officially missing hong kong

blame it on the boredom of waiting for the plane that will take me to my next destination. for being idle and nowhere to go. the rainy days are limiting my movements. i hate to go out into the rain only to be trapped in a traffic jam and soaked in a flood of filth. manille, during the rainy season, feels like a huge prison house, where you feel constricted and your patience is really tested.

i miss hong kong. i miss the small dim sum stand in lan tau island selling cheap siomai, chicken feet, siopao, among other favourites. usually, i would go there very early on saturdays to avoid the crowds. the island can get crowded, especially when the sun is out. hong kong people and its millions of expats just love going out into the sun, unlike in manille where people stay in the shed or indoors to avoid getting a tan, or having dark skin. chos.

i miss the former british colony's efficient public transport system. the fast pace life. the sale season when items are sold at up to seventy five percent discount.

the crowded malls and mtr stations, especially on weekends and during rush hour. the night life at lkf and wanchai. the weekend brunch at soho. the wine drinking and guy watching at the steps right outside of staunton bar. the dinners at la terrase or at the peak.

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let me channel gwyneth paltrow here and offer you a glimpse of what my nearly six-year stay in hong kong is like, if you care:

(my tiny, tiny flat at the outskirts of mid-levels. the look keeps changing every month. i would re-arrange furniture, change curtains, sheets, plates, etc. i hate monotony.)

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(one of my favourite spots, the roofdeck at ifc, which offers a view of the central harbour, especially on a clear, sunny day. from six p.m. onwards, it becomes crowded with expats unwinding after a day's work, and of tourists as well, drinking beer, wine and some other poisons.)

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(a forty-minute ferry ride from central would bring you to quaint villages, where life is less harried and more relax, with relatively nice beaches. i would hang out here on sunny weekends. just reading a book, drinking beer. how relaxing!)

(unlike in crowded central, you won't get claustrophobic here because there is ample space to move around and with less people too. it's a welcome retreat from all the glass, steel skyscrapers and men in dark suits who are always in a hurry while talking on their blackberries.)

(just like in any ordinary villages, you will find street vendors selling vegetables, fresh fish, etc)

(a nice surf bar, with a caribbean vibe. they play bob marley all the time.)

sometimes i wish i live here. but after a while, it gets boring. at the end of the day, i long for the city life: the traffic noise, sirens blaring, drunks talking. i even got used to tiny, crowded spaces, something i used to hate having grown up in the province.) 

i have also grown quite fond of the neighbourhood dotted with small cafes, galleries, restaurants, bars, boutiques and antique shops. on weekends, it is full of weekend warriors strolling with their cute puppies and doggies, babies and trophy bf/gf.

on some days, especially when i feel lazy and bloated, i would force myself to hike the victoria peak, a more than two hour walk through hilly pathways from where i live. but once i reach the top, it's all bliss. i forget all my worries in the world, soothe by the beautiful view below.

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i particularly miss the parties on board a yacht or on this one:

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of course the city has its downside: overcrowding, tiny flats, high cost of living, pollution; but so is any  city in asia. at least hong kong makes it up with its lower taxes, efficient bureaucracy, trustworthy police, low crime rate, higher salary and for the ultra ambitious (i am not) the chance to go up the social ladder or the corporate world or both.

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of course, if you are tired of hong kong, less than an hour away is asia's las vegas -- macau. just like hong kong, there is a juxtaposition of  the old and the new in the former portuguese colony, of gleaming shopping malls, casinos and rustic, old churches, houses and fishing villages.