Postcards from Hong Kong (via Singapore) #006

Peel Street, Hong Kong

So, technically I’m not in Hong Kong. I’m back in Singapore for Chinese New Year and will be hanging out here on and around the equator for the next few weeks. And then it’s back to Hong Kong again.

In some ways I miss Hong Kong already. I miss the coolness of temperature, although I’ve been told that that will disappear in the Summer months. I also miss the ease of walking to most of the places I frequent – here in Singapore I usually drive or get driven (it’s good to be a girl).

On the other hand, it’s good to be back and having the time and leisure to meet up with friends over the course of a month instead of trying to squeeze them all into the space of a week. It’s also Chinese New Year! All the yummiest foods and snacks, the tacky decorations and clanging muzak, new clothes and new shoes, seeing relatives I don’t see at any other time of the year… LOVE IT!

I’m still trying to get my head into the holiday mood seeing as I’ve got 5 more weeks of non-work to endure (ahem). I’ve been telling folks that I want to go to surf school, and it’s way up there on my agenda on the MUST-DO list. I’ve done research and everything! But before that, it’s chilling and diving in Ko Tao, Thailand with Ninja Jones and the HK trainee crew. It’s going to be awesome.

Beachy head

We went to the beach today, and had a barbecue while the sun fell slowly into the sea.

It was my first time on the south side of Hong Kong island, and Em introduced me to all her friends. It was lovely. After that, we went to Stanley, which looked like a quaint little fishing village until we turned onto the main street lined with bars, pubs and restaurants. The charm faded slightly from then.

It’ll be nice in the Summer, visiting the beaches of Hong Kong island. Only another 5 months to go. Sigh.

Postcards from Hong Kong #005

It’s really hard being away, sometimes. Shiny and new really isn’t all that it’s rumoured to be.

I forget how everyone back home (London? Singapore? Both?) looks like, lose track of who is where why doing what, and I begin to confuse memories from fantasy scenarios. Did we really do that, or is it my imagination? Or did I do that, but with different people, not you? Hmm.

It’s also so easy to be transient. If it happens that we see each other often and become friends, that’s great. Otherwise, I’m happy not knowing what the name of your cat is or what you do for a living or even where you’re from. Maybe I’m becoming used to not being in once place long enough for very much of anything or anyone. There’s not much one can do a few months here and there at a time.

On the other hand, I’ve become an expert at passing through airport security and smiling at immigration officers. That must count for something, right?

It’s the new year

Oh hello, 2010, there you are.
Hand over heart, I promise it'll be better this year.

Postcards from Hong Kong #004

It’s been almost three months since I’ve been here in Hong Kong, and Christmas is just round the corner. There’s a festive feel in the air, but it’s not really Christmas like it is in Blighty. That sharp winter chill and frozen tips of noses.

I thought you might like this – I read it in the Guardian today:

In the absence of a loved one, all the pageantry, all the carols and parties and bright bustling pubs, are an unbearable silence. For many, the season of goodwill and joy is also the season of loneliness and despair, during which nothing grows except the longing for what can never be.

I’ll be back home in Singapore for Christmas, for the first time without two-thirds of my siblings around. I’m slightly nervous about the prospect and it might turn out to be a very strange experience. I’ll let you know.

Jutty said to me the other day that as I get older I’ll start spinning out from the familial web and begin making my own family of friends. I’ve already reserved a place on his Christmas plans for 2010 with his friend-family (which I’m sure also somehow includes siblings, but let’s not quibble), although apparently I’m going to get thoroughly beaten at Monopoly. I can probably live with that.

Postcards

(commissioned for broadcast by BBC World Service)

At first I sent you a postcard
From every city I went to.
Grüsse aus Bath, aus Birmingham,
Aus Rotterdam, aus Tel Aviv.
Mit Liebe. Cards from you arrived
In English, with many commas.
Hope, you’re fine, and still alive,
Says one from Hong Kong. By that time
We weren’t writing quite as often.

Now we’re nearly nine years away
From the lake and the blue mountains,
And the room with the balcony,
But the heat and light of those days
Can reach this far from time to time.
Your latest was from Senegal,
Mine from Helsinki. I don’t know
If we’ll meet again. Be happy.
If you hear this, send a postcard.

- Wendy Cope

Get shirty

You arrived in that shirt, and every other thought flew out my head.

Quickly recovering – blink, blink, swallow and smile.

I’d played it all out, step by step (ooh baby), it was going to go exactly as I’d imagined.

But you had to turn up in that shirt. Now I have to reconsider, regroup and reorganise.

Next time, please don’t wear that shirt. I’m not sure I can do this again.

Postcards from Hong Kong ＃003

On another note, it is strangely soothing watching from my office windows the Star Ferry putter over there and back again, white flecks of foaming water waking in its trail.

Postcards from Hong Kong ＃002

Hong Kong is getting slightly cooler these days, but I still arrive at work hot and flushed and dress sticking uncomfortably to my back after having traipsed down almost the whole stretch of the Central-Mid-levels Escalators (it’s world famous, don’t you know) from my flat.

I got to wear my Ghostbusters outfit for Halloween – ‘twas very popular, especially since there were 5 of us wearing Ghostbusters outfits – then spent all day Sunday on the sofa after only getting home at 7 that morning. I then rocked up to work on Monday only to be told that we’d be flying to London that evening for a couple of days of meetings, so let’s get packing. Hurray.

Have I ever told you about Tsui Wah? And it’s amazing tom yum chicken noodle soup, the clatter and clamour of late night HK dining? I made a fortuitous re-discovery of Tsui Wah late one night and have been extolling its virtues ever since. I’ll bring you there sometime.

Postcards from Hong Kong #001

We haven’t yet left the office before 7pm.

Our attendance at the banking training conference in Singapore next weekend has also been thrown into doubt. My boss reckons that none of us are going anywhere that weekend.

Tomorrow will also be my second Sunday spent working, in as many weeks.

Unfortunately this means that the sights are yet to be seen, although I’ve been on the Star Ferry across the water and back and also went to the Wednesday races in Happy Valley (where I also lost my camera, but that’s a different story). It’s not a great amount of touristy things done so far, but I’ve got a while to tick all the boxes, I figure.

What we have done a lot of, is eating and drinking. We’re slowly crossing off a long list of places to dine/drink at, and right now I am so pleased with all this great food. I don’t think I’ll be so pleased in a couple of weeks when I realise my jeans no longer button up.