Ordinary Gweilo

Shaky is in the UK for a few days, and seems to have the same rather ambivalent feelings about being there that I do. There’s more to watch on TV, people speak a language you understand, working hours are shorter, the weather is good (er, hang on…). However:

then there’s the news.

It’s full of murder,murder, murder, murder, murder, murder, shootings, theft, animal cruelty and police in the playground. What the fuck is going on?!

My mate told me about the run-ins he’s had over the last few months, just walking home. A bloke having a go at him and his girlfriend for their interracial relationship, and a gang of kids giving him abuse, having a go, and actually coming into his apartment complex.

Hong Kong is still a much safer place than London, though I have to say that when I lived there I had remarkably little trouble. Yesterday’s newspapers report that crime here has hit a “nine-year high” at about 1.3 crimes per 100 people. The comparable figure for the UK seems to be over 20 crimes per 100 people. Assuming those figures are correct (and comparable), that’s a big difference!

There are certainly a few things I miss about the UK. Just as an example, being able to go into a supermarket and buy decent fruit and vegetables! Oh, and cheese, of course. Not exactly homesick, but sometimes I miss things about life back in the UK, and obviously I miss my family and friends over there. Anyway, I have no plans to go back to the UK, but since I had no plans to come to Hong Kong but ended up here anyway I suppose that doesn’t mean anything. Certainly I don’t have strong negative feeling about my home country, as seems to be the case with some expats.

Someone who is leaving Hong Kong, and probably heading back to Europe, is Eshin. Seems that things didn’t really work out for him here.