Surviving the Typhoon

I woke up from my nap...to a level 8 typhoon raging in Hong Kong.

Buses stopped running. Classes ended early. The canteens closed.

How was I supposed to eat dinner?

I've never been in a typhoon before, and I only had a couple apples, some crackers, and coconut bread. Luckily, some local girls invited me to eat with them and we made noodles with lettuce, sausages, and dumplings. It's amazing how good simple food will taste when you really have no other option.

Outside, winds shook up Hong Kong. The strong winds are cool and are actually a nice relief from the humidity we've been having lately. They were so strong I could lean against them, and they almost blew me away (cheu jao). The sky is dark and grim, and there is virtually no activity going on outside. The only sounds are of the trees being tossed and knocked around.


I was scared because the typhoon sounds so powerful, but around me, no one is scared. The locals are used to it; typhoons come three to four times a year and it's no big deal to local Hong Kong people. Me, I thought at least one thing in my hostel was going to break.

Lights and Electricity in Hong Kong

Every night at 8 pm, Hong Kong presents "The Symphony of Lights", a light show at Victoria Harbour. It's best viewed from the Kowloon side because most office buildings are at Central, on Hong Kong Island. The light show mainly consists of buildings lighting up and laser booms shooting across the harbour. It's a pretty sight...the colours are nice and it's fun to see lights criss cross buildings and light up the night sky.

But how much this light show costs Hong Kong. It's done every night, for about 15-20 minutes. And lots of buildings participate in this show, let's say roughly 30 buildings.

30 buildings X 15-20 minutes of electricity/day X 365 days/year X the electricity rate in Hong Kong, which I don't know = a heck of a lot of money

Why do they put their money towards this when they could be allocating it towards ESL, since speaking good English is highly coveted, or environmental programs to clean up their air? Actually, I know the answer to this: aesthetics. Asians are all about aesthetics and making themselves look good to one another and to foreigners. But could they be indirectly hurting themselves by focusing on the way the foreigners and the rest of the world perceive them?

Speaking of which, is this what China did to itself during the Olympics?

Filipinos in Hong Kong

Many Filipinos come to Hong Kong to find work. I heard they need at least a college degree to get out of the Philippines, but most end up working as maids in Hong Kong households. I don't understand why they have such low-level jobs if they received that much education...

Well regardless, Sunday is the only day Filipinos have off work so they congregate at and around Victoria Park (the first picture) and Central Station in Hong Kong (the second picture). In both areas, they bring out blankets or even cardboard, and just sit around, talking with one another, playing cards or napping.



People in Hong Kong are used to them, it's just the way things are here. Being in Central on Sunday means being surrounded by Filipino maids on their day off. Sometimes I compare the way Filipinos are in Hong Kong to the way illegal immigrants are in Southern California. The Mexican migrants are so integral to helping Southern California, particularly LA, run because they do the jobs that no one else wants to do. If they were suddenly not there one day, LA would probably stop running.

So what about Filipinos in Hong Kong? If they weren't here anymore, lots of Hong Kong households wouldn't have caretakers for the elderly or maids for their houses. Lots of the small things would not get done. It makes me wonder whether Hong Kong would stop running...

First Sights of Hong Kong

These pictures were taken when I first arrived in Hong Kong, 12 hours after I was originally supposed to arrive (thank Typhoon Nuri). These were the first things I saw when I landed - a calm and serene Hong Kong after the storm of the typhoon. I don't really know what to expect of Hong Kong, that's ok, it's going to be a crash course.