Wong's Weblog

More Observations

Here is a continuation of observations that were not on the last list.

11) Crocs, those little rubber made sandals/shoes/whatever. They are worn by a lot of people in Asia.  They go so far as to have Croc botiques.  How can such hideous looking foot apparatuses be so appealing for people all over the world? This I will never understand.

12) Men tend not to wear sandals here in HK.  I have been here for just over a month now and have been able to count maybe a handful of men wearing sandals.  I swear I’m the only person that wears Rainbows in this city and i’m pretty sure I get dirty looks…

13) Water comes served hot.  Thats right, hot and sometimes its comes boiling hot in a tea kettle.  So you may ask, what if I want iced water? Well, you mix in the hot water into a cup of ice.  You may also like to know that some places, ice costs extra.  Needless to say, I have not drank much water since I’ve been in HK.  I have become somewhat of a tea connoisseur, if such a thing exists.

14) Napkins are a rarity to find a restaurants.  Some places have wet naps in packages that they leave out but a majority of places just don’t have napkins.  I combat this by carrying with me a little travel sized tissue package with me wherever I go in my manbag. And no, you may not make fun of me for that.

15) I have yet to find a decent cup of coffee.  I still have a few places to try but every restaurant has been a disappointment so far with coffee.  For now, I have to stick with Starbucks and McCafe.

16) The popped collar sensation did make it over the pond but at least I escaped this:

17) Cell phone service is amazing in HK.  I am shocked that my cell phone works while I’m on the MTR (subway) 3 floors underground and I can still make phone calls and hear clearly.  I mean, that is just unbelievable.  I would not go a day without dropping at least 5 phone calls in Phoenix thanks to good ol’ Sprint, who lost 1 million customers in the 1st quarter of 2008 by the way.  If you know me, you knew my frustrations with how crappy Sprint was and is. I can’t recall how many times i’ve thrown my phone across the room or yelled at my phone for dropping a call.  I can’t even begin to describe how sick I was of watching stupid Verizion “can you hear me now?” commercials.  How can my phone not work above ground in America and yet my phone can work 30 – 40 feet below the surface of the earth?  I just don’t get it.

***With regards to the earthquake, I just wanted to thank everyone that left messages regarding my safety.  Nothing was felt in Hong Kong where I was staying at the time the earthquake occurred.  This is truly a tragedy, especially with the deaths of so many children.  Many people lost everything and with China’s population regulating rules, lost their family line. It’s difficult to imagine losing an entire future generation of families in one event.

Observations

1. Chopsticks are still going strong.  Created almost 5,000 years ago, it has defied common day inventions such as the fork and the spork (a freakish experiment of a spoon mixed with a fork).

2. You’re not cool unless you wear Converse All-Stars.

3. Man bags are a must in this culture.  You are probably asking if I have conformed to this custom and the answer is yes…

4. Chinese TV is low-budget yet incredibly entertaining. Chinese variety shows bring happiness and joy to my Sunday nights.  If you would like a taste of what it is like, go on youtube and type in “human tetris.”

5. Water is not served cold at restaurants.  It is served boiling hot which does not lead to a refreshing experience when it is hot and humid.

6. Why is America the only country not using the metric system and Celsius?

7. Walking is fun.

8. When you go to a movie, you actually pick your seat when you purchase the movie ticket.  That is kind of awesome.  Think about all of those times when you have to show up to the newest, greatest movie and have to wait in line for over an hour and then proceed to save seats for your friends who always show up right before the movie starts. Is this not a great solution? By the way, go see Iron Man.  It was surprisingly good and got rave reviews.

9. People pronounce Hilary and Obama quite funny on the news here.  No mention of McCain that I can recall…

10. I can confidently say that I rank in the top 90th percentile in height. Super weird. I have also discovered that my body type isn’t the norm out here.  I found this out while shopping at H&M (coming soon to Scottsdale, across the street from Kierland at Scottsdale Quarter, but don’t tell anyone, it’s supposed to be a big secret).  Anyways back to the story, while I was looking for shirts at H&M, I had a hard time finding shirts that fit me.  A majority of the shirts I saw came in one of two sizes, small and extra-small. Really? Really? I guess that makes it pretty clear that I don’t fall into the stereotype of the skinny asian. I fall into the other chinese stereotypes/nicknames that my mom kindly explained to me: ABC (American Born Chinese) and Banana (yellow on the outside, white on the inside).