Only in Hong Kong – One Volume: High

In my first 2 weeks in HK, i experienced terrible headaches and was irritable during the day.  Panadol provided little relief and visits to the doctor resulted in a clean bill of health.  Then I started paying attention to what was causing all the headaches and it was all the noise around me.  Noise came in the form of people shouting down their handphones, roadworks going on daily, 10,000 conversations happening at the same time in a restaurant, impatient honking from buses, cars, trams etc.  To add to it all, the cantonese language is spoken quickly, sharply, crudely and staccato-like (imagine a louder version of the morse-code).  It may be capable of being melodious like French (e.g.) but it remains to be heard. 

It baffled me the first time I passed a couple of women shouting at each other.  I got worried that the argument could turn violent until they both suddenly laughed.  Or the time, the guy next to me on the escalator, whipped out his handphone and started shouting into it.  It’s possible that the other person could hear him even without the handphone!  The conversations are often spirited and somewhat aggressive, hence to non-local residents it sounds like an argument.

After 17 months, I’ve adjusted to the noise -level but when I first arrived, it was quite a shock to the system.  To say that I was not used to the noise is an understatement, my ear was buzzing from the high volume and I thought I was losing my hearing.  I dread to think that as part of the adjustment, my speak volume has increased.

Only in Hong Kong – Giving way

Over the weekend, a couple of observations made me think about starting up an entry on what’s typical of HK.  I’ve stayed here for 17 months and it may interest others to know what to expect if they are planning to visit / live in HK, hence this tag.  I’ll keep adding to this list as it strikes me.

First observation of HK is that people rarely give way to others.  In fact they push their way through, expecting others to give way.  Imagine this - standing at a pedestrian crossing, waiting for the lights to change and across the road, is a crowd waiting for the same thing.  The minute the lights change, both sides will come towards each other and it’s a case of the first person to “blink” will give way to the stampeding crowd.  If neither side gives way, there will be a stand-off and each will grumble that the other should given way.  

HK being so small, that the only way it can move forward, literally and figuratively is for its residents to cooperate.   Unfortunately the general observation is that most people behave like their interest is more important than others, expecting others to understand and be considerate to them.