Chris Tisdell

University of New South Wales, Australia
Exchange to The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

The following narrative gives some social experiences and observations of my time in Hong Kong. I rented a serviced apartment in the suburb of Wan Chai, centrally located on Hong Kong Island. Wan Chai features a mix of hostess bars; dark dance clubs; a large playground; and traditional street markets.

About three or four days after my arrival, the Endeavour/Cheung Kong dinner was held for current and past award winners. I felt that this was an excellent ice-breaker for me. It was really helpful to interact with some local academics in an informal way. I guess it took me about one week to adjust to the new climate. This included learning “Hong Kong etiquette”. The Hong Kongnese (like in any metropolis) tend to be not so caring to each other in public, for example, on the street. A man would never open a door for a woman (or anyone else, for that matter). I called these types of group dynamics “street manners” and I found myself following suit! On the other hand, the locals are excellent entertainers one-on-one, which I referred to as “private manners”. The Hong Kongnese genuinely seemed like they wanted me to enjoy my time here.

It was about a fortnight into my stay when my comfort-zone was tested. The lift at HKU broke down with me as the sole occupant. Security arrived and, after a series of banging through the walls, some Cantonese instructions were yelled at me. Of course, I didn’t understand one word! After the Hong Kong fire department “rescued” me, I set the goal of learning one new Cantonese word (or phrase) per day, based on needs and experience. Naturally the first phrase I learnt was “Help! I am stuck in a lift!” By far the most versatile Cantonese phrase that I leant was “No problem”. I also enrolled in a 10 week course on Mandarin and am very glad that I did. I feel that it will help me in my upcoming visit to mainland China.

One activity that requires very few foreign language skills is sport. I decided to utilize the local Southorn Playground by regularly playing basketball there. This was a really effective way to meet a range of locals, from students to the elderly (spectators). Interestingly, I saw very few Westerners at the playground and, to be honest, I was rather pleased about that. I did not come to Hong Kong to meet Westerners and hang out at Lan Kwai Fong (or, as I called it, “America Town”)!

Many people refer to Hong Kong as “where East meets West”. From my observations on the street, I propose another reference – “where technology meets simplicity”. On one hand, Hong Kong is at the very cutting-edge of technology. The Hong Kong skyline screams this at you! On the other hand, I was amazed at how the locals solve difficult problems through simple ideas. For example, instead of “Western” scaffolding, bamboo is used instead to save space. Old empty oil cans are sliced and re-used to make dustpans for street cleaning. The list goes on.

My sincere thanks go to Endeavour and Cheung Kong for making my stay here very enjoyable. I am grateful for this opportunity.

© Copyright 2018 CK Group. All rights reserved.