拜拜香港

seven years ago wrapped up in warm winter clothes i boarded a plane at tokyo's narita airport bound for hong kong.
my adrenalin was pumping as not only was this my first trip to the so-called "east meets west" city of hong kong, but it was gonna be new home for the next few years (errr, two years turned into seven!)

arriving in early december the very first thing i remember was "my god it's hot!" and a close second was "man, they sure know how to build them buildings high!"

hong kong is a vibrant city and i have a love hate relationship with it.
a sneak peak into my day (before i became a house-husband) might explain why.


showered and dressed, ready to start the day.
as i leave my apartment with the to-die-for view (LOVE HK!) (click here to see my view if you haven't already) i step outside into another muggy humid energy-zapping morning (HATE HK!) and my hair starts to frizz (HATE HK!).
after a short walk i'm at my local subway station which is airconed (LOVE HK!) and before i can straighten out that frizz my train has already pulled into the platform. with a clean punctual train every 1-2 minutes i don't even have to worry about timetables (LOVE HK!).
on my way to the office i stop off at a local eatery to buy my breakfast. you see, here in hong kong we eat breakfast at the office, at our desk, starting from 9am (LOVE HK!).
the lady serving the hordes of people lining up for breakfast yells at me in cantonese "what do you want?". this brash service used to freak me out but i'm now used to it and place my order with a smile. breakfast is a bargan with a coffee just about thrown in for free (LOVE HK!).
it's a shame that just about everywhere you go to in hong kong the aircon is set at a chilly sub-arctic temperature; even in winter... (HATE HK!) so it doesn't matter that it's a hot 30 odd degrees outside i'm now eating my breakfast wishing i had bought a warmer cardigan with me or even a down-jacket... (HATE HK!)
come lunch time and my colleagues and i make a mad rush to the yumcha restaurant where even though we were first out the door there are already hordes of other office ladies lined up waiting for a table (HATE HK!) after a bit of a moan and groan we are seated in an even colder room than our office (HATE HK!) but my goosebumps (or chicken skin as the locals call it) are gone as i'm soon enjoying some delicious dim sum from piping hot pork buns to noodles to rice to chicken's feet to what the heck is that? to mango puddings (LOVE HK!) and to top it all off the bill comes to a rather cheap HK$XX per person (LOVE HK!)
afternoon feels long and drawn out but i only have myself to blame for eating way to much of that yummy food during lunchtime.
after a few meetings and a bit of blogging (*hush hush*) the day has come to an end before i know it. it's now officially happy hour time (LOVE HK!).
now i'm drinking ice cold foreign beers at a crazy cheap price (LOVE HK!) while rubbing shoulders with the foreign expats and locals too (LOVE HK!). gotta love this unique mix of "east meets west"; literally.
before i call it a night my friends and i dart into a local cha-chaan-teng for some late night noodles. although this joint isn't very clean or the service that friendly (LOVE/HATE HK!) it's the best place to go when you have late night munches.
as i stumble out the door (maybe that last drink wasn't the best idea...) i jump into a taxi and in near perfect cantonese (well i like to think so) say the name of my apartment building and my driver doesn't need to check a map to find out where it is (LOVE HK!). within no time i'm home and paying for the taxi which is cheap compared to most developing countries (LOVE HK!)
as i drift off to sleep the city is still pumping; hong kong never sleeps (LOVE HK!).


so you get my drift right?

for the last seven years i have called this tiny plot of land at the southern end of the huge mother land (china) home.
hong kong even became the birth place of my son kou-chan so it will always have a special significance for our family.
in less than 2 months time i will be saying 拜拜 (goodbye) to hong kong where western me met eastern hong kong.




so where am i going you ask?
back to were this adventure first started, my second home called tokyo.