Posted by Raphael on Sep 18, 2012 in Personal | 0 comments

What an adventure…my two weeks up in Hong Kong was a good break away from the day to day experiences I’ve had back home. But by normal vacation standards, it kinda sucked. There wasn’t really any sight seeing done, most of my time was either spent sleeping or babysitting my child at my inlaws house, and any chance we had at shopping turned out empty handed. Well, I DID get 1 shirt.

But that’s ok. We knew that these pilgrimages back to Hong Kong were just opportunities for my child to get some face time with my wife’s side of the family and by that measure it was a success. They loved seeing him, and my boy…well, he gradually warmed up to all of them towards the end of the trip. He DID spend the first third of the trip sick…which marked my first experience to visit a Hong Kong hospital as well as a traditional chinese healer. Can’t say I enjoyed either of these experiences but chalk that up to another thing I’ve done.

Interestingly enough, trips overseas like these have become more and more of a group experience these days…I had just as much fun tweeting and facebooking (is it a verb now?) about my daily experiences as I had just being there. Getting instant feedback from friends or even support during the times my boy was sick up there made it less traumatic and brought some much needed perspective about the situation. Being able to take a Instagram shot anytime and have people instantly remark about it was fantastic. The world is a much smaller place now.

I did have enough time to myself during this trip to collect some advice for any of you looking to visit Hong Kong:

1. Take some kleenex with you everywhere. There is seriously VERY FEW restaurants that offer napkins in Hong Kong. I thought my wife was joking when she first told me this until I realized she wasn’t kidding. I don’t know if it’s a cost issue…they offered wooden chopsticks and fancy dinner settings in some of these joints, but still no napkins. There are either 7 million greasy mouthed chinese people walking around the city each day, or everyone just prefers to bring their own.
2. Get used to sharing personal space. Any hole in the wall joint with a reputation for good food will be packed with wall-to-wall people. If a space opens up on any table, you’ll be directed to sit there amongst all the other blank faced strangers. It didn’t even phase me anymore. It’s almost like riding a bus, I just expected it to happen. Get in an elevator and expect it to be jammed so close you’ll be breathing down someone else’s neck. Yes, this is not always the case…but don’t be surprised or put off is all I’m saying.
3. Best time to visit is around late Sept or early October right around the time it starts cooling off but it’s not freezing. My first week up there I felt like I was walking around a sauna every day. By the tail end of the trip it was already much more comfortable. One that note, if you’re a big shopper, expect that they’ll only be selling winter gear by this time of year. Not to bad for those of you who share similar seasons…but for us Hawaii folks, there isn’t really much clothing worth buying around this time of year. (thus the reason I only came back with 1 graphic tee….that was printed in the US)
4. Noise. It’s going to be loud in all Chinese restaurants. It’s just fact. There’s no denying that us Chinese folks talk freaking loud. It’s another level entirely in this city and it’s something of a spectacle in itself. Couple that with the fact I have 1 gimped ear that sounds like a broken speaker anytime there’s loud noises…the experience in a restaurant was quite unnerving. After a while that becomes white noise…very fucking LOUD white noise, but still manageable so you can enjoy the food.
5. Don’t drink the tea that you see in a bowl. That’s used for cleaning your restaurant dishes and utensils. I’m still not used to this practice to be very honest, but apparently it’s quite normal for everyone to use hot tea to sanitize all the chopsticks, plates and cups before you use them for your meals. Doesn’t matter how fine the establishment is either. Now my first instinct was disgust. I thought to myself, “how fucking dirty is this stuff that you have to sear off the germs before I use it?”.  But when you think about it…why not?  How is any restaurant stuff clean enough to serve the next person. The fact they made this practice a normal experience doesn’t make the restaurant look bad and gives you at least some peace of mind.

That’s about all I can think of for now. If any of you out there have visited or live in Hong Kong with extra tips or comments, please let me know.

/sigh. Another trip done. I look forward to my next one coming up to the Big Island where we plan absolutely NOTHING!