Hong Kong Bustles

By Audrey (Age 15, Chinese International School)

Photo via WikiCommons

The residents of Hong Kong love shopping - market shopping and/or shopping in department stores. Go to Sheung Wan market and you will see a huge group of women crowded together on the narrow lane, crawling like ants on top of each other, bargaining with the shop keepers. The bargaining sounds will pierce your ears even when you are far away from the market. Women shout, overlapping each others' voices, trying to bargain for cheaper prices. Meanwhile, in the dark, dimly-lighted store, men use sharp, shiny yet a bit rusty, knives. They cut through the piece of meat, fish, or vegetable. They get it ready to put it on display as if they were dolls, hoping to sell quickly for a good and reasonable price. At the back of the shop, they throw water and waste on the floor. With a spit of saliva on top for a final touch, they hope people will not notice them.

On the streets of Causeway Bay, business-like people with money shop in the department stores, such as Times Square and Sogo, for good quality clothing and food. You can see women coming out of Times Square, with a bunch of different colored and textured bags, filled with what they have bought, around their two arms. They walk like a penguin as they walk to the taxi/private car pick-up stand.

Meanwhile, in the tall apartment buildings, parents are telling their children to do exercise books, hoping that they will become as ambitious as they want to be and get into an excellent university. But not all children are obedient and hardworking. Those who are lazy and fool around are surrounded by the mothers with rulers in their hands, hitting the table to get their attention as they speak in a deafening voice. The husbands dream of a control machine that can mute them like the way they can when they watch television shows.

At night, below these apartment buildings, expats gather together in small pubs and gossip away their sport and business-related news, as they sip their big glasses of beer. You can often see most of these expats in Lan Kwai Fong, which is most famous for its night pubs and events. Most of the people there are Westerners and it is like a gathering place for them. Although there are mostly Westerners, there are still some Asians who go there for dinner.

Hong Kong is a city that never sleeps. It is filled with different contrasting actions - from local women shopping in fruit/meat/wet markets to Westerners hanging out in Lan Kwai Fong.