into the white: New Territories, Old Territories

I love Hong Kong. It’s like home. And here at my cousin’s, Sandy, it’s my home in Hong Kong, has been for the best part of 10 years. I have come to HK about every 2 years for the last 10. It just worked out that way, not because I have a 2 year deadline. I used to stay at my grans village until it got crowded. Have stayed with my sister when she lived here but at most, I have stayed here. It’s like a studio council flat, a bit run down but I like it. They have been cleaning it up and it is under renovation (despite having been under for 2 years). Me and cousin sit a talk and drink beer and smoke. We used to go down and get more supplies from the Seven Eleven at midnight in shorts and slippers. We still do this to a degree but we are a tad more sedate and sensible these days. Sandy has switched from eating fast food crap or nothing at all to actually eating a meal for dinner. Typhoon Sandy has slowly turned into a light breeze. Afterall, she is mid thirties.

I get asked whether HK has changed much after the handover. I’m not here that much but it hasn’t changed that much. I know the media is a little more ‘controlled’ but that is about it. HK used to seem to me a fairly rude and hostile environment but now it’s quite comfortable. People seem to be more polite. More people speak English and a lot speak Mandarin (Potunghua). I still can’t read a menu but at least I can speak the language (more or less).

When I learn Mandarin, I will go back to Beijing, soon. It’s somewhere I have grown to like quite a lot despite the horrendous traffic and vastness of the city with vessels of highway like roads. The roads and the city at large is centred around The Forbidden City which is bang centre of Beijing. People still pick their nose in public (even old ladies) and spit everywhere but then you can have a bowl of handmade noodles or dinner for 70 pence and a cup of good coffee for £2. The 2008 Olympics are changing the city both in infrastructure and architecture on a rapid and vast scale. It’s Beijing’s coming out party and I think it will be grand.

My cousin Sandy isn’t actually a blood cousin. We aren’t even related. Her mother snuck over when she was young and my gran took care of her for a few months. That’s how we know each other. I saw her when I was 3 and then not again until I was 21 and we have been friends ever since. The friends I have here and the new friends I made in Beijing are like not friends, they are more family. Culture, blood lines and tradition runs deep despite how ‘western’ I am.