Two more crazy days

It is now 4:33 Hong Kong time on Jan. 21, Saturday. I just got back from the centre, took a shower but can’t sleep. The past two days have been again completely crazy and amazing. I will start in backward-chronological-order from today.

This morning I woke the first time up when my alarm clock went off at 9 and I had slept amazingly 7 hours. The tactic to tire myself out had apparently worked! And it was the first morning I did not feel hot nor did my clothes stick to my body after getting dressed. It is -I guess- a bit colder but I have also gotten used to the humidity. It has so far rained every night and in the morning the water stands on all the ceramic floors. In the Uni there are a lot of (mis-constructed) architecturally beautiful glass roofs and it rains in there every morning which is why they put up funny yellow signs everywhere (more about funny signs later on). Until evening everything has dried off a bit and at night it is cold and windy (HKUST is away from the pollution and higher up from sea level)- also inside since houses here have no heating whatsoever.

Anyway, I slept well although I am still too tall for my bed (and I think that won’t change), the fridge froze and all my water and coke had turned into bottle-shaped ice cubes. I don’t know which button I turned into the wrong direction- Chinese instructions only. I went to Uni, met with Antonio (a Puerto-Rican/Panama/U.S. citizen from Georgia Tech), and we went to search for the Finnish consulate. Of course I had to fulfill my “civic duty”, now that I sow bragged about its importance! The consulate is on Hong Kong Island in Wan Chai, which is near the HK exhibition centre in midst of all the high-rise financial centres. They are open until 4 p.m. during elections and we made it there just in time – it is sometimes difficult to find the correct buildings, since the numbers are not necessarily ordered in a sequence. Well, I voted and signed myself up as “Finnish resident in HK” in case of any emergencies. Probably not a bad thing to do.
Then we walked around on HK Island in the Central district. This district is very “western” with a Marks and Spencer and whole department houses for e.g. only Louis Vuitton or Armani clothing. Everything is branded, chic and clean. Looking into the side roads in Central they are street markets with bulk goods à la “hello kitty” (which is really big here) - a perfect contrast. However, compared to Mongkok, of which I posted the pictures, it is luxury, tourists and bankers (a lot of westerners but most are Asians) and great old cable cars (with two floors) and no windows in the back. Southern Kowloon around the Kowloon city park is in between Mongkok and HK Island; and where Mongkok is masses of people, some non-Asian tourists, chaos, bulk goods, cheap food, a buzzing atmosphere….it seems very Chinese or HK-local, much cheaper, just normal chains and shops, small kitchens and restaurants (a meal costs around 20 HKD), HK Island is the rich West (in the south). I spent the whole day in Mongkok on Thursday and it is quite tiring after some time. There are just so many people and so much to see. I spent 4 hours alone just looking for an adaptor, a HK prepaid sim-card and shoes. You have to bargain for the right price not to be completely ripped off. But it is also fun. Picked up Lie (from HSE) in southern Kowloon and we went together for some early dinner.
Back to yesterday’s happenings: After my voting and the little HK tour, we had our first official event with the international student office: Thai food in Sai Kung (beautiful little village at the coast near HKUST, great seafood restaurants I hear). Somehow, his branch of bureaucracy and admin seems to attract similar kind of people around the globe, since there are a lot of similarities to the equivalent institution at HSE- not mentioning any names. Point being, I met some interesting people, especially since everyone I have so far been “hanging out” with has been American or living in the U.S. (which in the case comes down to the same, people just want to avoid mis-judgement). Besides the two Polish guys, I met three guys from Sweden, two of which are in the Engineering School, a girl from Canada who was here already last semester (and is really homesick and would have liked to leave…great…), one girl from L.A. that didn’t understand that Europeans look different and (most) Italians are not blond naturally. From the 30+ people being here (out of a 167 Business School exchange students who will arrive later) most are North American- 7 from Queen’s alone, 2 from McGill, 1 from HEC so far… and a lot of U.S. (Georgia, Wisconin, Maryland, California, L.A., Florida). And almost everyone is a Finance major and wants to be an investment banker. Surprise, surprise! I miss some European perspective, and interesting people (not Finance-majors that don’t know the difference between IRR and NPV nor that Sweden and Finland are Scandinavian (ok, Finland technically not) countries and Switzerland is not, nor the difference between Thailand and Taiwan etc. etc. etc. and who think their school and U.S. schools in general are the best (absolutely the best) in the world and who love resorts-best part of Asia right?). To put it nicely: I miss some European counterweight – I do not feel like going to the Philippines to lye on the beach in a resort for a week now, cause it is “soooo culturally interesting”…what can I say? Grow up people? Maybe that I know that I have slight bias in writing this? Ok, yeah….
After the dinner, three Swedish plus two American guys and me went to a Seven Eleven and then the MTR –drinking our way to town. I feel like such an ignorant American college kid. Horrible! Ok, the impression used is a bit exaggerated but judging from peoples’ looks it probably was not a good thing to do. We decided on pursuing the plan anyway since there was no sign for this sort of “crime”- and believe me, in Hong Kong everything is full of warning and prohibition signs. Spitting costs 1,500 HKD in a public place, smoking up to 5,000 HKD. Signs warn of trashing property, littering, slipping, gaps, vehicles that will be “prosecuted” if parked there, jaywalking can lead to jail etc. But consuming alcohol in public places is not forbidden, at least not by any signs. I think it is not approved, also not on campus, but the guards (who stand around in very official uniforms) just smile and say “Tsingtao” (Chinese beer brand). Anyway, two of the guys who had been here for three days were now on their 4th night out- one of the Swedes arrived on Monday at 6 p.m. and hit the clubs at 8 p.m. That clearly sets the priorities for this term. He is pretty funny, in a very Swedish way; actually he could almost be Finnish (if he is on the MTR without beer, something is wrong; vodka is better nutrition than food cause it is compared to calories cheaper in Sweden than food…). The French guy seems to be some gigolo/playboy mixture running after literally every cute Asian girl, which is a bit… how should I say? Well, you know what I mean. (and I hope they never find my blog).
Anyway, we went to a club in a district called Lan Kwai Fong. Where Mongkok has parallel streets of 15 blocks selling only shoes in one, the next street selling only mobile phones, the next only clothes etc. this district on HK Island had only bars and clubs. It is filled with a mixture of people- a lot of bankers in expensive suits from the nearby huge Bank of China and HSBC towers and all the other banks around. Then the average tourists (older couples), backpacker and a lot of western young people from all around passing through for the sake of partying. And of course (wealthy) Asians whose age in general is difficult to determine. A lot of couples with Asian women/western men… a lot of drunk people puking on the street: you pay 200 HKD into a club and have an open bar all evening. But here the cleaners actually stand at the corners and immediately swipe the streets. Also the music is so loud that everyone is dancing or drinking (buy from SevenEleven=cheapest) standing on the street. There are bamboo baskets every couple of meters where one can leave empty bottles (and people do). Everything is crowded of people…. It’s a mixture of cultures and ages, different music, a bit perverted, hip-hop culture in the middle of HK.
When leaving you have to walk along the line of taxis which goes on for blogs and just say Fo Dai (or that is at least how my ear hears it) which means HKUST. We tried to bargain to 120 HKD, but had to pay eventually 200 for six people in a cab for four. Two had to sit somehow on the floor with the others covering us, because the police fines 1,000 HKD (and the driver loses his licence) if there are more people in the car. The driver seemed a bit concerned, but compared to the bureaucracy of mini-bus drivers he was pretty relaxed: if you get into a mini-bus (and you pay when entering) and there is no places left (which you did not see/notice when entering), they will throw you out immediately without refund. Anyways, it was pretty fun in the taxi; I learned some new Chinese phrases and how to count from 1-10in Cantonese. Had a good evening.
I will try to sleep a bit now.

