Hong Kong

So anyway…

It’s another hot and humid day in SP. Storm clouds are gathering in the northeast, where they’ll rumble around for hours, before dumping their load on us sometime tonight. Probably about tea time, when we’re thinking of going out on the bike.

We’re not alone in the house anymore. We have a maid. Well ok, strictly speaking she’s Thobrani and Sharifah’s maid, but since they don’t live here, she’s effectively our maid. This is all good, you may be thinking. But since we neither need nor want a maid, and since this means that technically we’re no longer house sitting, we’re now wondering how long we’ll be here. Not that we’re being forced to leave or anything – quite the opposite – just that there doesn’t seem any point staying when we’re no longer contributing.

But back to Hong Kong…

It’s our first time here, but most of you have probably stopped over at some point. Ten days probably isn’t long enough to gain any earth-shattering insights about the place, so this is really just an excuse to post some photos.

The Mong Kok bird markets…


…are just around the corner from the flower markets…



…which are just down the road from the goldfish markets.

So yeah… it’s a pretty compact place. Which is good. Tourist-wise.

And bad. Congestion-wise.

In March, most days are like this.



Or this.

But if you’re lucky, you’ll get one like this.



Or this.

The 300,000 or so Indonesian and Filipino maids mostly hang out on the streets on their days off.



Or anywhere out of the rain really.

While some of the teenagers they look after, get up to some pretty… unusual stuff.



But everyone needs a hobby.



They take other things pretty seriously here too. Like hygiene.



And shopping.

Music.



Bonsai anyone?



Hopefully you guys have a decent broadband connection, because we ended up with a ton of photos. Even in the miserable cold and gray skies, it’s an incredibly photogenic place.

Although you wouldn’t want to drive there.



But the public transport is fantastic, so mostly you don’t need to.



There are even quiet places you can escape the crowds.

But you can never really escape the skyscrapers.

They are what they are.



And seem a part of everything that goes on. Public…



…or private.



And even though the winter weather is miserable (and seemingly most of the population), the hotel room cramped, noisy and freezing cold, it’s still a great place to visit.

But we have another appointment with Malaysia, where both the weather and the smiles are warm...