My guide to you: The Hong Kong Experience.
What can I say to what comes across as a 'highly populated fast paced' city....
Pros being:
Opening / Closing times. Apart from places such like the bank and postal services the majority of the stores, entertainment and restaurants are open until later hours of the day, midnight (in comparison to the UK where stores are closed on ave 6pm, 8/9pm in the capitol / late night shopping) which means aside from going going home eating dinner showering and sleeping (I refer to the full-time 9-5 workers here) or to the pub till 11pm, I'll talk about these later, or to the club. There is a wider variety of activities to do after hours such like late night shopping until midnight, not having to rush to the cinema as the last viewing is at midnight, going to have a round of darts, bowling, eating, kareoke if you fancy it, I'm slowly loosing memory of what there is to offer here but you get the drift. Which would almost guarantee you with a busy lifestyle.
The wide variety of food at affordable prices, even though the majority of Hong Kong's population is that of native Chinese ethnicity, due to the British colonization there's a vast variety of food on offer within Hong Kong, and I'm not just talking about with a large price tag either, $100 (estimated to around 8GBP) is the average for my daily evening meal at restaurants. However you can find yourself some delicious bargain food for as little as $18 noodles from the side streets or $40 for a peppered lunch at the food court which is around the same price as McDonalds, but a million times better!
24/7 Transport to accommodate the needs of passengers, I haven't expressed my love for minibus' enough. Although they can be seen as dangerous as they speed round corners but it's because they're convenient, they cut to the chase and get you places on time whilst having a view of the places around you (as opposed to taking the tube). Which in turn provides you with the opportunity to explore the place you're coming from on the way, and going to. Most of the late night transport I take are via minibus - after clubbing etc, as be warned, the trains stop at midnight. You could be completely badass and stake out till 5am for the first train of course (which I have also done on numerous occasions)
This leads me on to addressing those even more hardcore party-goers. Clubs, and most bars close around 4-5am in which is enough time for you to get those alcohol induced food cravings out the way and be on your way to the train station to drag your tired ass home.
Separate from above but another pro is that many bars, that I know of, are open bar once you are admitted paid entry, perfect for those on a budget and preparing for pre-drinks on the night ahead. Ladies, most weeknights are free entry. Sorry lads, sexism at its best/worst again I suppose if you're taking a girl out you're kind of saving on paying for her too right?
Again as I've touched on before about the British colonization, is that a benefit from that is now the majority and I use that word lightly, have proficient English skills to serve you what you need (you may need to stick to basic English). However unlike other places that I've traveled to (eg. Korea) you wont need to pick up much basic native language skills as I had to there. You may come across a few street menus that have solely Chinese words on them but you can do as I do, eye up people eating and their food.. say you want what they have - if it looks good, you'll then begin to familiarize yourself with a handful of Chinese words you can then use on other Chinese menus.
Random fact: the size of Hong Kong, home to 7 million, is infact the same as London (within M25's radius) which populates around 7.8 million people - The only difference it that Hong Kong's alot more tightly packed so everywhere you go practically feels like oxford street.
The cons:
People, there's so many of them! I do miss how spacious it is in Britain!
People, again, the majority of people here are rather rude and don't seem to have much patience, it's like their life is about to end if they don't get on that train. Let's not forget the next one will arrive in 2-5 minutes.
5.5 days work for those of you considering to move and work out here a 5-day work is considered as a benefit.
Busy schedules lead for empty pockets, be prepared to be aware of your expenditure. You could live a happy life and saving money as you would in the for example Britain, as there's less to do by default you save a lot more - in Hong Kong it's a whole new ball game, if you want to save money you won't be wondering the streets at night.
Disclaimer : this is all in my opinion and my point of view, should you agree or disagree with it. I apologize if this may/may not offend people.
So here's my experience / advice. I will return with another blog in the series of a guide to food / shopping / sights&travelling / clubbing&drinking - that is. If you'd like.
I hope you're all well! I know I say this a lot, I'll get back into blogging soon, and next time with pictures!
love k x
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