The last three days I was in Hong Kong, I spent wandering around the town shopping, eating, and generally mixing with the population.  I noticed a few things I found interesting, so I thought I’d share them:

• Toyota cars rule the road, but I did see plenty of other models, including a Ford!  No GM vehicles, but plenty of cars I couldn’t identify.  Lots of the familiar manufacturers were selling models I had never seen before.  All of the taxis were Toyota Crown Comforts – big and boxy.  I didn’t write down the rest, but aside from the ever present Corolla and Camry, some BMW, Lexus and Mercedes cars, there were lots of cars I couldn’t place
• The public transit is so good and so effective, that most of the vehicles on the road were being driven by professional drivers – cabs, buses, and trucks.  Lots and lots of trucks.  The entire time I was driving around (in a bus) I didn’t see a single accident nor a single person pulled over by the police.  Must be nice to not have traffic jams caused by morons and moron rubberneckers!
• If Toyota rules the road, Nokia rules the cellphone market.  Three out of every four cellphones are made in Finland!  The majority of the rest of the phones are Sony Erickson.  I even asked someone about the Nokia phones vs the other phone brands and they told me that no one liked anything else.  Nokia was where it was at.
• Everyone has an MP3 player, even people my grandmother’s age!  When you spend lots of time waiting on buses and trains, you want something to help you zone out, I guess.  The variety is HUGE.  I’ve seen every model Best Buy carries and then some.  My favorite little ones were tiny little cubes the size of a single die (you know, from a pair of dice).  Apple has pretty good penetration here as well, but I think the most popular brand was JVC – they have a cheap little 1Gb player popularly worn with a neck strap.
• It is far more common to tie a strap to your cellphone and hang it around your neck than it is to put it in a belt case.  With all the cellphones, MP3 players, random ID cards, and more hanging from around people’s necks, it made me wonder if their clothes didn’t include pockets!
• The people there were super nice.  Most of the people speak some English, and if they don’t speak enough English to talk to you they go get the person who does speak English.  I only walked into one restaurant where I was immediately given silverware instead of chopsticks b/c I was the Westerner.  Everywhere else I was treated like a native (except of course for the people trying to sell me copy watches and suits from the side of the roads.
• I’ve already commented on how the schools in Hong Kong are starting to minimize the importance of English next to Mandarin Chinese due to China’s booming market.  On my way home, I was pleased to meet two good ol’ boy college students from Alabama who were spending two years in school in China so they too could work with the booming Chinese market.  After ten months in school, immersed in the Chinese language and culture, these two guys were anxious to get home and relax for a bit.  We found a Subway in the airport in Korea and all had subs for breakfast – food they’ve not had since December!  Taco Bell and Chick Fil A were also high on their TO DO lists.  Great guys, we spent time chatting and watching movies during our 5 hour lay-over in Korea.  They were bringing home several pirated movies purchased on the streets of China and we managed to find a plasma screen TV and a DVD player not currently being used.  Good times in Korea!

Hong Kong was like New York City.  You should visit both if you get the chance, but a visit to one of them is a requirement for a fully rounded life.

— Matt Ranlett

posted with BlogJet