This was originally posted on blogger. I stayed with my friend Leo and his kind family. Leo’s grandma grew up in Shanghai, and she was really the most enthusiastic speaker of Mandarin (普通話）I met in Hong Kong. Everyone else speaks the Cantonese “dialect”. I put dialect in quotes because really, Cantonese, Mandarin and the other tongues spoken across China are as different as French Spanish and English. That is to say, there are some commonalities, but listening I could only understand 5-10% of Cantonese words. It was almost an uncanny valley. I definitely didn’t understand it, yet my ears strained to make sense of it like I can make sense of most Mandarin. Anyways, although me and Leo’s grandma shared a common language, I didn’t get the deep chats I was hoping for. I mean, she’s 80 years old, which means she was a teen during the Cultural Revolution and the Great Leap Forward and all that! She must have a lot to say. But I just stayed in a room in her apartment, which is a few floors up from the rest of Leo’s family. Leo’s father is a liver surgeon and his mother works in a library. His sister lives in LA and is training to be a physician’s assistant (which is different from being a nurse, but don’t ask me how).
We shared evening meals together, which were delicious and mostly vegan. Cantonese food more closely resembles the Chinese food you get in restaurants in the US. In fact, I realize that when you hear a typical “Chinese accent” or impression of a Chinese person, it is much closer to the sounds of Cantonese than Mandarin. I suppose this is because it was originally Cantonese immigrants (people from Hong Kong and the adjacent region in China, Canton/Guangdong) who moved to the US to dig for gold, lay railroads and start restaurants and all that. 
Hong Kong itself seemed to me like a mix between Taipei and London. The public transport is incredible. Better than Taiwan, maybe better than London in terms of frequency and speed. Also, the buildings are so absurdly tall. The developable area of Hong Kong is pretty small, because of mountains and waters, so they have no choice but to build up. Makes me think we could build a lot denser in the US or even London if you really wanted, but people know that already. But housing is still expensive, since so many people want to live there. Also, there are so many boats.
People keep to themselves and don’t do pull-ups on the Metro gripping bars like I do. Leo was aware of customs like this and others, like how you’re not meant to look at food items on window display from the inside. Leo’s also very fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin, and of course English, which I find very impressive. Mandarin and English are languages for the well-educated in Hong Kong. I would say that the Hong Kong-ese don’t speak English much better than in Taiwan – curt, shy, and seemingly-rude. Many moments I wished I had a better grasp of Cantonese. Mandarin was more understandable to some, perhaps because of China’s expanding cultural influence and school education. 
People seemed tired in Hong Kong. Bags under eyes on the underground, restaurants open throughout the afternoon very unlike Kaohsiung. But even with that and the English, people were helpful. I was put in my place, being a true non-local and getting lost all the time.  
Hong Kong has many great islands a quick ferry ride away. I went to two: Cheung Chau (長洲) and Sharp Island (橋咀洲). Cheung Chau had really, really fabulous mango mochi and Sharp Island had beautiful coral near the shore. On Sharp Island, Leo and I went swimming. Leo used to do diving competitions so really went deep under water. I would’ve done such things when I was younger but was too scared to pop my ears, and anyways, he said there wasn’t anything to see down deep. 
Leo, his sister and I went to Ocean Park Water World. Ocean Park is a zoo/aquarium/amusement park, and the Water World was one part of that. It’s been over 10 years since I’ve gone to a water park and this was pretty great. There were were slides that went almost vertical at the start. And big swimming pools with waves and buoys that you can splash about in. 
The real reason I went to Hong Kong was to apply for a visa to mainland China. I was successful in this and got a visa that is valid for 10 whole years. It’s standard for Americans, but still, you never know with these things! Getting my passports (two of them!) back was a jubilant day. The Chinese visa process has been simplified for people applying in the US, but I’m Hong Kong I had to show a fake itinerary and plane tickets and such. I saw one American lady getting rejected when she went to the counter, so that made me feel grateful for what I got. She said she even lived in China before and just wanted to visit friends there. I have to say that if my visa application was rejected, I would have been pretty disappointed. 
On the last night Leo, his sister, a family friend of there’s and I went out to a couple bars. I spent 10USD on a Corona, which was way too much, but it’s Hong Kong. I sang Leo happy birthday and got him a beer too. Also was delighted to meet fellow countrymen from Taipei. East Asian people can be a little frigid when it comes to dancing and talking to new people and such.
If I had to sum up, I’d say I’m luke warm about the city, but had a nice time with my friend, especially exploring the nature. I’m glad I went, and also don’t need to go back terribly soon (maybe 2034, to renew my Chinese visa). Many thanks to Leo’s family for hosting and for Leo adventuring with me and talking to random people.
PS.For those curious about the travel plans: I’m in Chennai, India right now and will be around South India for 3 more weeks. At some point, my friend Leon will join me here, and we will go to Mumbai, then Bangkok, then meet two others in Kunming, China (starting late-June). Then it’s a grand adventure in China until I’ve had enough. I’ll keep writing when I can!
yummy food

That mango mochi
long long escalators
Pretty boats 
Sharp Island has it’s own outlying island, which you can only walk to during low tide —

1 comments captured from original post on Blogger

**Nelson said on 2024-06-03** Hi, this is Nelson. It’s nice to get to know your blog (again?) and read some nice posts about your life. I haven’t visited Hong Kong for some reasons, but I frquently see stuff about Hong Kong, especially after I became more active on the new social platform Threads recently.

I read about the transportation and business culture of Hong Kong. I learned that the transportation fee in London is spiking. Hong Kong is considered expensive, but London is on another level lol. (London is really an expensive city for me so far.) Shops in Hong Kong tend to have fixed opening hours and fewer days closed compared to them in Taiwan. Some people say it’s just because Hong Kong people love money lol. But one can argue that Taiwan is convenient enough with many convenience stores opening 24/7 and different shops opening until late hours or on weekends. What do you think? :)