I have a brief visit to Hong Kong soon (my first!) and would like to bring back some material for our Freakonomics Radio podcast. Suggestions? Things you are dying to know? Things I would be foolish to miss?
The last time I posted a travel bleg (for Las Vegas), I was richly rewarded. Fingers crossed for this one — and thanks in advance.
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Also, the contrast of buildings. People often tell you how pretty and nice HK is. Sure, the subway system is impressive, but there is also an ugly side. The urban decay is very serious. Even without earthquake or typhoon, some buildings can collapse. Mainly in Sham Shui Po area. I grew up in North Point, it looks damn ugly last year I was there.
Basically, the most unique thing about HK is the contrast of wealth. You have people eating $8 million truffles on one end, and you have 10% of people living on less than US$600 a month. Yet, the crime rate isn’t as bad as in US. Is that because of nice public housing?
It is very humid this time of the year. if you wash your clothes, it wouldn’t dry in days.
Maids! With just HKD$3500-5000 (USD$500-700), you can hire an in-house maid from the Philippines or Indonesia! Even a supermarket cashier can hire a maid.
It causes problem with the lower class and encourage racism against darker skin people. Yet the government thinks it is essential for child care for the middle class. Many young adults under age 30 don’t know how to do basic housework. It also devalues labor. You will not see anyone using Roomba, dishwashing machines, clothes dryer… or any time saving housework devices. People who can afford these machines would rather hire maids. Or maybe it is more superior to have someone do things for you?
I’m a foreigner who’s lived in HK for several years.
I’d like to know why there are so few homeless & panhandlers here. You’ll see the occasional one or two, but it seems to be restricted to about one for each 6 city blocks. Do the police sweep them to an undisclosed location to keep up appearances, or do the unemployed have other methods of finding food to eat without the need to beg? It’s a bit surprising given the ultra-low-tax / ultra-capitalist government here that I wouldn’t have guessed provides much of a safety net for the downtrodden.
For an interesting study in the incentives of migrant workers, visit the parks in Central / Admiralty on a Sunday where you’ll see a good number of HK’s 300,000 – 400,000 female nannies singing & entertaining themselves outdoors on their day off – generally from the Philippines, who leave husbands & children behind for years to make a measly US$500/month to work 6 days/week and on average are treated quite poorly by local employers.
because apartments are so small (even for the very rich), and cars are inefficient (narrow roads downtown) and heavily taxed, money that would otherwise get spent on real estate, housewares, and cars instead gets spent… on designer goods? there are certainly different types of products serving as class markers
I’d love to know if Hong Kong is upset about Western imperialism. They benefited a lot, but that doesn’t necessarily make it okay.
Having lived in HK for 20+ years, I’ll suggest a few.
The Sevens: 26-28 March 2010. It’s basically our local carnival, especially if you manage to get into the famed South Stand.
TakeOut Comedy, a comedy club on Elgin Street. The format will be familiar to Americans, but the content is unique to Hong Kong.
Lamma Island. A place to get away if the city gets to be too much. Take a sampan ride from Lamma Island to Aberdeen as well; you won’t regret it.
Chung King Mansions. Full of legal and illegal immigrants, prostitutes, gangsters, drugs and fantastic Middle-Eastern and Indian food.
“Cage homes”. If you get a chance to visit one, do it.
A Star Ferry ride around 8pm. Try to get on the lower deck, if you don’t get seasick easily.
Hong Kong is wonderful place. Some ideas:
Something to notice: See the line that forms around the block at Louis Vuitton store in Kowloon. These are MAINLAND Chinese people on vacation. They go to LV store to make sure that they are NOT getting cheap knock-off goods. Strange irony there.
Something to ask about. How healthcare is managed. My understanding is that there are effectively 2-systems. The”public” system that most anybody can make use of and provides basic/poor care, and totally separate system of private hospitals only for the wealthy. Is this what “public” healthcare in America would become?
Someplace to go: Don’t miss the men’s room at Felix’s on the top floor of the Peninsula Hotel. You’ll see what I mean when you go…
I spent my childhood in HK before coming to the States for college. Besides what’s already been said on maids and wealth gaps, here are some really random observations that might be fun to look into:
- re: Weather – What temperature necessitates people to bring umbrellas out in the sun; Demographics of jeans-wearers when it’s ridiculously hot out
- re: Food – Tastiness of food vs. Grottiness of place (this HAS to be an inverse relationship)
- re: Wealth – # families that have a personal driver; # families that pay more on their car(s) than on rent
- re: Health – Vitamin C consumption compared to other countries; which beaches have the most elderly people swimming at 5am
Make sure you take the 6 bus from Central to Stanley Market, the “most scenic bus ride” according to Guinness, and costs you less than a dollar (sit on the top deck, on the right side). Best seafood I’ve had is at Rainbow restaurant on Lamma Island. Also, HK has notoriously good wonton noodle soup – I can’t find noodles made like that anywhere else. Have fun!