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Grex Travel Item 11: Hong Kong Is noisy and polluted. Other than that, it's a great place.
Entered by danr on Sun Apr 19 12:53:53 UTC 1992:

   I just got back from four days in Hong Kong.  Here are a few
impressions:
                           --<>--
   Flying to Hong Kong takes a *long* time. It is a fourteen-hour
flight from San Francisco.  They showed three movies and fed us
three times.
   It's like going into a time warp.  We got on the plane on
Sunday at noon, and got off Monday evening about 6 pm. (You cross
the international date line, and the plane took off late.  :(  )
                           --<>--
   HongKong is incredibly noisy.  The traffic, like other big
cities is intense, and the sound of jack hammers and riveters is
everywhere. Despite the fact that HongKong will revert to
Communist rule in 1997, there is construction everywhere.  If
they're not putting up buildings, then they are tearing up the
road or sidewalks to put in wires or pipes, or fix the ones that
are already there.
                           --<>--
   Being a British colony, English is the official language.
Most of the people seem to have a working knowledge of English,
but are not really fluent in it.  All the signs are in both
English and Chinese, which would make it nice for people trying
to learn the language.  The spoken language is Cantonese, which
is different than Mandarin, although both use the same characters
when writing.
   There are four television stations, two Chinese and two English.
The Chinese language stations show English shows, but subtitle or
dub them in Chinese.
                           --<>--
   HongKong is very polluted.  I think the smog is even worse
than in LA.  Even on sunny days a grey pall hangs over the city.
Trucks and boats belch black smoke continually. Both my wife and
I had a little trouble breathing.
    Even so, it is a relatively clean city.  People actually use
trash barrels.  The trash barrels even have ash trays, which
people also use instead of flicking their butts onto the street.
                           --<>--
   The food was very good and relatively cheap.  On Friday, for
example, we had a dim sum lunch with six different dishes and two
Cokes for only $8.50 US.  Except for the chicken and mushrooms
dish, they were all very good.
   People in HongKong seem to love McDonald's.  There were four
McDonald's restaurants in the area we were in, and they were
always crowded with both locals and tourists.  Two of them are
open 24 hours.
                           --<>--
    I learned to use chopsticks.  It wasn't as hard as I thought.
    I don't think I learned the proper use of all the plates and
bowls, though.  Standard issue includes a small bowl with soup
spoon and a small plate with chopsticks.  If you order soup, they
bring out another, slightly bigger, bowl and another spoon.
    I think what you are supposed to do is serve yourself rice
into the small bowl, and maybe spoon the entree onto the plate.
You then pick up morsels with the chopsticks, eat it and shovel
some rice into your mouth if you like.
                           --<>--
   HongKong is a city for shopping.  There are stores everywhere,
selling everything you can think of.  At many shops, you bargain
with the seller.
   For example, at one shope my wife wanted to buy a couple of
embroidered handkerchiefs.  The marked price was $260 HK.  At
first, the shop keeper said she would sell them for $180.  When
my wife asked the price for two, the woman said $350.
    When my wife offered $300, the lady gave a little laugh and
said, "At that price, I make nothing." After a little more
dickering, however, my wife got them for $310.
                           --<>--
   Coming home, we entered another time warp.  We left the hotel
at 10 am Saturday morning, and got home at 8 pm Saturday evening,
yet spent a total of 22 hours travel time, 17 of those in the
air.  HK to Seattle: 12 hours, Seattle to Chicago: 4 hours,
Chicago to Detroit: 1 hour.

5 responses total.

#1 of 5 by denise on Wed Apr 22 22:35:00 1992:

Interesting, Dan!  Did you take pictures and/or any journal writing of
your impressions while you were there?  Is this some place you'd ever
go back to someday?  Are the 'natives' friendly/helpful to the tourists?

#2 of 5 by waterrat on Fri Nov 11 19:03:01 1994:

Okay, so it's been more than two years since anyone's written anything
here.  I wasn't grexing back then, or else I would have responded
sooner.  I went to Hong Kong for a week or so back in the summer of
1991, and I really liked it there, and I'd like to go back some day, if
I could.  I think it helped that I knew people there though.  I don't 
know what I would have done if I didn't, besides shop, shop, and shop.
*grin*
It is a really long flight, but I managed to sleep most of the time.
The one disadvantage.  But I think the trip's worth it.
And besides, after you've flown to Hong Kong, any other plane trip 
seems incredibly short and much more bearable.
*grin*
Anyone else ever been bere?  What did you think?  Anyone want to go 
there someday?  If so, why? 
Just trying to spark some discussion, that's all.
*grin*
Man, I gotta stop doing that, grinning, I mean.
Let's see :)
There.

#3 of 5 by headdoc on Sat Nov 12 00:51:00 1994:

So what did you like about the city?  What did you do and see?

#4 of 5 by srw on Sat Nov 12 08:03:10 1994:

What effect is 1997 having on them? Well, back in 1991 it must have seemed an
eternity. Do we have any HK users on Grex?

#5 of 5 by waterrat on Sat Nov 12 19:11:54 1994:

What did I like about the city?  Lots of things!  Let see if I can remember
what I did.  The first day, we went to the, I believe it's called the Hong
Kong park, I don't remember its English name.  There's a part of it that's
an amusement park, with water rides and stuff, and there's a part which
tells you about Chinese history, and other stuff that I have written down
at home somewhere.  Then, the rest of the week, well, one day we went to
this Buddhism place (again, I'm sorry I don't know the English name), which
was really interesting, just to see what another religon is like, and what
the beliefs of the followers are, and how it got started, although I don't
remember much of it now, unfortuately.  Another day, we went on a boat ride 
with friends, and went swimmming in the lake, and then, while the kids were
busy playing and splashing water at each other, some of the adults were
catching fish, which we had for lunch (yummy).  Both of my parents grew up
in Hong Kong, so we went to visit their old schools.  We hung out at a
friend's house for a day, and watched "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids", which 
had Chinese subtitles, interestingly enough.  And like any other visitor, we
shopped.  I think I got half of my summer wardrobe there.  *grin*  And a 
dragon on a rectangular block that stamps out my Chinese name.

As for 1997, I really don't know.  I know people in Hong Kong who are leaving
because of it, and I know people who don't think it will change much, and 
will stay.  As a visitor, I don't think it will make much of a difference,
and I don't think it'll bother me.  I also plan to visit China someday, though
and see the village where my ancestors live, and hear the dialect of Chinese
I speak the best.  Either way, I'll have to deal with the Chinese govt.

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