Friday, June 20, 2008
Gweilo city
Hong Kong is FULL of westerners. To the unfamiliar, that might sound like an obvious point; trust me, it's not. Traditionally it was basically expat suit types and tourist/back-packer types. Now there are seemingly countless mezzanine layers - artsy/full-time teacher types, pub yob types, Joe and Mary from Toledo types. And they tend to congregate. There was a huge crowd on the Fringe roof last night; I think I saw maybe a handful of Chinese (overseas, of course). Down the street, trendy bar/restaurant/place to be seen Wagyu is populated uniquely by gweilos/gweipos between 30 and 50. In fact, so is most of Hollywood Road. I just passed by the Starbucks in Alexandra House, which is the size of an airplane hangar, and it was packed with westerners - strollers, grand-parents, the gamut. It's weird, because just 12 months ago, there seemed to be a mainland invasion going on.
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9 comments:
I'm guessing that most of the westerners are visitors. They are traveling to Hong Kong earlier before the high season in July/August. Besides, the sales are on.
It was a perfect evening with clear sky but I could only see a couple of stars in sky.
Rilke on why you don't see stars at night in the city:
When people fall sound asleep and don't wake up until morning, God borrows their eyes and uses them to look down at the world from heaven. But if people have fitful sleeps, they may wake during the night and need their eyes, so God doesn't borrow those eyes. Because country people sleep more soundly than city people, there are lots of stars in the country sky but very few in the city sky.
Hah! But why? I just wanted to see a few red and orange stars. I wasn't even looking for Orion's Belt or other star constellations. Anyways, I will just look at the sparkles on my finger : )
Since we're following the paradigm here that God needs help (borrowing things and so forth), and is, therefore, NOT all-powerful, does this means that God is not looking down so much at cities?
Lovely Rilke quote.
God doesn't need to because he delegates all to the Archangels.
I know why there are so many Gweilos in HK. It was reported in the SCMP:
"One of America's fastest warships, the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, and five other ships in its battle group docked in Hong Kong yesterday, with 7,000 crew ready for several days' rest and relaxation."
But even eating lunch at 360 in the Landmark on a weekday - absolutely packed with westerners, and these are yuppies who work nearby, not marines who have escaped from Wan Chai. Hundreds of them! French, American, Dutch, whatever, all between 25 and 35.
Between 25 and 35?
Booking my ticket now.
You're right. There are a lot more westerners working in Hong Kong and some have businesses in China. Though it would be nice if they were Marines.
Come to HK - no doubt you will meet someone on the airport express.
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