A new colleague from Sydney joined us recently and will be relocated here for some time. She told me she loves Singapore and between the two cities, would prefer to stay here. She said it's the 'space' problem. Hong Kong appears to be too crowded for her.
And I get a taste of crowded Hong Kong everyday, from the moment I get off the bus, along the way to work..... and the nightmare of all nightmares, taking the MTR during peak hours. It's SO crowded, you feel like you're stuck in a billion people concert. Even the mrt crowd after national day can't be compared to this. Or perhaps it's the smaller MTR they have here...
I asked Coode (HK colleague Fion's brother) if Honkies is a derogatory term for HK people and he does not think so, though I think it's still better to stick with 'Hong Kong people'.
And Hong Kong people seem to have the misconception that Singaporeans can't speak Mandarin, or are Chinese people. A few I've spoken to were surprised that I'm a Chinese from Singapore, who can speak Cantonese, Hokkien, Mandarin and English. When I speak English (after failed attempts to communicate in Cantonese), they asked me if I'm a Hong Kong-er back from studies in Canada/Australia.
So, I've decided to not talk very much on the streets, and just blend in. Or gesticulate. Or just say, ZOU SAN (good morning), UM GOI (excuse me), DOR XHEH (thanks), ZOI KIN (bye) and GEI DOR QIN (how much). =)
Fion and Coode are such good hosts; they invited me to join them for dinner at their apartment tonight to have a taste of Hong Kong living.
And we watched HK serials back to back. :D Their place (at Tsing Yi - near airport) is a 15 min public light bus (or mini bus) ride from mine, BUT the mini bus took 30 min to come. I think all the travelling (and the people travelling) made me feel very tired.
but I'm enjoying every moment of this.
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