LETTER FROM HONG KONG
High-density living
By Leslie Yee
Division head at one of
HK's leading property landlords
AMID the ensuing global financial turmoil, I was told last November that my services at a top-tier investment bank were no longer required. Sensing that job market conditions would deteriorate, and fearful of having hours of leisure available, I seized on a job opportunity in Hong Kong early this year. After spending over 12 years working out of Singapore, I had to leave its familiar shores.
Settling in Hong Kong has been hassle free. There are the odd hiccups such as getting the correct Cantonese pronunciation of names of roads and buildings to communicate with the taxi driver. Also, while Hong Kong may have come under China's ambit in 1997, this Special Administrative Region does not use simplified Mandarin characters, which limits my ability to read menus at Chinese restaurants, or obtain the juiciest details on Hong Kong celebrity culture which is only carried in the Chinese language media.
Initially, I stayed in a service apartment for a month but have since moved to a fully furnished flat. Gradually, I have grown accustomed to my compact two-bedroom 650 sq ft space, which is less than half of what my wife and I share in Singapore. My wife is still in Singapore for work reasons but the space is sufficient when she visits, with the major drawback being that we have to share the one bathroom.
The other health warning is that my wife has to limit her shopping as storage is at a premium. I admit this can be tough as Hong Kong is a top shopping destination boasting strong representation of retail product offerings across all price points.
Food is easy with abundant choices across different budgets and cuisines. There are places like Cafe de Coral, whose business is holding up in these times of recession, as one can get a hearty set meal for less than S$10 per head. I have also discovered good value set lunches in the trendy SOHO area for about S$20 per head.
At the high end, Hong Kong has many great venues for corporate entertainment, notwithstanding that such budgets are facing enormous pressure. But competition among restaurants is brutal, with numerous outlets closing post-Lunar New Year, including a dim sum joint I patronised several times where I was the only customer reading English newspapers.
What has been a culture shock is working out of an office in Wong Tai Sin, which is in the heart of Kowloon, and in the middle of public housing flats. This office location is not surprising considering I work for a landlord that owns a portfolio of retail malls in the heartlands of Hong Kong. Here, Caucasian faces are rare and the population is essentially ethnic Chinese.
With the push factor of high living density in public housing flats, there are people thronging the retail mall throughout the day. There are also many old people, and every morning when I get out of the MTR, there are a few old ladies waiting at the turnstiles to collect copies of newspapers that commuters want to discard in order to resell them.
The one place I am getting rapidly familiar with is Chep Lap Kok Airport, as I often flee Hong Kong for Singapore on the weekends. Thankfully, Chep Lap Kok and Changi are probably the world's two best airports and this eases the pain of frequent three- and-a-half-hour flights home.
On the few weekends that I spend in Hong Kong, I typically laze around, occasionally venturing out to the country parks or outlying islands to escape the bustle of the city. Recently though, I had an enjoyable time at the Rugby Sevens. The game is fast and furious, the spectators are dressed up in fancy costumes all ready to party, and while budgets were slashed this year, there was still plenty of booze flowing freely at the corporate boxes. What more could I ask for?
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