Some years ago, if you were to ask me about Hong Kong, i'd have told you two things: one, there are too many people there, and two the authorities shoot you if you're found to have tried to smuggle drugs to the island. The latter notion was coloured by two Hindi films, Naam (1986) and Gumraah (1993). Little wonder then I wasn't too thrilled about ever visiting Hong Kong (not because I was planning to smuggle drugs into the territory of course). But a work trip changed things: I was attending a conference at a university on the island.
It takes you 30-40 minutes to get to Hong Kong island from the airport. Just as well, because it builds up curiosity about the place: how crowded is it, really? Are there high-rise buildings EVERYWHERE? Is it really just grey?
Yes, is the answer to all three questions. Yet, I found it charming. At some point, walking through the streets of Hong Kong, especially the residential areas, felt like I had stepped into a television image of Singapore in the 1980s: it's the old buildings that get to me; the retention, in a digitized age, of the past, alongside newer structures that are pinched out taller than the next.
But no, this wasn't quite it. There was something else to Hong Kong that makes me want to go back in future. I eventually nailed the reason: it was the people.
Now, I can imagine you frowning in puzzlement. And it is true that i spent barely five days there. But it is true that people make all the difference, in every little thing they do. I watched the Hongkongers during their morning/evening rush hours, I observed them when they were in less of a hurry. One constant emerged: they are systematic.
I've lost count of the number of times I have to battle with an incoming crowd seconds after train doors open in Singapore. And what about the times when people rush into buses as if there'd be no other? I didn't have these problems in hong kong. Yes, people are in a hurry but there's a way to go about it. What did it for me too, was the fact that people stay on one side of the escalators, to allow others to pass. On my last day there i did see one escalator filled to the brim with people. But the one I was on had an 'empty lane'.
Did I mention the Hongkongers are 'cute', with the way they use the English language? Remember that every place embellishes a trend/language with its own peculiarities. In Hong Kong, most of my 'thank yous' were greeted with a 'bye bye': be it the very helpful staff at G2000, or an associate professor who gave me directions the day I missed the bus to my conference venue. Then there was the McDonald's staff who asked if i'd like to 'stay here' or take my meal away. The first option wasn't too bad really, considering my room was on the 22nd floor of the hotel next door.
Alas, was it all not just a case of romanticism attached to a space I cursorily experienced? Most definitely. Hong Kong isn't without its problems (as far as i'm concerned). Summers can get very humid. I was just lucky to be there during a cooler period, layered as it was by well-dressed people.
What about Hong Kong's poor? Where are they? Hidden up in the hills it seems, as I was told by one of the conference participants. I was reminded of the homeless in Singapore. You don't see or hear of them, but that doesn't mean they don't exist.
As for those old buildings I was raving about, they're just breathing for as long as the Hong Kong government allows them to. It seems the authorities are notorious too for pulling down old structures, despite wild protests from the island's residents. They, the powers-that-be, are under the impression that everything new is better, nicer. but is it? isn't there more to life than marrying steel and glass?
The second collection of my People series.
