Hong Kong: First Impressions

The MTR – I’ve only ridden twice so far

The street next to mine – I can’t believe how busy it gets!

     The streets around here are BUSY. For those who don’t know, I grew up in the countryside, and Edinburgh is the biggest place I’ve lived, so it’s taking me a while to grasp just how many people are crammed into this city. Yet for being so busy, everyone seems to walk pretty slow, which I’m finding very frustrating. It’s worse when they can tell you want past (especially when browsing shops) and just don’t move at all. This is definitely something I’m struggling with so far. I also find all the tall buildings a little claustrophobic, so I will be going in search of open spaces, but I’m already more used to it than I was when I arrived. Everything also stays open really late here, so the streets tend to be busier in the evenings when people are finished work – there’s a lot of light, colour, and noise and it’s both very cool and a little overwhelming! What’s not cool though, is the temperature. Again, I knew HK was humid, but it takes some getting used to after living in Scotland. I’m indoors most of the day at work, so I escape the worst of it, but I was then pretty surprised by just how hot it was when I came out of work at midday today! There hasn’t been too much in the way of thunder and rain lately, but it has been quite cloudy – I glimpsed hills in the distance from my window for the first time today!

The red top minibuses have no set routes, you just tell the driver where you want off – I’m too scared to use them alone!

I found a park! A little disappointing really, being tiny and still noisy, but there’s plenty more of them for me to go find

McDonalds on every other street corner…

     I’m still adapting to life here of course – one big issue I’m having is food, as I don’t know what anything is when eating out or in the supermarkets half the time! Our tiny kitchen is also a bit restrictive in terms of cooking, but I prefer making food here to buying it out all the time. I’ve been for a few meals with people though, which have been pretty good. I’m still working on using chopsticks though! I’m a little wary about what I’m eating though; my flatmate has already had a touch of food poisoning, and after hearing some horrible stories about food from China, I’m obsessively checking labels in the supermarket! I’m sure I’ll survive somehow though… Anyway, so far Hong Kong is very overwhelming, but exciting. My initial homesickness has subsided for now, though I know it will be back at times. I’m keen to see more of HK of course, but so far I prefer home – I don’t think I’m cut out to live in such a hectic place forever. But I wanted to see more of the world, and I certainly found something very different!