Loving Hong Kong again

I'm happy to report that I'm back into the swing of things after the post holiday lull and enjoying life in Hong Kong again.  Maybe it's because I can walk normally again after Sunday's military style BodyPump. Or maybe it's because I finally have my bank account sorted out. Either way, the spirits are on the rise and this morning's excursions provided some great fodder for today's post.  In fact I'm so excited to share that I'm posting now even before the day is out.

First up, the customer service experience. I needed to return a long top that I had recently purchased, after trying it on with jeans I realised that my selection of size 'S' was probably a little ambitious. So back to the store it went, tag in place, confident I could get a refund after filling in the paperwork. The highlight of the experience came when I had to give a reason for the return.
My answer: " It does not fit properly."
With a sympathetic smile the lady nods and says, "Ah, you too FAT", and proceeds to write this down.
Now that I'm fitting a UK size 10 jeans comfortably I'm the furthest from fat I have been in a long time, but hey, it was a case of pick your battles, so I gratefully received a fist full of cash and walked out.

Second up, exploring a new area of Hong Kong. Today's pick was Whampoa, a great little neighbourhood overlooking Hong Kong Island, buzzing with mom and tots in strollers, parks, and fountains nestled in between the high rise buildings to offset the constructions sites and mini vans zipping about. My favourite part was the Whampoa Mall build as a SHIP, in memory that this area used to be a shipyard. How fun. Can I say real life Disneyland? The public transport doesn't work out well for the work locations so a no-go to live though.

Thirdly, while pacing it to the office in Kwun Tong, I stumbled upon a shoe outlet and there was a SALE. I managed to steal a pair of burgundy (wine red)  heels for just 100 HK dollars, original price 700 HK and I have seen the same shoes in central for 1200 HK dollars. The sweet taste of the saving is almost as good as wearing my new red heels!

And lastly, today's food item is the supermarket Tofu dessert Do Fu Fa. Only 8 HK dollars for 2, and 66 kcal for a tub, it is easy to satisfy my craving for this stuff, and somehow it has made it up there on my list of favourites with my papaya milk and egg tarts.  And speaking of egg tarts I think I have found my favourite bakery for them, but more on that next time.

20 Men to Dig a Hole

Hong Kong often surprises me that in many ways it is a modern, forward-looking city, but perhaps in even more ways it is crippled by bureaucracy and inefficiencies. There is a process for everything, a long elaborate process in many cases that involves filling in duplicate paperwork and stamps.  Take for example buying some cosmetics. Because I wanted the 'foreigners' discount (normal discount, not claiming tax back) I had to appear at three different desks to pay, sign four pieces of paper and finally go back to collect the goods.  No guessing this causes frustration for this just-get-it-done kinda person.

Although I have to say at times it does remind me of South Africa. For example today while heading  to the office in Kowloon I came across a group of 20 men digging in the same street with supervisors watching.  Though unlike South Africa, they all appeared to all be doing something, except the supervisors of course.

Ever asked what is THE most Livable City?

The challenge has been set!

Hong Kong has been declared the most livable city to live.

While I don't disagree it is a special place I wouldn't have considered it number one. So the challenge has been set for me to find out why :-)

http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2012/07/city-rankings

Food item for today: Did I already mention how cheap sushi is?  2,5 euros for this:

Harbour City and Food Nationalities

Harbour City is a mall on the harbour's edge Kowloon side where many tourists can be found arriving/departing, and as such there are many high end luxury shops catering for their shopping needs hoping to glean the last of their money.  Although I'm told that some Chinese mainland tourists go there directly just to shop,  even staying at the hotel in the mall, and indeed they seem to be the most frequent visitors. 

Today's window display winner goes to Louis Vuitton with the plastic polka dot look.

Today's strange sight was seeing a bride and groom waiting in line for the elevator in another mall. Many couples have their photos taken before the wedding in remote or unusual locations, so perhaps they were heading to the top of the building for a backdrop of Hong Kong island.

