I decided to email a friend who lived and worked in Hong Kong so I could gain a deeper insight into the city and what it would be like to live there.
I asked him to explain his experiences and what he thought of the city. If he found anything particularly suprising or unusual when he was there and to explain any interesting stories. I also asked him to describe HK in a few words, if he thought there were any dominant colours or great differences between daytime and night. Basically, I told him that I would be grateful of anything he could tell me to help me understand HK more. Here was his reply:
Hello Alice…
Feel free to look at my Hong Kong Albums for inspiration…let me know if you want to use any of them for illustration purposes or whatever!
So…to answer your questions…
So Hong Kong is an amazing city. Vast, vibrant…constantly in a state of flux. Each street has it’s own personality. I used to live on a street called Kweillin Street. In the mornings you’d see people dragging huge piles of polystyrene boxes around. I’m not sure why. I once saw a man dragging a pig carcass across the road. Weird. At lunchtimes there would be a market on the road, selling anything you can think of. Lots of sticky shoes. And then at night huge groups of men would stand around swapping things…I was never sure exactly what. Watches and things. Also, there’d be people playing Go and Mahjong in rooms that opened onto the street. And people collecting tvs, and breaking them up in a recycling centre next to where I lived. It was a good street. There was an old woman who would sell sandals, I called her Old Lady Kweillin. She was ancient, and very poor. She had a hunchback too.
I worked in a building called Langham place. It’s right in the heart of Mongkok, which is the busiest and in my opinion best part of HK. It’s all on the mainland part. HK island is very upmarket, big skyscrapers and expensive shops. If it wasn’t for the intense heat and humidity you could be anywhere in the world.
But Langham Place is this really modern skyscraper. It’s a shopping mall, with a cinema, loads of shops and restaurants. Above the shopping mall is a 60 odd storey office block. I think I was on the 49th floor. There’d be a man in the morning who’d recognize me and call me a lift that would take me directly to my office.
When you stepped out of work into the street it was a different world. The throng of people was like nothing else, amazing. The city really doesn’t sleep, sorry for the cliché. But it doesn’t. Tiny shops would be open up to midnight. The streets would be crowded all night long.I loved the shops, they aren’t like how our shops work. You have to do a lot of looking up in HK…at the base of a buildinh it might be a small shopping mall, the next floor might be a retaurant, the next floor a 1 Hour Hotel, then maybe another shopping mall… Because ground space is so limited everything goes up. There’s a goldfish market where they sell any kind of aquatic being you can think of, in little plastic bags in huge racks just on the street. That’d be a cool thing to draw. Once I went up some suspicious stairs and found a shop selling stag beetles. There were loads of little kids in there holding them. Really weird!
People in HK are super friendly…always happy to show you where to go or to say hello. I tried to stay away form westerners as much as possible, but there is an area on HK island called….something…can’t remember..Lan Kwai Fong I thing…full of expat bars. Not fun!
I’d spend a lot of my free time looking for cool toys in the weird toy shops, I had my favourites. There was one that was like a huge warehouse full of old toys…robots, monsters, anything really. I’d spend hours in there looking for cool stuff. I am a bit weird though.
Hmm…I haven’t answered your questions have I…
Words to describe Hong Kong: Unusual, Robots, Alive, Heat, Labyrinth, Electric Pandas…etc…
Colours: The heat and the dust make everything kinda hazy. There’s quite a lot more greenery in HK than you’d expect; before it was a city it was a jungle. SO there’s a lot of cicadas and strange jungle plants. Especially up the Peak in the island..that pretty much is a jungle still. I saw a giant centipede eating another giant centipede up there once. I don’t think there really is any particular colour I’d suggest.
Day/Night: Well there are a lot night markets that are open all night, they’re cool. And lots of neon sign and things, but not in the smart way that Japan does it, everything in HK is crooked and a bit scruffy. It’s a huge battle of old and new in HK.
Hm…well, that’s enough for now. Look forward to seeing what you do.. If you want to know anything else feel free to ask….
Paddy
Feel free to look at my Hong Kong Albums for inspiration…let me know if you want to use any of them for illustration purposes or whatever!
So…to answer your questions…
So Hong Kong is an amazing city. Vast, vibrant…constantly in a state of flux. Each street has it’s own personality. I used to live on a street called Kweillin Street. In the mornings you’d see people dragging huge piles of polystyrene boxes around. I’m not sure why. I once saw a man dragging a pig carcass across the road. Weird. At lunchtimes there would be a market on the road, selling anything you can think of. Lots of sticky shoes. And then at night huge groups of men would stand around swapping things…I was never sure exactly what. Watches and things. Also, there’d be people playing Go and Mahjong in rooms that opened onto the street. And people collecting tvs, and breaking them up in a recycling centre next to where I lived. It was a good street. There was an old woman who would sell sandals, I called her Old Lady Kweillin. She was ancient, and very poor. She had a hunchback too.
I worked in a building called Langham place. It’s right in the heart of Mongkok, which is the busiest and in my opinion best part of HK. It’s all on the mainland part. HK island is very upmarket, big skyscrapers and expensive shops. If it wasn’t for the intense heat and humidity you could be anywhere in the world.
But Langham Place is this really modern skyscraper. It’s a shopping mall, with a cinema, loads of shops and restaurants. Above the shopping mall is a 60 odd storey office block. I think I was on the 49th floor. There’d be a man in the morning who’d recognize me and call me a lift that would take me directly to my office.
When you stepped out of work into the street it was a different world. The throng of people was like nothing else, amazing. The city really doesn’t sleep, sorry for the cliché. But it doesn’t. Tiny shops would be open up to midnight. The streets would be crowded all night long.I loved the shops, they aren’t like how our shops work. You have to do a lot of looking up in HK…at the base of a buildinh it might be a small shopping mall, the next floor might be a retaurant, the next floor a 1 Hour Hotel, then maybe another shopping mall… Because ground space is so limited everything goes up. There’s a goldfish market where they sell any kind of aquatic being you can think of, in little plastic bags in huge racks just on the street. That’d be a cool thing to draw. Once I went up some suspicious stairs and found a shop selling stag beetles. There were loads of little kids in there holding them. Really weird!
People in HK are super friendly…always happy to show you where to go or to say hello. I tried to stay away form westerners as much as possible, but there is an area on HK island called….something…can’t remember..Lan Kwai Fong I thing…full of expat bars. Not fun!
I’d spend a lot of my free time looking for cool toys in the weird toy shops, I had my favourites. There was one that was like a huge warehouse full of old toys…robots, monsters, anything really. I’d spend hours in there looking for cool stuff. I am a bit weird though.
Hmm…I haven’t answered your questions have I…
Words to describe Hong Kong: Unusual, Robots, Alive, Heat, Labyrinth, Electric Pandas…etc…
Colours: The heat and the dust make everything kinda hazy. There’s quite a lot more greenery in HK than you’d expect; before it was a city it was a jungle. SO there’s a lot of cicadas and strange jungle plants. Especially up the Peak in the island..that pretty much is a jungle still. I saw a giant centipede eating another giant centipede up there once. I don’t think there really is any particular colour I’d suggest.
Day/Night: Well there are a lot night markets that are open all night, they’re cool. And lots of neon sign and things, but not in the smart way that Japan does it, everything in HK is crooked and a bit scruffy. It’s a huge battle of old and new in HK.
Hm…well, that’s enough for now. Look forward to seeing what you do.. If you want to know anything else feel free to ask….
Paddy
No comments:
Post a Comment