Joi gin....
....roughly translates as "Goodbye", well actually directly translates to "See you."
Just had my last full ni
ght in Hong Kong. Because I fly so early in the morning I'll be heading off to the airport tonight. I'll be really sad to leave Hong Kong behind. I've been made to feel astoundingly welcome here. Maybe thats partially due to the effort I've put into being polite and speaking a little Cantonese - certainly the common observation from people is that they assume I live here as I make more effort than the average ex-pat, and certainly more effort than your average tourist (all tourist guides say that everyone here speaks a little English so not many people bother apparently). I certainly feel extremely comfortable here. The Chinese culture and history is fascinating, and as a result of embracing that, and taking the time to learn a little about the customs and way of life it's been an exhilerating experience at times. I've missed home, or rather the people at home terribly though.
Little things that I'll take with me are memories of the courtesy that people bestow upon each other - caring about each other in a way thats long since been forgotten in England. People moving out of seats to let old people sit down on the MTR. Doors being held open for people. The smiles from the beggars on the streets even when you have no change to give them, but at least have the courtesy to make eye contact and give them a "Dzao san".
Even in the restaurants and pubs I've been made to feel like a regular. In one restaurant I educated the staff in the methods behind the making of a "wobbly" (for those who don't know, a wobbly coffee is a filter coffee, with a shot of alcohol, in my case JD), which they found most amusing, and now on my entrance they simply look at me and say "wobbly?", something that made other English people sat at the bar look up confused :-) In the Royals Pub next door (a faux English Pub, with British memorabilia around the place - including a 7" single of Sam Fox's Touch Me framed above the bar??!) I walk in and have a Jack and Coke waiting for me by the time I get to my seat at the bar.
I'll miss the staff at the Alisan as well. They really have been most helpful - giving me directions to places on my "to do" list and providing a better service than I've experienced in some 5 star hotels, let alone a budget guest house.
I'll miss the cleanliness and the order. It seems that whenever you turn a corner there is another "Hawking Officer" (someone there to enforce the no spitting on the street laws), Street cleaner or police officer. Before I came people were filling me with visions of a savage, cutthroat world here where street crime is common and people live in fear. I've experienced the exact opposite and am staggered at the misconceptions that people have. I feel safer here walking through Victoria Park in the middle of the night than I do walking through Skipton. As a tourist i think it's always good to be vigilant. I carry a spare wallet to give away in case of being mugged, with inconsequential bank cards and a few Hong Kong Dollars in it, and ensure that if I carry my bag it is securely over my shoulder. I keep my wallet in my front pocket so I can feel it (uncomfortably!) digging into my leg at all times. These are sensible precautions though and nothing that I would consider unusual, but I have not spoken to anyone here who has experienced crim
e of any sort. I've learned to navigate through the crowds without getting caught up to an almost intuitive degree and the time it took me to get from "a to b" has almost halved as a result.
Unless anything exciting happens this afternoon, this will be my last Blog entry for a while, as there is no net access at my hotel in Sydney, so I suspect I'll be offline until I hit Agnes Water. I'm hoping to be able to get in touch with people back home this afternoon for that self-same reason - no net access means no Skype, and i'm not sure when I'll actually get to Rogers pad. It could be as late as the 22nd, although I'm aiming for earlier.
Just had my last full ni
ght in Hong Kong. Because I fly so early in the morning I'll be heading off to the airport tonight. I'll be really sad to leave Hong Kong behind. I've been made to feel astoundingly welcome here. Maybe thats partially due to the effort I've put into being polite and speaking a little Cantonese - certainly the common observation from people is that they assume I live here as I make more effort than the average ex-pat, and certainly more effort than your average tourist (all tourist guides say that everyone here speaks a little English so not many people bother apparently). I certainly feel extremely comfortable here. The Chinese culture and history is fascinating, and as a result of embracing that, and taking the time to learn a little about the customs and way of life it's been an exhilerating experience at times. I've missed home, or rather the people at home terribly though.
Little things that I'll take with me are memories of the courtesy that people bestow upon each other - caring about each other in a way thats long since been forgotten in England. People moving out of seats to let old people sit down on the MTR. Doors being held open for people. The smiles from the beggars on the streets even when you have no change to give them, but at least have the courtesy to make eye contact and give them a "Dzao san".
Even in the restaurants and pubs I've been made to feel like a regular. In one restaurant I educated the staff in the methods behind the making of a "wobbly" (for those who don't know, a wobbly coffee is a filter coffee, with a shot of alcohol, in my case JD), which they found most amusing, and now on my entrance they simply look at me and say "wobbly?", something that made other English people sat at the bar look up confused :-) In the Royals Pub next door (a faux English Pub, with British memorabilia around the place - including a 7" single of Sam Fox's Touch Me framed above the bar??!) I walk in and have a Jack and Coke waiting for me by the time I get to my seat at the bar.
I'll miss the staff at the Alisan as well. They really have been most helpful - giving me directions to places on my "to do" list and providing a better service than I've experienced in some 5 star hotels, let alone a budget guest house.
I'll miss the cleanliness and the order. It seems that whenever you turn a corner there is another "Hawking Officer" (someone there to enforce the no spitting on the street laws), Street cleaner or police officer. Before I came people were filling me with visions of a savage, cutthroat world here where street crime is common and people live in fear. I've experienced the exact opposite and am staggered at the misconceptions that people have. I feel safer here walking through Victoria Park in the middle of the night than I do walking through Skipton. As a tourist i think it's always good to be vigilant. I carry a spare wallet to give away in case of being mugged, with inconsequential bank cards and a few Hong Kong Dollars in it, and ensure that if I carry my bag it is securely over my shoulder. I keep my wallet in my front pocket so I can feel it (uncomfortably!) digging into my leg at all times. These are sensible precautions though and nothing that I would consider unusual, but I have not spoken to anyone here who has experienced crim
e of any sort. I've learned to navigate through the crowds without getting caught up to an almost intuitive degree and the time it took me to get from "a to b" has almost halved as a result.Unless anything exciting happens this afternoon, this will be my last Blog entry for a while, as there is no net access at my hotel in Sydney, so I suspect I'll be offline until I hit Agnes Water. I'm hoping to be able to get in touch with people back home this afternoon for that self-same reason - no net access means no Skype, and i'm not sure when I'll actually get to Rogers pad. It could be as late as the 22nd, although I'm aiming for earlier.
posted by Roachy at 11:57 am
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