香港 Hong Kong: UNPREDICTABLE

Hong Kong is UNPREDICTABLE. Kowloon Tong is my neighborhood; more quaint and home of the rich. Jackie Chan lives right down the street - Bruce Lee's childhood crib is also here. My church is Kowloon International Baptist Church and it is a wonderful church with a cowboy pastor from Texas with members from Liberia, Pakistan, China, Philippines, US, everywhere! Kowloon Tsai Park is right next to HKBU's campus and it's awesome. From the park there is a nice view of Mong Kok and Tsim Sha Tsui at the edge of Kowloon.

Mong Kok is crazy! If ever I feel the need for a busy, local atmosphere then I go to Mong Kok. Here is where people of all walks hang out. But the best hang out spot in Mong Kok is definitely Soy Street. That's right - Soy Street. Here you can get Curry a la King, Vietnamese, Shanghai, Japanese Udon, Gaidanzai (waffle balls, Dantart, and most importantly....VANILLA BUBBLE TEA @ Come Buy! I probably go here at least once a week. You can also go the market and bargain/practice Cantonese :)

Tsim Sha Tsui aka TST is probably the most international hub in the world (I would argue). Indians hanging out at Chung King Mansions, tourists from all over the world to watch the light show at 8pm from the city skyline at night from the harbor. Businessmen and locals like myself also enjoy the occasional ferry ride to and from Hong Kong Island to TST for only 2 HK! I love taking bus no. 7 from TST to Kowloong Tong because I can see all of the activity going on from the double-decker bus second floor.

Hong Kong Island is definitely the highlight of Hong Kong. Only the rich can call this home and all other visitors simply admire the high class culture that goes from Wan Chai to the oldest city zone of Sheung Wan. You can enjoy the nice bars and restaurants at Mid-levels in Soho District or if you are a crazy party person unlike myself then you can have late-night fun at Lang Kwai Fung aka LKF. As for me, I enjoy putting on my suit and pretending to be an important businessman! Or I can dress casually and go to church on the 75th floor of Central Plaza to worship with Hong Kong City Church - which is such an amazing experience (and view)!

So what makes Hong Kong unpredictable? Well, alllow me to introduce you to the New Territories. North of Kowloon in between Shenzhen is quite a bit of mountains and reservoirs and of course beaches! Besides being home for a lot of residents, you can also hike and explore many areas around here. Kowloon Tong is the last train station before entering New Territories and my favorite train station on the line to Shenzhen is definitely Sha Tin. Something about the atmosphere and the fact that it's not on the tourist book that attracts me and I could definitely see myself living here if I were to ever consider coming back to work in Hong Kong.

If I wasn't coming back to Hong Kong, I would then consider Shenzhen. This is a recently sprouted city that is also like a Hong Kong a Special Economic Zone (SEZ). This SEZ is bigger now though and it's where I should be because it's in Mainland China! This would mean I could speak Putonghua! Cantonese is also used here, but Putonghua is encouraged as the lingua franca. Although I enjoy speaking and learning Cantonese, it just makes more sense for me to speak and learn Mandarin. So much more useful! Especially when all HongKongers nowadays can speak English.

Yea, but that's just a brief recap of my now home away from home. I have learned so much about Hong Kong and China having now lived here a year and I definitely want to come back and see how things change. I know they will because construction is the biggest business in Hong Kong and with all the tall residential buildings all over this small patch of land I can see why that is so!