Made in Japan, Outsourced Globally

Asian financial capital. Land of Jackie Chan. The most dazzling skyline. Savory Cantonese cuisines. East meets West. Hong Kong : a lively place that's like a Disney Land for adults.


A view from the top - Victoria Peak is one of the touristy spots you go to for the aerial view of Hong Kong. You can also take a nice walk, so it's not all about tourism. You just have to be really rich to be able to live near the Peak though.


Hong Kong Park - a little oasis in the concrete jungle.


Hong Kong has a modern side and a very Chinese market side. Either way, they are filled with lots and lots and lots of people.


Hong Kong takes pride in its skyline - best seen as a panoramic view from Tsim Satsui prominade or with a cocktail in hand at snazzy bars like Felix or Aqua.

"There's something about Hong Kong," many have said. Reading Erica's final words about Hong Kong, I was sold on that very idea. I have lived there for the last 1.5 years with a goal to immerse myself in a different culture. Being a suburbia girl most of my life, running amock in a big city was truly an out-of-this-world experience.


Lan Kwai Fong - where all the magic happens. Clubs, bars, and people congregate - spilling out on the entire street on Fridays and special occasions.


Lady's Street Market in Mong Kok - you can find all the knock-off bags, clothes, and wallets here. Who needs to go to China when China comes to you?


This has to be one of my favorite photos, because it has the 'ding-ding' (the tram) on it. For HK$2, the tram takes you the full length of Hong Kong Island, regardless of where you hop on and get off. Sure, it's slower than the bus, taxi, or the metro, but sitting on the second-story open window seat gives you this "I'm in Hong Kong!" sensation. It's quite a nice ride, especially when you go past the Central district in the evening and you can see the lasers and fireworks above you. This photo was taken just in front of my apartment at the North Point depot.

I entered this ex-British colony just as the wave of SARS was receding. It's almost embarrassing how little I knew of the outbreak, but I also learned that my attitude closely adhered to the 7 million other people living in Hong Kong. Unemployment was a bigger headache for HK at the time.


Hui Family - my host family.

I was extremely lucky to begin with. I lived with a host family for the first 3 weeks, which allowed me to peer into the family life in Hong Kong. A real treat.
One of the biggest culture shocks I first had was dining - the Mom would make the meal and the Dad would set the table. The Dad would take heed of when our plates were empty and offer us a second serving. He even offered to do my laundry, which was hard for me to understand at first, coming from a very patriarchical family where the father did almost none of the domestic chores.
But the real kicker is this - we would spit out all the bones and whatever we didn't want onto the table, directly. You don't use napkins - just spit out on the table, and then wipe it all at the end.

The best Cantonese lesson I had was actually when I was house arrest during a typhoon. Hong Kong actually has a coding system for the different degrees of typhoons.
1 (amber) = warning for a typhoon in near area. Go to school/work.
3 (red) = go home or a safe location within 2 hours.
8, 9, 10 (black) = do not leave the building you are in until warning signal has been lowered.
Some expats actually have "typhoon parties," where they leave work and go to a bar, hoping that the black signal goes up while they are there.
In any case, my host mother taught me Cantonese phrases such as, "ngo dapche basi" (I ride the bus), "aujaifu" (jeans, literally translated "cowboy trousers"), and "momentai" (no problem).

Cantonese Cuisine

'Dim Sum' ('Small dish') is one of the Cantonese must have tea time snacks. Also called 'Yam cha,' which means 'To drink tea'.


Chicken's feet - mmm.... er... not exactly my favorite. Duck's feet is also another delicacy in HK (think 'webbed feet').

I've been told that Cantonese have the best food in Asia and are the most inventive. Inventive, I give them credit for. In reality, food is a hit or a miss depending on how much you are willing to spend. My all time favorite was this authentic Cantonese restaurant in Causeway Bay - when I was there with my friends one evening, the waiter excitedly told us that Jackie Chan was having a family dinner in the VIP room.


Mmm... hot pot. Step 1 - get raw food. Step 2 - dunk them in boiling broth. Step 3 - fight for the food with 10 other people at the table. Best garnished with loads of garlic and chili.


I take the fifth on the taste critique, but there were lots of hawker stand foods on the streets. You can especially recognize stinky tofu a mile away.

all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
... so of course, we had plenty of fun. My favorite past time in Hong Kong was junk boats. Half a day of the beach, music, sunbathing, water sports, bbq, drinking, chilling - with 30 other people. It's a recipe for a nice little get-away.



Sai Kung - most of the time, we ended up asking the drivers to take us here.




And as fun-loving people, we also put on some classy party of our own.

Fire & Ice Party @ the P&P Rooftop - we especially had Lars fly in from Singapore to bartend. This rooftop hosted many more amazing parties, including the 'Soddy Farewell to New York' and 'DEVOTION' party.

And you can read about the infamous Passout Passport Party here.

I had the pleasure of living with Duncan for an amazing 6 months. We both had the same lust for life and the right amount of lunacy to keep things fun. We also threw some really good parties.


This one is for you, Dunc. We somehow always ended up here for the free vodka and dancing on top of the bars.

Hong Kong was a fun place to be while young, with strange names, karaoke time, and some friends visiting. I even got to experience Chinese New Year twice (you get days off, bonuses, and a whole load of Chinese culture!). It was also a great way to get into China (that was a whole new set of adventures in of itself).

There's so much more I would like to write about this amazing place, but I would never finish. Ahh... Hong Kong, lived it. Loved it!