Monthly Archives: December 2003

The Stereotypes Are True

Coming back here has made me real­ize how insane the dri­vers are in Hong Kong. It takes as much guts to walk down the street as it does to dri­ve, back there. The peo­ple with cars are amaz­ing at maneu­vers, and there’s a lot of forc­ing into lines since peo­ple will gen­er­al­ly not let some­one in (although it’s much, much worse in China). I think I under­stand the basis behind the entire bad Chinese dri­ver stereo­type; since the cost of own­ing a car is very high (gas prices are three times as expen­sive than they are here, park­ing is pricey and not even a guar­an­teed spot), peo­ple nev­er learn how to dri­ve until they leave Hong Kong. However, at this point, they’re too old to real­ly become good at dri­ving, and fol­low the more aggres­sive rules of the road they grew up with.

The Largest Bronze Buddha

Thumbnail: Worlds largest bronze Buddha statue

A look at the worlds largest bronze Buddha locat­ed in Hong Kong. It’s perched at the top of a moun­tain range, and can be seen from extreme­ly far away. As one dri­ves up to the moun­tain, the out­line is vis­i­ble against the sky from an hour away. It’s an amaz­ing piece of con­struc­tion; the inside is hol­low, where peo­ple can set up longevi­ty tablets, and there are three floors of Buddhist murals. Some of the best feng shui in Hong Kong is in that area.

Christmas In Hong Kong

This is where every store has a set of Christmas lights, thou­sands of sparks dan­gling from the awnings. This is where the sub­way is packed with peo­ple, all wear­ing their par­ty clothes, try­ing to meet up with their friends and fam­i­ly. Where the cross har­bour build­ings have gigan­tic, mov­ing pic­tures on their sides, cre­at­ed from intri­cate­ly set lights and timers. Where there’s eupho­ria in the air and shop­ping bags in hand. This is where the jew­ellery store guards have trad­ed in their berets for san­ta hats.

This is Christmas in Hong Kong.