And finally, today's yummy food choice is our shopping bag! 

We visited four different grocery stores today (Great, City Super, Market Place, Welcome) and found we had a variety of nationalities represented looking at the imported foods we had bought.  For fun we decided to count and totalled 26 countries and 6 continents in one go! Wahoo! [ Perhaps less of a wahoo when global warming is considered but for today we will say wahoo. ]

The photo below shows a selection:

1. British - soup, cereal, peanut butter
2. Scotland - Highland Game soup
3. Koren - Cabbage Kimchi
4. New Zealand - Boysenberrry jam, Soups
5. USA - chocolate chip cookies
6. French - St Marcellin cheese, Goats Cheese
7. Taiwan - Beef Jerky
8. Italy - Ameretto biscuits, Lady Finger biscuits, Pasta, Mascopone
9. Japan - Soba noodles
10. Hong Kong - Humus, Do Fu Fa (made by Nestle - Swiss brand)
11. Thailand - 5 type rice, Okra
12. Mexico - tomatoes
13. Australia - Water Thin Crackers
14. Singapore - Plain yoghurt
15. Turkey - figs

Not shown in the picture since they were packed away already:

16. Dutch - Cucumber and Chicken

17. Philippines - bananas

18. China - Tropicana Orange Juice (USA brand), yams, 

19. Greece - Olives

20. Belgium - Leffe Beer

21. Kenya - coffee beans

22. Ceylon - tea

23. German - honey

24. Vietnam - cashew nuts

25. South Africa - couscous

26. Peru - avocado

Repeat countries:

USA - Salad mid, Carrots

French - Norwegian Salmon

Korea - Hot Jam Tea

Australia- Spice Sauce

New Zealand - Sea Salt

Mexico - Corona beer

Unknown - nectarines, kiwi, apples, blueberries

WHAT IS MISSING? Canada! We have bought fruits and other products from CA before but just not today.

The mix of Hong Kong Life

Today I'll post for Friday and Saturday a few random items; it was a good mix of city and new territory experience and a chance to catch my breathe. 

Tram spotting in Central:

Paper Suites.   Yes these are suites made out of paper for the purpose of being burnt as offerings so that people's ancestors can receive the real possessions in the afterlife. You can buy practically anything in miniature form - cars, watches, bags, phones...

City of Wheels.   There are several creative forms of transporting goods around including these trolleys, baskets and bicycles.

And my special find today - the Esprit OUTLET shop with a 40% sale!

This afternoon it was a trip to Yeun Long to visit one of the housing estates near there.
we found a lake in the middle, peaceful even if it is man-made.

Taking a stroll with friends and their baby daughter.

And my favourite yummy food item for today is this Indonesian freshly made drink "Cendol" made with Tapioca, Coconut and Tandon leaves.

Getting back into the swing of things

After any holiday getting back to routine of work is tough, like now, even with the intrigue of a relatively new city to explore.  The past two days have been focused on reducing my pile of email and trying to get to gym, do some shopping and practice healthy cooking. The last three items seem non noteworthy except when I'm in Hong Kong they are tougher than reducing my inbox:
Shopping = some ingredients are really tough to find in HK, this week after 1hour of searching between multiple shops I gave up on the key ingredient;
Cooking = smaller kitchen than I'm used to means a real juggle so that it takes twice as long to prepare something with more than three ingredients;
Gym = the gym near the office that I planned to 'pop in during lunch time' proved to be such a hike and bustle that by the time I got there it was time to head back.

OK OK, I'll stop with the Princess Syndrome, of course I do realise that if this is all I have to mention the past two days then life is pretty good  :-) The key take away is that I have started to get under the hood of the practicalities and adjustments of life in HK.

The positive spin to my gripes above - putting together meals becomes a creative experience, I'm learning to use minimal number of ingredients in a meal, and gym becomes an outdoor rather than indoor experience.