1 p.m., Saturday.
A tech-guy from pccw was just here to hook me up on the internet. He didn’t speak English but it worked somehow. They used my passport number as ID for the internet account. Problem: “ones” are vertical lines without the “hook”, if there is a hook it means “seven”. I forgot that completely, so nothing worked at first. And I also got a cable box for TV which cam with the internet. Don’t know why and he couldn’t explain, but apparently it was somewhere in the contract, I just didn’t get it.
I tested the washing machine and it worked ok. I was a bit concerned about what washing powder I had – this stuff comes only with Chinese/Cantonese labels, since most non-fluent people here are tourists who do not need it. Same with most food products in supermarkets or everything which is not the typical tourist-bulk-good.
I think I will take it easy for today, write a bit read, find a bookstore with nice novels (we have no library cards yet), wait until Erkki is here tonight and find out what I want to do next week. Maybe do a day trip to Macau. It is like Tallinn here in a sense, but people do not go for the cheap booze but the gambling. It is only casinos but I am attracted more to the Portugese architecture. It’s 40 min. with the ferry there and they go every half and hour. Practical.
But first I need to clear my thoughts. It gets a bit overwhelming just trying to take everything in. I see so much all the time. It is enough just looking out the window here and there is nothing except an empty field there. Yesterday I discovered little concrete shrines or altars ( I don’t know what it actually is) with candles and this burning incense sticks, which someone is lighting at some specific time. You can see those everywhere if you look closer. But they are small and there is also so much other. I think after grasping the general atmosphere and surroundings I now start looking for details. Like people always talking into their phones in Cantonese but every conversation ending with “bye, bye”( which here sounds like bah bah). Or a lot of Asian girls “trying” to have curly hair. And I say trying because it does not work really. It looks rather flat with waves and really frayed after an electric shock. I understand it is trendy, but why ruin such nice black hair?
Or then the girls (and also elder women) who speak English acting completely foolish giggling all the time about everything even if it is not really funny. It is probably conventional to be “cute”, but when you are trying to have a conversation or really need to get some information it can be very annoying. I’d just love to say: shut up! But of course I don’t. Or then the fact that there are nowhere paper towels/napkins, e.g. in any canteen in our Uni (except for the McDonald’s there, but since I don’t go there it does not help).
Of course there is positive stuff too…

Lessons learned:

1. Always write numbers really clearly. And remember the difference between 7 and 1.
2. Never pay for a bus or other transport before checking availability of seats.
3. Never go to a club with a purse or bag or coat; you can’t leave it anywhere.
4. Never ask a question (yes/no-question) where anyone you ask might know what answer you expect since this –for the sake of simplicity- will be their answer and in most cases it will not be very helpful.
5. Ignore the giggles.
6. Bargain. Always.