Lady and the Tram

In another example of unpredictability of life in your 20s, I travelled to Hong Kong over the last week for work. Unexpected opportunity that I still can’t believe and am so grateful for, but then I can’t believe most of my life so it checks out. First thoughts, loved it! For some reason, I had been fed some dismal expectations of Hong Kong, with a depleting property market and lower-than-Singapore standard of living. I disagree with that opinion, I really enjoyed how much life and punk energy the city had and the variety of what type of city it actually is. Is it a port with a container terminal? Is it a hilly range with hikes and treks abound? Is it a coastal town with beaches and islands? Is it a financial centre with the most skyscrapers in the world? Is it a former British colony with English street names and old buildings? Is it a hub for the wealthy Chinese families with so many gold shops around ? Yes, I was very confused after 24 hours. "Mumbai inside Munnar" as I told my family.

I would say it was very “user-friendly”, a term I use for Singapore as well. It is quite unlikely that you get lost, in a small city with a highly developed public transport system. Was there a language barrier? Yes, especially if you are like me who wants to go to authentic and local restaurants. I can’t speak a single word of Cantonese, but I sure can find “the best rated x food item” of any city. Within my dietary restrictions, that involved shrimp wonton noodles, shrimp dim sums, egg tarts and pineapple buns. That’s the best part – pineapple buns, Octopus cards, Happy Valley - HK folks really went for cute simple nomenclature. I wonder how they would react to Lakshmi Venkatesha Kalyana Mantapam, Kochi.  

I can't imagine how people travelled before Instagram and Google Maps. I remember when I was much younger, my father would rely on Google Maps as backup. Yes, and it would incorrectly guide us within interior South India as it went for the shortest distance route (even if that meant we would have to drive through a water body). Not only do I rely heavily on the smartphone location feature, I enjoy planning my days in advance through curated instagram collections, to avoid any surprises. I always have lists of places I want to go, food I want to eat, sights I need pictures with before I have even stepped on the flight. Does this put me at odds with most of my friends who first arrive, freshen up and then start thinking of where to go? Absolutely.

There is so much information available that to not use it is plain unacceptable, in my opinion. Am I a delight to travel with? Maybe not.

But you know where this pre-planning helps? It helps me take in the most of the city as I have done my homework. I can observe the grafitti and street art, the loud patrons in Soho, the man who dances down the footbridge stairs full-on Joker style with his earphones on, the nervous little boy on the MTR who initially is scared of me but still waves good-bye with his tiny hand when I leave, or the boisterous bunch of friends from Thailand at the Peak that help me with clicking photos. Oh yes, one con of solo traveling is not having a de-facto photographer. It is a little embarrassing to say “no no, try taking it this way” to a stranger, but most are good natured to comply.

And so I walked and walked, to the Ladies Market where I bet the aunties ripped me off. The 12th standard me who got a perfect score in Math (and the former FX Sales grad) would cringe at how long I struggled with doing the currency conversion in my head, across three currencies, to determine the fair value of the “I love Hong Kong” fridge magnet. Then I obviously gave up, paid up and said “xie xie” to end the purchase on a cheery note.

I noticed that I get the most compliments from older ladies, although I don’t know how to interpret this statistic. Maybe they were really good salespeople, as compared to the junior at the sunglasses store (clearly an intern) who made me wonder if this is how I appear to my clients. Or maybe I’m just an easy customer, who walks in with an object in mind, purchases it at full price and is done within 10 minutes. I shocked a few of my friends with my shopping speed recently, and I’m sure my bank statement will shock me later this month. But hey! So what if I spent a bit much, I still have the core memory of traveling in a 19th century tram between flashy Dior and Ralph Lauren stores while going to work. That experience alone was worth it, oh and the pineapple buns.