things i dislike about hong kong
i can’t hate hong kong, but there are things i do not like about it:
1) the discrimination. domestic helpers have such a tough go of it. they get two weeks of holidays every two years. there is a minimum wage, but MANY helpers get paid below the minimum wage, because they are so grateful to have a job anyway. many helpers sleep under a table, or share a room with a child, one who may be in his or her teens. the children they care for can be rude, hit them, and the helpers are told not to discipline them. they are subject to unwanted sexual advances from their employers and don’t say no because they are scared of losing their job, often cannot eat the food they enjoy (told to eat the leftovers from what their employers had), often do not have enough food to eat, are not allowed to eat or shower at their employers on their day off…it is tough for these ladies. and they continue to smile.
2) there are very few opportunities for people with disabilities & very little public awareness/government campaigns regarding disabilities.
3) the pollution
4) no "crunchies". cheetos and crunch-its do what they can…but hawkins rules
5) difficult to get a good bra, although to be fair, most of the bras that you purchase here could also double as mattresses when guests come to town. padded like you wouldn’t believe
6) you can’t buy liptons onion soup. when we were on the post-graduate begger’s budget, lipton’s onion soup was an ingredient in most of our recipes!
7) mahi mahi isn’t available here
8) if something happened to a member of our family, it would take us a minimum of 15 hours (probably closer to 18-24, depending on connections) to get home
9) U2 won’t come here for concerts, but to be fair, kd lang DID
10) public does not get listened to. it would be very discouraging to be a member of an advocacy group, because you RARELY make a difference. a great example is DISNEY. i don’t take who is running it these days, i am not impressed. disney hong kong is opening in a few months, and the site they are building it on PREVIOUSLY was the home of hong kong’s pink dolphins. never heard of pink dolphins? that is because they are very rare, virtually extinct. the dolphins were happy in their little secluded home, until disney decided a mouse should make it his home. the tourist association and government were praying that hong kong would get to house the mouse, think of the dollars from mainland tourists!!! so disney applied and were granted the site.
what about the dolphins? the protection group and papers burst into gear, talking about the likely fate of the dolphins, once ousted from their homes. the government didn’t care enough to make disney change, and disney, aware that no one was going to force them to make costly pay-outs to the pink dolphins, did nothing.
i don’t like disney, and i don’t like that the government values bucks over the environment. if this had been disney anywhere else, PR would have gone into high gear. here, disney barely even acknowledged the dolphin demise they are causing.
ironically, disney is set to open a disney in china. the hk government and tourist board must be as sick as parrots to hear this. ha.
before i forget: the traffic doesn’t bother me. vancouver and toronto, the traffic is way worse, so this is okay.
11) education is expensive, and the pressure on kids starts very young. they have homework by 7 yrs old!! no matter how great i think wearing unforms is, uniforms can’t balance out the pressure the kids are under.
12)it is a transient city. good friends have moved, and almost as bad, people who had the potential to be good friends.
13) there are a lot of people here who don’t want to be here. life is short. if you don’t like it, move. money can’t mean more to you than your happiness.
14) the salty popcorn at the movies is pre-made so by the time i eat it, it is cold and dry. and there is no butter or topping or oil or flavoured salt or whatever. whereas, the sweet popcorn is hot and grossly scented. oh, and lest i forget, items such as dried cuttle fish are also sold. if you end up sitting next to the wrong person, UGH. watch out it stinks.
however, whilst talking about the flicks, i should mention that hong kong is excellent because you can book your own seats before the movie starts. you can do this online, or when you buy the tickets. when you purchase your ticket, you point to the computer and select your seat. this means magnificent gets his aisle seat, 7-10 rows from the front.
15) you can’t sit in public places. there are security guards everywhere who reprimand you if you sit down in a mall, on the wall outside a building…anywhere. and there are few public seating areas. everyone makes fun of mainlanders for squatting..hotel managers hate how the mainlanders even squat in the lobby while waiting for a car or for assistance, but if you don’t have the seats, and you don’t let them sit on the ground…what do you expect?
i still love it here.
australian dave or his wife – thank you for your added feedback..i tried to email you but cannot….i love the seafood restaurants on lamma. we like to take the ferry to lamma then walk to the seafood restaurants, get our fill of mussels, etc and then take the ferry back. thank you for the reminders!
