Hong Kong > Reviews > Home, but not Home

Author's product rating:   

Value for Money
Shopping
Nightlife
Ease of getting around
Family Friendly

Advantages:	A unique city, always bustling with life
Disadvantages:	Severely overcrowded and polluted .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I am actually born and bred in UK, but am Chinese and family are originally from HK. I have been back twice so far and will be going back again this summer. To get the wrong idea, I hate the place! Well, it is supposed to be my home country (or city now) and it's my kind of people back there, but it is so undeniable that the place is extremely polluted, people are rude, and most probably the atmosphere is just not what I'm used to.

I have thought about going back there long term or working after my graduation, but this has almost vanished completely. The atmosphere as you may guess with HK being one of the most prosperous financial cities and service sector, the competition of work and attitudes back there are immense. You can grab anyone on the street, and almost every housewife would be heavily invested in shares believe it or not.

Generally the people are very ill mannered as compared to England, and as the place is so severely overcrowded, you just cannot prevent being pushed around all the time. No matter where you look, there are people and tall buildings, a concrete city without a breath of fresh air. The first time I went back I could barely breathe, and the weather though warm which may be to the liking of some people, it is excessively humid, apart from the winter maybe, and degrees soar above 30C which can be very hard to stand for most people like me.

As you may notice, my opinion is generally about the place to me as a home, which I can't really attach to anyway, rather than as an opinion for the place as a tourist attraction. However, as a holiday destination, it can be seeing a new kind of life, culture and environment. Undeniably all these are very unique in this small city, life is absolutely everywhere and you just see people up to all sort of activities night and day none stop. Shops are like dominoes absolutely everywhere. Literally you won't be more than 2 minutes away from the closest shop so it extremely convenient and the buses and trams are so regular, you never need to wait for more than 5 mins to get anywhere. Travelling around is exceedingly cheaper than in England, with the trains being the most convenient on my trips back there.

From culture I mean you will see very traditional markets, houses and fields near the countryside, yet completely filled with tall buildings in the towns. I must say it is one of the best landscapes I have seen in the world when you get to glance over the whole city from the peak of the hills.

It is indeed an amazing city to visit, yet it will never be my home as England is to me.