Tuesday, 31 March 2009

• My Favorite City In The World - Hong Kong!

  

  Well to be honest I can’t say what city is my favorite. I haven't seen that much of the world yet to say which is the ultimate city for me to live in. At the moment it is definitely Hong Kong, China.

  I went to Hong Kong last year in January to study there for 5 months. The exchange student life has been very convenient, I really had the best time of my life. I have been to other nice cities and countries as well, Paris, Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Antwerp, Amsterdam, The Hague, Beijing, Seoul, Bangkok, London.

  "Why Hong Kong?" you may be wonder. Here are my top 6 Reasons why I want to live in Hong Kong:

  1: East meets West.

  You can still see the British influence in Hong Kong of course. Because Hong Kong and its history, it has big influences from Asia as well as Europe. It is pretty easy to get around in Hong Kong. A lot of people do speak English, some people just speak a little and others fluently. But when you get lost there are signs and people around to help you out.

  2: Travel around cheap and easy.

  Hong Kong has got one of the best public transportation systems in the world. The underground stations are easy to walk around and it's easy to find your way around the city. Almost every 2-4 minutes, there is a tube departing from the platform you are waiting. I never had to wait more than 7 minutes to get on the right tube. When I had to wait more than 4 minutes, it seemed long.

  There are also 2 kinds of buses driving around in Hong Kong, The big red ones like the ones you can find in London, for popular destinations. And Smaller 18 person green buses for less popular destinations. Buses leave every 10 minutes and cost less then 80 Euro cents. Trains and underground stations are connected perfectly together.

  When you go for a longer journey you can easily take a train or even for smaller connections. Trains leave about every 10 minutes.

  Hong Kong is full of taxis. There are more taxis than private cars in Hong Kong. Taxis are very cheap. I think you pay 20% of what you would in Europe or the U.S.

  3: Good food / cheap food.

  When I first arrived in Hong Kong, I thought I knew how Chinese food tasted like. Well the Chinese in the Netherlands fooled me big time.

  The Chinese or even Cantonese food is a lot different than what I was used to. What I like about the Chinese eating culture is that a lot of people will eat out. Eating out in Hong Kong is cheaper than buying the food yourself and cooking it. Because I pretty much eat everything, I wanted to try everything of course.

  I like the way Chinese people eat. You don’t order a dish for yourself with some kind of food. No, you order with everybody you are eating with... 10 kind of dishes. So you eat all kinds of food just as the other people on your table do. It gives a feeling of sharing much more than you will do in a Dutch restaurant.

  After six months in Hong Kong I really started loving Chinese food. I can even cook some of it quite well now.

  But there is another side. After a while, I did not want to eat rice or noodles, I just wanted some food from home. Well that is also possible. You can eat various kind of food such as Italian, Greek, Steak houses, etc. I was pleasantly surprised by the price of the food. For a whole meal you often just pay 3-4 Euro, including drink.

  4: Great night life.

  Hong Kong has several areas with many pubs, clubs and restaurants. My favorite areas are Tsim Sha Tsui. This is more of a pub area with restaurants in close distance. Here, you can sit and relax and talk with friends. There is another area which is more famous for tourists. This area is called Lan Kwai Fong. In this area, there are many bars and bigger clubs to party. Most people you will find here are expats or international students. This is the area where you will find a lot of foreigners and some locals.

  5: Multinationals / hub to China

  There are many Multinationals located in Hong Kong. Hong Kong has an important economy in Asia and because of its history, a lot of multinationals have big offices located at Hong Kong island. Many sky scrapers are owned by multinationals. You can see Hong Kong as a great opportunity and location to work. It is the hub to China through Hong Kong. You can do business with China easily. China is booming and there are great business opportunities.

  6: One of the safest cities in the world!

  Although Hong Kong is a very dense city, it is very safe. You can easily walk around at night without feeling unsafe. Hong Kong has one of the lowest crime rates in the world. I never felt unsafe during my six month stay.

  Overall Hong Kong is my top favorite city to live and work in the future.

  And I am curious... what is your favorite city? Why?

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