Why i like to go to Hong Kong, but stopped going
Door: Tommy Sevens
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22 Oktober 2016 | Hong Kong, Hong Kong
As it has been over half a year since my last blog I thought I should make a small update to all of you.
This update will be in 2 posts.
As most of you know I’m kind of living in Taiwan (again). But as I’m not officially immigrated to Taiwan and don’t work or study here, I do not have a visa that allows me to stay for more than three months. Therefore I need to do a visa run every now and then.
A visa run, for those who don’t know, is making a trip abroad to renew the entry visa of the country you want to stay in. In my case, Taiwan I get a 90 day stamp on arrival at the airport and have to go back and forth every 90 days to get a new stamp for 90 days. This is a costly thing as it involves flight tickets and Hotels but it’s also a very nice excuse to go on a small trip every 3 months so I tend to make the most of it.
Fortunately Taiwan has a lot of “cheap” tickets to its neighbouring countries like Philippines, Hong Kong, Macau and Japan. So naturally I chose to go to any of those countries.
As I’m a bit scared of going to the Philippines by myself and Macau doesn’t offer much more than Casino’s, I often went to Hong Kong and recently more to Japan.
This post will be about why I don’t go to Hong Kong anymore and the next post will be about why I go to Japan instead.
So, as I said, I often went to Hong Kong for my visa run and it’s a very interesting place. It’s like any big Asian city but than with even more different cultures in one place and even more rushed than most other cities. Next to that it feels more compact and public transport is very well organised.
Even better! There are a lot less motorbikes in Hong Kong than Ho-Chi Minh(Vietnam) or Taipei(Taiwan)!
Hong Kong has a lot to offer, it has a few historic sites and some religious things like temples and Buddha statues.
Next to that there is a nice night view from the mountains over the city or the bay and there are a lot of shopping opportunities… if you have a lot of money. And on top of that it also has some unique things to visit like a huge outdoor escalator. Combine all of this with the various cultural shops and restaurants available and you have a great place for a short trip.
Because of the unique history and current global market position as port to China without too much Chinese mainland governing, Hong Kong has a lot of immigrants from all over the world.
People from Americas and Europe go there to do business for their home companies as expats or take advantage of the big harbour and flexible business laws to create businesses. And on the other side of immigrants are mainland Chinese and Philippines who went to Hong Kong to earn a higher salary and get better benefits and healthcare than they could find in their own towns/cities. Or use the port as entry to the “western” world
There are so many different people but it’s not a very big place and because of this I don’t always feel very welcome there. There are many obnoxious Indians trying to sell you crappy hotel rooms or fake watches. And the service in restaurants is often non-existent as they are too busy making money to be nice. This of course changes if you speak a bit of Cantonese or are served by a Hong Kong born person.
The problem is that, because of all the foreign labour and the loads of tourists visiting, the Hong Kong people are a bit tired of all the foreigners, next to that Mainland China is slowly taking back Hong Kong and this affects the comfortable life Hong Kong people had before. And they don’t like the change in universities, news, government or hospitals.
The last part is something you wouldn’t notice on a weekend or midweek tripg, but as I visited Hong Kong about 4 times, it became more apparent and it felt less welcoming each visit.
Next to that, Hong Kong is small and I basically visited most interesting parts and there is nothing more to do besides seeing friends that live there. All of this combined led to my choice to find a new visa run country, namely Japan.
Besides Japans being a bigger country and having a unique culture there is much more, but I will tell more about that in my next post.
Until then I hope you can enjoy this one.
If you have ever visited Hong Kong, let me know what you think or if you have any questions, feel free to write in the comments :)
This update will be in 2 posts.
As most of you know I’m kind of living in Taiwan (again). But as I’m not officially immigrated to Taiwan and don’t work or study here, I do not have a visa that allows me to stay for more than three months. Therefore I need to do a visa run every now and then.
A visa run, for those who don’t know, is making a trip abroad to renew the entry visa of the country you want to stay in. In my case, Taiwan I get a 90 day stamp on arrival at the airport and have to go back and forth every 90 days to get a new stamp for 90 days. This is a costly thing as it involves flight tickets and Hotels but it’s also a very nice excuse to go on a small trip every 3 months so I tend to make the most of it.
Fortunately Taiwan has a lot of “cheap” tickets to its neighbouring countries like Philippines, Hong Kong, Macau and Japan. So naturally I chose to go to any of those countries.
As I’m a bit scared of going to the Philippines by myself and Macau doesn’t offer much more than Casino’s, I often went to Hong Kong and recently more to Japan.
This post will be about why I don’t go to Hong Kong anymore and the next post will be about why I go to Japan instead.
So, as I said, I often went to Hong Kong for my visa run and it’s a very interesting place. It’s like any big Asian city but than with even more different cultures in one place and even more rushed than most other cities. Next to that it feels more compact and public transport is very well organised.
Even better! There are a lot less motorbikes in Hong Kong than Ho-Chi Minh(Vietnam) or Taipei(Taiwan)!
Hong Kong has a lot to offer, it has a few historic sites and some religious things like temples and Buddha statues.
Next to that there is a nice night view from the mountains over the city or the bay and there are a lot of shopping opportunities… if you have a lot of money. And on top of that it also has some unique things to visit like a huge outdoor escalator. Combine all of this with the various cultural shops and restaurants available and you have a great place for a short trip.
Because of the unique history and current global market position as port to China without too much Chinese mainland governing, Hong Kong has a lot of immigrants from all over the world.
People from Americas and Europe go there to do business for their home companies as expats or take advantage of the big harbour and flexible business laws to create businesses. And on the other side of immigrants are mainland Chinese and Philippines who went to Hong Kong to earn a higher salary and get better benefits and healthcare than they could find in their own towns/cities. Or use the port as entry to the “western” world
There are so many different people but it’s not a very big place and because of this I don’t always feel very welcome there. There are many obnoxious Indians trying to sell you crappy hotel rooms or fake watches. And the service in restaurants is often non-existent as they are too busy making money to be nice. This of course changes if you speak a bit of Cantonese or are served by a Hong Kong born person.
The problem is that, because of all the foreign labour and the loads of tourists visiting, the Hong Kong people are a bit tired of all the foreigners, next to that Mainland China is slowly taking back Hong Kong and this affects the comfortable life Hong Kong people had before. And they don’t like the change in universities, news, government or hospitals.
The last part is something you wouldn’t notice on a weekend or midweek tripg, but as I visited Hong Kong about 4 times, it became more apparent and it felt less welcoming each visit.
Next to that, Hong Kong is small and I basically visited most interesting parts and there is nothing more to do besides seeing friends that live there. All of this combined led to my choice to find a new visa run country, namely Japan.
Besides Japans being a bigger country and having a unique culture there is much more, but I will tell more about that in my next post.
Until then I hope you can enjoy this one.
If you have ever visited Hong Kong, let me know what you think or if you have any questions, feel free to write in the comments :)
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24 Oktober 2016 - 15:16
Else:
Lolex!! miss miss, wanna buy Lolex??!! *gniffelt*
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