Hong Kong Oddities and Laughs

Here is just a random list of things I've noticed differ between Hong Kong and the U.S.

• Toddlers and young children are really well behaved.  Maybe it's because the expectations there are different, or maybe it's because people typically have one, maybe two kids, and so they're easier to control.  Also, parents never look at their children like they're a nuisance.  They always look at their children with love.  I only saw one toddler out of control on the whole trip.  ONE.

• Because you have to walk tons in HK, they make it easier for the blind by putting textured pathways along all the sidewalks and inside buildings for them to follow.
• Since it's closer to the equator, the sun sets much earlier.

• People really respect the elderly and those with small children and are encouraged to give their seats to them on public transportation.
• Toddlers and children don't have car seats or booster seats in their cars.
• You can talk to strangers and they are kind and friendly and open.
• They drive on the left side of the road and being in a bus is similar to being in the Knight Bus.  I'm impressed I didn't see anyone killed.  The roads there also make no sense, and that's saying something coming from someone native to Raleigh.
• They often wear backpacks on the front.  I have renamed them "frontpacks."

• Escalators are everywhere, inside and out -- yes, escalators outside.  I wouldn't have survived without them.  When we were trying to get to a certain restaurant one night we rode the world's longest escalator to get up the mountain.  Google or youtube it.
• When you eat at a restaurant, they don't bring everyone's food out at the same time.  They bring out one dish at a time -- whenever it's ready.  Also, they either don't have you tip or they include a 10% tip in your bill.

• People are on their feet all day.  You walk everywhere and if you're not walking, you're probably on a bus, ding ding, or subway standing, because there are rarely seats available.
• The Chinese believe that hot water is much healthier for you than cold and so if you order water at a restaurant, expect it to come out of a kettle.
• There is very very very little sugar or salt used in their food -- and hardly anyone is overweight. 

• Hong Kongers don't seem to know what dessert really is.  A lot of their desserts are made out of beans (hence the bean popsicles above).  I also loved the Dreyer's ice cream flavors: New York Style Blueberry Cheesecake and more particularly American Raspberry & Rose.  Rose???  Also, corn is a big dessert there.  It was very entertaining watching people buy their cup of corn from the dessert menu at McDonalds while we were at Ocean Park.  I can just imagine my kids' reactions -- "If you finish your whole dinner you can have a bowl of corn!"

Some pictures I took on the trip when something off caught my eye...

A spa in the mall across the street from Mum and Dad's apartment.

Yum?

#21

As opposed to the non-flying ones.

• I wish I had a picture of every hilarious English shirt I read in Hong Kong.  They don't wear shirts that read in any other language -- just English.  And unless it was a brand name printed on their shirts, odds were it was wrong.  One of my favorites said, "Lime your life.  Travel yourself."  I wonder how many Chinese people come to America horrified at all the wrong Chinese tattoos they see here.