Lovely HK

So here's the thing I realized today: I kind of really love living in Hong Kong. Sure, it's hotter and moister than an armpit, I cross paths with at least one gigantic cockroach a day, I've been caught unprepared in sudden and torrential downpours, and I still get pushed around by little old Chinese ladies...but you know what, other than the cockroaches, Hong Kong is a fantastic city to live in. And here's why: in Hong Kong, you feel so ALIVE. The wet markets where butchers sell slabs of meat hanging from hooks, fishmongers sell still-live fish and you can find every vegetable and fruit imaginable. The bankers and traders sweating through their tailor-made suits. The Filipina nannies pushing around white and Chinese babies in strollers. The feisty old ladies who let you know who's boss on the tram. The 24-hour cha chaan tengs (HK-style diners) serving strong, sweet milk tea and fried noodles and toast with condensed milk to everyone from bare chested blue-collar workers to yuppie expats. The constant hum of traffic, neon lights and people. The unpredictable summer typhoon weather - which can change from angry, crashing thunder to a bright, clear sunny day in minutes. The crowds of people, always in a hurry.

The truth is, I kind of love it all. In a city like Hong Kong, everything reminds you that you are alive, that things around you are always moving, with or without you, so you better hurry your ass up if you want to keep up. Poor or rich, young or old, local or expat - everyone in Hong Kong is just fighting to claim a piece of this city as his or hers. And I kind of respect that. Hong Kong isn't for weaklings - it's for fighters. It's a city that says: life ain't easy, but that doesn't mean it can't be enjoyable.

Living in this city means putting up with a lot of annoyances: humidity, exorbitant rent, cockroaches, mobs of people, pushy ladies, smelly taxis, incompetent service, long work hours. But it also means having lots of luxuries such as uber-affordable housekeepers and nannies, awesome job opportunities, amazing travel opportunities (with destinations such as Phuket, Saigon, Angkor Wat, Tokyo, Bali, Seoul, Taipei, Boracay just a hop away on a quick flight), cheap massages, summer junk boat trips, delicious food, and the opportunity to live in a truly unique city - one that is both local and international, perhaps more so than any other city in the world.

During afternoon tea today with a couple friends, I found myself telling them how I wanted to move back to the US next year. When they tried do dissuade me, I started trying to convince them why life in Cali is just so much better than HK. But then I had to stop and ask myself: am I trying to convince them, or am I trying to convince myself? Because the truth is, I kind of love living in HK, in very different ways than I love living in SF. So I've concluded: while I would love, love, love to move back home to Cali and be near friends and family, shop at Whole Foods and Target, drive to the East Bay, go shopping at Bloomie's, brunch at Foreign Cinema, have access to my fave reality TV shows, work out everyday, drive to Tahoe on the weekends in the winter and Half Moon Bay on the weekends in the summer, eat Delfina pizza on the grass at Dolores Park followed by a scoop of Secret Breakfast ice cream at Humphry Slocombe, and be there for all the big and small moments of my close friends' lives (bachelorette parties, baby showers, weddings, births) - until that day arrives, I really love, love, love living in HK, shopping at the little organic store in the wet market, going on junk trips on the weekends, coming home to an immaculately clean flat every Tuesday, reviewing restaurants, traveling to far-flung places for work, going to yoga, having dim sum every weekend and reveling in the constant buzz of HK's city life. Time here moves by so quickly, but I already know that I'll look back on my time in HK as one of the best times of my life.