
• Getting directions
• Pedestrians do not have the right of way
This is a short list, i'm still compiling.
Anyway this is a long rambling kind of post, but i'll do more later and in more sensible order. This is really just a download of all the thoughts in my head.
It's now Wednesday morning, I have lunch at 12.30 with someone I met on the plane (a Chinese-American Expat who runs a website for kids, she's invited me to a swank place in Central). Then i'm off to another interview for a job. I'll blog about that later tonight depending on how it goes.
'til then... ttyl.