With my tenure as an intern at ICBCI coming to an end in less than a month, it seems fitting for me to reflect on my experiences in Hong Kong given the entire summer I spent here.
HK always seemed infinitely better than craptastic Canada, it was exciting and full of expression. In fact it still is, I am not disillusioned because I spent an extended period of time here. However, HK’s magical appeal has long subsided. HK remains an attractive destination for shopping and food, which is to say, it is nothing special. Those are basic prerequisites for any tourist hotspot. My caveat with the city is that it lacks a significant identity and a deep appealing culture, it feels like a mess. In this post, I will detail the various elements that made a strong impression on me:
Weather
Let me get this most oft mentioned complaint off the table first. The weather here is a jewish bag of gay. Most of the time, I am trudging through a cesspool of humidity, heat, and sweat while donning a suit (you will NEVER get used to the heat). Otherwise, I am crushed by a wall of rain and thunder. What is notable is that there is virtually no gradual change from one to another. The rain here will literally gangbang you. If rain is God taking a piss, he probably saves buckets of that shit labelled HK and unleashes his glory all at once. A sensible person would stay indoors during these ordeals; unfortunately the Husky I live with is not sensible, thus I take the holy shower in the face.
Transportation
Transportation in HK is yum. That is all.
McDonald’s
McDonald’s is AMAZING here. The highlight of these 3 months is McDonald’s, I am absolutely serious. Their menu is always being refreshed with new promotions that bring me back every week. Special dips for McNuggets such as Thai Curry or French Cheese may appear trivial, but are incredibly delicious. They also have “Shake Shake Fries”, which is literally simple flavoring for your fries. I will never understand why North America has never adopted this amazing idea. It’s low cost and adds a refreshing twist to the recipe. In fact, McDonald’s only needs to provide us with the shaking bag and a pack of flavored orgasm; the customer does the manual labor of actually shaking it.
The service is smart, given long line-ups employees would electronically input orders of those in line so less time is wasted. They were also able to make me my Double Filet O Fish, Dbl Quarter Pounder, and Dbl Big Mac at lunch despite the items being supposedly available only after 8pm. Yet none of this compares to the fantastic price: A full MCD meal in HK averages only $3-$4 CAN! Erection!
Movies
The sweet caramelized popcorn at HK theaters is possibly the best feature of any movie. It’s absolutely delicious and does not butter up your hands, like “Shake Shake Fries” it is mystifying as to why none is found in North America. The booked seating system of HK theaters is both effective and crippling. While it guarantees seating so that a trip to the movies is not a mad rush of beating the next fucker to that seat, it removes the element of spontaneity. If a movie is popular, there is absolutely no chance of sudden decisions to catch a movie if there is time to be killed. I remain bitter about not having watched Inception yet.
Society
It would not be extreme to say that I legitimately dislike a majority of the HK populace. This is of course, a hugely ignorant and narrow statement as there are various types of people. However, there is also a certain homogeniety that defines each society. For example, jews have curly hair. Since I don’t like curly hair and other jewish things, I would find it hard to like any jew. At a basic level, HK society is fast and aggressive, but also crude and capricious:
- When the MTR is full, it means it is fucking full. Some people do not seem to comprehend this apparent fact, and continue to push us further into the sea of sweat. Well I sincerely hope the door crushes their penii.
- Sales staff are highly trained stalkers that specialize in annoying the shit out of you. Every single item I pick up, they quip “We have various sizes!” or “You can try it on!”. Thank you for the narration of the obvious, I really do like being pressured when I’m shopping. Would you prefer a Medium or Large bitch slap?
- Everyone is competing to string together the most massive combo of elaborate swearing in the loudest voice possible.
On a deeper level, HK society permeates with a lack of responsibility and direction. They are mainly engaged in superfluous trending with little care for consequences or the future. Some may envy this carefree lifestyle, but it’s also selfish and immature.
Trend
Trending is probably the defining aspect of life in HK and it’s mostly an alienating waste of time. People are constantly following a trend regardless of whether they have any actual interest in what is trending. While it is different every year, this year it happens to be Photography, Promotional-Models (what we call Lang-Mo), and a stronger homosexual tendency in Men’s fashion. It is admirable for one to have a genuine interest in photography, but this is not so in HK. These trends are inspired by celebrities and other forms of media and spread incredibly fast. In the end, these trends fade and the idiots who participated are left with high-end cameras they wasted thousands on and will never use again. It’s okay! By then they would be too busy playing with high-end unisex chocolate dipped dildos endorsed by Jackie Chan!
Lang-Mo cater to the sex starved population of HK. They are now invited to every major function to stand around eliciting all sorts of perverted responses. There are actual modelling schools that teach you that the 47 degree angle of sticking your ass out generates maximum hardness. I’m generally fine with the concept of Lang-Mo; there can never be enough hot girls on display. However, I do feel sympathy for those frail and generally pathetic guys that are relied upon to buy the pin-up books and life-size pillows (some guy humped his Chrissie Chau pillow so hard he DIED LOL).
What I do take issue with is the increasingly gay fashion. Every year I come here the guys dress more femininely until this year it’s literally full blown lack of testicles. There are supposed men dressed in TIGHTS and HEELED GLADIATOR SANDALS. That is not quite the worst of it, there is the oh my fucking god style where you see a guy with nothing but a shawl and shoes on. I did not forget to mention the pants, there were none to be seen. If you attempted to visualize this and are male, your balls have undoubtely shrank and I apologize.
It shouldn’t have to be said that these things of course do not apply to everyone, but is prevalent enough to leave a significant impression. A vacation here for 3 weeks is decent, any more and it becomes irritating. Start working here however, and a giant flaming gaping shithole will open wide and make pancakes (with no syrup) on your face. I always aspired to head to HK or China after graduation given Asia’s potential, yet HK no longer presents an inviting future but rather a wall that tests my resolve. Canada may be monotonous, but I cannot wait to return.