Hong Kong - The City of Nights (Lights)

First Visit At Hong Kong

Hong Kong is a difficult place to describe. The Hong Kong Tourism Board
calls it “Asia’s World Class City,” but I have my doubts. I suppose it
depends on what one considers “world class.”
How do you describe a place that has one of the world’s largest stock
markets, a landmass of 426 square miles (smaller than the Oahu), a landscape
consisting mostly of mountains, one of the highest population densities in the world (16,469 people per square mile), and no natural resources?

 

A view from Victoria Peak, looking north over Central 

District, Victoria Harbour and Kowloon, at night

It’s a place whose main language is Cantonese Chinese, but whose laws are
drafted in English. A place where, due to weak zoning laws, you can find a
methadone clinic near a playground, and “love hotels” located near schools.
(Love hotels are places that are rented on an hourly-basis to couples.)
Hong Kong is a place where every major multinational has its regional office
- from General Electric to Sony Corporation, from Exxon Mobil to Vodaphone.
It’s urban landscape is dotted with 80-story glass and steel towers.
Yet, the city sometimes seems backward by Western standards. In villages
located in the outskirts of Hong Kong, ancient Chinese laws are still
enforced governing the inheritance of family property by only male heirs.
Homes lack central heating or air conditioning; tap water is heated through
gas heaters located in bathrooms and kitchens; there is almost no recycling.

Fun At Hong Kong

There’s no anti-discrimination law, but thankfully thousands of people from
all over the world - British, Americans, Canadians, Indians, Japanese,
Koreans, Filipinos, Thais, Indonesians - co-exist peacefully.
It’s a place of my family’s ancestry, where the old and the new, the East
and the West, converge.
I always wanted to work in Hong Kong, and after months of planning, I
finally saved up enough money to cover my flight ticket, temporary
accommodation, and several months of living expenses.
I reached Hong Kong in August 1995; I was 27-years-old. What was initially
planned as a three-to-five year stint turned into a thirteen-year stay.

Living in Hong Kong

Hong Kong ranks as one of the world’s most expensive places to live.
According to human resources consulting firm Mercer, Hong Kong ranks as the
sixth-most-expense city in the world after such places as New York, Tokyo
and London.
A 600-square-feet apartment near Central (Hong Kong’s central business
district) now rents for $2000 to $2,500 per month. The same apartment sells
for C$800,000 to C$1 million depending on its facilities (e.g. club house,

A panoramic view of the Hong Kong Island skyline at night

gym) and exact location.
When I first came to Hong Kong, I found an apartment that was located 45
minutes away by subway from Central. The rent was about $1,300, the most I
could afford at the time.
The apartment was only 500 square feet, and it had three tiny bedrooms. I
placed my clothes in one bedroom, my suitcases in the second. The last one
could barely fit my bed.
Because of Hong Kong’s limited space, property developers build 400- to
700-square-foot apartments with two or three bedrooms, designed to
accommodate an extended family including grandparents. In many Hong Kong
households, aging parents live with their adult children.