Hong Kong Beginning

I've arrived in Hong Kong! 

The past few days have been a crazy rush of getting introduced to my new job and new city.  Hong Kong is definitely like no other place I've ever been.  There is a frenetic energy that pulses all around, from the main streets to the alleyways, there is a constant flurry of activity.  Purposeful businesspeople head through the crowds, friends meeting for lunch chat and stroll, and I wander, looking up to the (smoggy) sky, checking out the buildings around.

16 minutes from Hong Kong after 36 hours of travel. 

I made it to Hong Kong after a bit of a crazy flight from Singapore.  I had my first proper introduction to a mainland tourist group, and let me say culture shock.  My inner Anthropologist was wildly scolding my human nature when I found myself aghast when the woman next to me took off her pants nonchalantly mid-flight, when I entered the bathroom and discovered, thanks to the shoe marks, that someone had used the toilet as a squat toilet, and when I could not hear myself think because of the immense number (and volume) of conversations going on around me.  As I have come to find out from talking with the people in HK I've met, this is totally normal for groups such as those.  So, I have taken it with a grain of salt.  Though, somewhere over the South China Sea, I began to ask myself what I had gotten myself into!

Driving on the left and some smog... oh, and beware incident!

But, everything comes to an end, and that flight, thankfully, did.  I was greeted at the airport by my new boss, his two kids, and my co-worker.  They happily carted my luggage to the car and we set off for the city.  Hong Kong airport is on Lantau island, which is quite removed from the city.  As we drove in, I was surprised to see so much green space.  I had though of HK as being a super urban environment (which it is in places), but out on Lantau, there are lots of mountains with dense vegetation.  Also, HK'ers drive on the left, as in Britain, so it was eerie for me to sit in the front left seat without being the driver!  This is a picture I took as we were getting ready to drive over one of HK's many bridges.  I wish I could tell you that this was fog, like San Francisco, but it is sadly smog.  Couple the mainland's factories with HK's car pollution, and this is what you get most of the time. You can also see at Taxi in front of us to the left.  All of the taxis in HK are color-coded to where they drive.  So on Lantau, they are green, I think.  Apparently, it takes a good deal of bargaining to get them to go into another zone.  Taxis where I live now are red.

ICC building to the right

As we drove into the city, we passed right by Hong Kong's tallest building, the ICC (International Commerce Center).  It is also home to the world's highest hotel, the Ritz Carlton.  My boss' son told me that he had his birthday dinner at the top! It is 118 floors tall!  This isn't a great picture, but it is the tall building to the right side of this array of skyscrapers.

This building is on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong which is the peninsula that juts out from Mainland China.  Directly to the South, across the harbor, is Hong Kong Island, where I live.  We drove in a tunnel under the harbor to get to HK, and when we emerged, we were in the middle of total skyscraper-ville.  Everything was vertical, and very close together.  It's what I imagine New York City would be like, just on steroids.  My office is right in the middle of all this craziness, in a place called Sheung Wan.  We're only a few kilometers off the harbor.  We parked in a car park (HK talk for a parking garage), and went and had some dinner at a great little pizza place close to the church.  After pizza, we went and checked out the church, where I got to see my new desk and the youth space.  I will be happy there, for sure.

View out my window - HK at night

 

As we were attempting to leave the car park to go to my host family's flat, my boss discovered that his battery was dead!  We abandoned the car there temporarily and lugged my bags down to a nearby taxi stand.  My co-worker and I hopped into the taxi while my boss and his kids sorted out the car.  As the taxi climbed up the mountain, I could see the lights of HK even better.  The flat I'm so lucky to be staying in has a gorgeous, sweeping view of Victoria Harbor, looking towards Kowloon.  You can see the ICC building to the extreme left of the picture, with the ICF building on the HK island side appearing the tallest in this picture. 

My hosts are actually out of town until the beginning of September, so I got settled in by my co-worker who lived here when she first moved to Hong Kong and the family's helper, Jeany.  A lot of families in Hong Kong have these so-called helpers, usually from Indonesia or the Philippines.  They live-in, do the cooking, cleaning, laundry and anything else that needs to be done in the house.  I was a bit uncomfortable when Jeany asked me what time I wanted breakfast in the morning, but I was advised by my co-worker to go along with it.  Apparently, the helpers see the kitchen as their domain and can be insulted if you don't allow them to help you.  So, I'll be getting used to that, at least until I move into my own place and have to figure out how to cook, shop and do laundry on my own here.  It's like a halfway house for new HK'ers!

Alright, enough for now.  Next time: dumplings, what's your sign, and my first lifegroup meeting...

The Adventurer