HK & China
Aug 5th, 2007 by Ashley
I recently came back from a trip to HK & China, and boy, is it hot & humid there! The temperature goes up as high as the mid 30s C and if you’re outside for a long time, it gets really sticky. The good thing about it though, is that things are way cheaper than here in Vancouver. Clothes and food are very inexpensive when you convert the dollars.
Here are just some things that I noticed about China & HK. Many of them are exaggerated, but they’re all pretty much true.
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In China:
Car honks are their way of life.
Drivers honk like there’s no tomorrow.
They’d die without car honks.
Drivers get mad if anything stops.
They’re insane lane changers.
Road lines are invisible to them.
Cars, taxis, buses, bicyclers, motorcyclists, & pedestrians all get very close to cars, taxis, buses, bicyclers, motorcyclists, & pedestrians.
Pedestrians don’t get their way. Cars do.
Car crashes don’t exist.
Ambulances & firetrucks also don’t exist.
Absolutely everything smells like smoke.
There are ashtrays on every table.
You inherit 50 toothpicks and 5 packs of tissues a day.
Restaurants either don’t give you napkins or they give you a pack of tissues.
You wash your own dishes before you eat.
Married people don’t wear rings.
All the babies are boys. Or girls who look like boys.
Strangers talk to strangers.
Heat & humidity mean sticky all over.
Toilets don’t have seats.
Made up words & bad spelling & horrible grammar mean straight up laugh out loud. (Sorry, but it is funny. 
)
Everyone speaks mandarin & Cantonese except the hotel.
No one thought I could understand or speak Cantonese.
Hotels don’t have clocks.
It rains 2 minutes a day.
Despite everything, it is surprisingly clean.
———-
In Hong Kong:
An apartment bedroom is more or less the size of a queen bed.
Heat & humidity still mean sticky all over.
Some toilets still don’t have seats.
You inherit 100 toothpicks and 20 packs of tissues a day.
Restaurants still either don’t give you napkins or they give you a pack of tissues.
You still wash your own dishes before you eat.
Hotels still don’t have clocks.
It still rains 2 minutes a day.
Everyone has a cell phone.
Everyone uses their cell phone at least once every meal.
———-
A 12 hour flight gives you 3 meals, a thousand drinks, 3 movies, Chinese shows, news, more shows, and a dark airplane.
Two 12 hour flights make me want to kill myself & my ears pop like hell.
Fortunately, only a day or two of jet lag.
great post Ashley, recently one of my collegues went to China and Hong Kong she was pretty impressed by the ancient culture.
Thanks prasanga. I like the ancient culture of China as well.
Do you think that it is more busy there or in USA city like New York?
randy bragg,
Both New York and HK are really busy, but I’d say HK is more chaotic than New York.
In NY, when I was there, there were some streets where there weren’t that many people, but in HK, it seems like every little corner you turn to, there was always a huge crowd of people passing by.
I just got back from Beijing and Shanghai! Last month, it was beautifull but I prefer London
x