South Korea has not left my memory just yet, and coming back I can't help but compare it to HK. I'm afraid to say Hong Kong doesn't shape up well.  In my humble opinion Hong Kong is dirtier, noisier, more air polluted, smellier, WAY more crowded and unpleasant to walk around, grubbier, less fresh and crisp, dustier, and did I mention crowded?  Apparently I still need to visit China, after which I'm told Hong Kong will feel like South Korea in comparison. I guess everything is relative.

In case you are wondering what I'm going on about, the below photo is a snap I took yesterday during NON rush hour, I left the apartment 11am, and my journey time was 1hour 15mins of this.

This is my new 'comfort food' -  Mango Papaya Milk - first thing I bought when I arrived back in HK - very yum.

PS Photos uploaded in previous entry on South Korea

Some Soul in Seoul

OK, I know this blog is about Hong Kong, but since I have just returned from a wonderful holiday in South Korea and my heart is warm from all the great things I have seen and experienced, I can't skip mentioning it here. So I'm thinking of this post as part of the experience of living in Hong Kong - in less than 4 hours you can visit many unique places in Asia.

So what is so great about South Korea, or Seoul in particular? Isn't it just like Hong Kong, another busy Asian city? Well short answer - No! It is very different and offers unique experiences for visitors. Of course there are many similarities but let me try capture a few of my impressions:

- Seoul is a Trendy place.

The fashion worn by locals around town look like they put effort in, often MEN more so than women. The jeans are the latest colours and styles, not just navy the blue kind, and I am sure their hair salon budget for the week is more than mine for the year. People blend in with the pin up adverts behind them. And yes, the people are also all beautiful. I know this might sound strange, but statistically there are often a few striking people that stand out, whereas here while walking around everyone has a picture perfect face. Unfortunately from the number of plastic surgery adverts around I'm guessing it may not all be natural. And then no need to mention the skinny look, which is standard in Asia. So in summary a country filled with beautiful, well-dressed people.

The thing I found quite liberating is that the cutesy girly style is all over and accepted by guys and girls alike, but not in a pansy way but in a fun, innocent way. So think Hello Kitty and spread it wider and further than what you have seen before, but also with the happy smiling attitude that goes with it. And then turn it up a notch with Koren Pop - or K-Pop -  music style of Hip Hop dance that is playing in most stores and on the streets.
In case you are not familiar with K-Pop it is a mixture of trendy Western music and high-energy Japanese pop and many K-pop music videos have colourful visuals and a catchy beat. Dance is an integral part of K-pop.
Now personally I don't like Hello Kitty and overly sugary music, but I do like wearing pretty dresses, putting a flower in my hair, carrying a flower Cath-Kidston-type bag around and dancing when the music is right, which is most of the time in South Korea. Even the subways had this little jingle to indicate when the train was arriving that made me wiggle and smile.

In Seoul there is a balance of East meets West - The number of cafes and coffee shops selling copious amounts of coffee Starbucks style, including Starbucks itself, together with US ice-cream & food chain outlets on every street gives the impression that the US has (had?) a large influence in the country. There are of course the local eateries too but the US brands are almost never out of eye shot. Though I'm not sure which has the biggest influence - the US or France - since there were just as many French named bakeries and restaurants, though not French chains, just with French names and deco style.

The buildings and architecture offer interesting contrasts - there are many uniquely designed buildings from those that have a glass bubble popping off the side, to UFO-style bagel-shaped structure floating above it, to the traditional temple design and hanok style houses (houses are still being built like that today). The city felt modern and fresh but also hadn't lost the feel of its heritage.

That's it for today.. watch this space for further comments and pictures coming soon.


Photo Impressions added 5th October:

You too can learn K-Pop!

Street shot:  a guy in his Capri Jeans waiting outside a coffee shop and a couple under an umbrella showcase the fashion

One of the funky buildings

Missing some Dutch coffee anyone?

Shopping street shot  - people posing for a picture

Apparently the world's best coffee?

Even Koreans can be blonde now