Slightly East of New York

Affluenced & Disimilar

After spending the last half-year in China, Hong Kong shocked the system.

Minutes off the 2-hour train ride from Guangzhou I stepped into another world. Ferraris rumbled by. Bentlys sat as taxis in front of hotels. High rise apartments boasted 30th floor pools. Gucci and Fendi sported 10 foot high models in heels.

It was if I was walking down Madison Avenue.

Even a certain level of comfort afforded by my meager Mandarin skills seemed striped. Mandarin is replaced with Cantonese as are the simplified characters with traditional. Thank you “xie xie’s” are replaced with awkward and choked back “mh goi’s.”

Amazingly, as night fell, the city brightened. The setting sun secumbed to a raucus shouting of streetlights and neon. Blinking and flickering with an unmistakable hum. Tailors hawked custom suits in bait-and-switch schemes, watch stores screamed about their cheap imitation watches and restaurants beckoned amid a wash of pedestrians.

Maybe the scene wasn’t so different than New York, but six months away from that can be quite the eye opener.

And I can’t say I didn’t love every second of it.

Past Roundup

Considering my lack of decent internet connection time - either from inability to find it, or from lack of interest - I’ve been pretty behind here. I’m hoping I can get back up to speed a bit from here in Vietnam. Sitting in Da Lat, with a borrowed notebook, a cup of Vietnamese coffee and a prefect sun could be a much worse situation to catch up a bit.

The next few entries will most likely be marathon catch-up. Quantity over quality?

Pictures to come as soon as I’m home.