Hong Kong 2006 February

[Written 28 February 2006]

Five years have passed since the first time I came to HK. Back then, I had come straight from the torrid Shanghai summer- riding non-cooled buses, pushing and shoving my way through work and play on four hours sleep and four cups of coffee a day, speeding through life whether by taxi, airplane or bicycle. Hong Kong then was a ridiculous high-pictures of that time remind me that it was probably one of the happiest times of my life simply because I could walk the streets and live my life without getting stared at.

This time back to HK I have traveled and done far more than I had five years ago. While I may not be as ecstatic to visit Hong Kong this time, still my perspective has given me more ways to appreciate HK.

My first impression of coming back this time is that HK reminds me of Singapore in a lot of ways- the British colonial influence is there in both cases and both have heavy amounts of British colonials--- superficially as well there is a lot of similarity in the palm-lined streets and large harbors of both places; however, HK compares favorably in many ways, for example while they both have good service and advanced infrastructures, HK manages to have these conditions without feeling soulless, as Singapore is. The first time I visited HK I still hadn’t been to Singapore and hence had nothing to compare, and I wonder why there is the difference.

One thought I had was that the difference could be mainly due to critical ethnic masses- HK is and has been majority-Cantonese- with a speckling of Hakka, Shanghainese, and other random mainlanders as well as Filipinas, Indians and Indonesians whereas Singapore is more evenly split between mixed (mainly [Hoklo/hokkien?] and Cantonese) Chinese, Indians and Malays. HK may be a city with a bit of an identity crisis at times but Singapore is more of a city without any identity whatsoever.

Another difference is the level of growth- HK is lined with what are quite possibly 70s-vintage 30+ story skyscrapers along with buildings from the 90s. Singapore on the other hand feels more like a product of the 80s or later- somehow Singapore has a shiny corporate veneer on everything there no matter when it was built. One has to wonder what the real estate development rates in the two places were during those two time periods- I think a comparison of the two would be quite edifying---furthermore what are the occupancy rates these days I wonder. One would suppose that judging by the high prices of real estate in HK that the occupancy rates in HK are quite high- for that matter I wonder how HK compares to Shanghai in land area, amount of buildings, and occupancy rates.

Another thing that HK and Singapore have in common is that the people here are quite open to eating Japanese food. Food cultures in both places are quite well developed, HK has its cha can tings and Singapore has its hawker centers. I also am once again amazed with the fact that China produced both the Hokkien people who live in SE Asia and Singapore as well as the Cantonese in HK. The world is an interesting place for me today.