Travel to Japan and Hong Kong No More

Author: C Yeung
Date of Trip: August 2015

After 20 years away from HK, I have decided to bring my family back to HK for a visit. While we are there we might as well visit Japan before mour eldest son starts his new term in university’ law program. It was my sons first trip to Japan and HK.

We visited Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. It as hot and humid in August. Tokyo is interesting. My sons loves Akihabara and my wife loves shopping as the price in Japan is really low. Even the food is very cheap comparing to Canada which is where we are from. Looking at the full scale of Gundam in Odaiba Tokyo was simply amazing. The shops on Asakusa’s Kaminarimon was my wife’s favourite there. Observing people moving in Tokyo station is simply stunning. How they manage that volume of people and the no delay train schedule can definitely define why it is a world class city.We simply like that the city is very clean and there notmmuch garbage to be found on the street. In have to also slaute the City of Tokyo to make walking and smoking illegal. People are willing to help evben with my retarded Japanese.

Then Kyoto was interesting. Staying in a Japanese style hotel with tatami was fun to my sons. Kiyomizudera, Kinkauji and Bamboo grove were amazing to visit. Nishiki market was another shopping heaven for my wife.

Last destination in Japan was Osaka. Since we had to catch an early flight to HK so we decided to stay at the Hotel near Kansai airport. At first my wife and sons thought that it would be boring, then I took them to Namba area. It completely changed their mind. Osaka castle was a little disappointing as we thought that it would be more original, but the inside has changed completely with elevators, gift shop and museum. We bought a 1kg green tea from a store in a small side street off Dontombori for about 1400 yens which is a very good price. From the shop around, you can tell that the shops there are for local businesses with commercial grade kitchen equipments. It was also interesting to watch a couple of girls doing live singing performance in front of Takashimiya and 3 young nguys trying to pick up girls who are way out of their leads as my sons and I were chowing down Takoyaki and waiting for my wife returning from shopping.

Then, we head to HK. The first impression is that it is a lot hotter and more humor than in Japan. My first impression after checking into the hotel and go out of town is people smokes every where and like smoking is a cure for cancer. Every breath we take has second hand smokes mixed in it. I never thought I have to practice my deep sea diving technique on dry land. The subway cars are always packed and very noisy. People do not wait for passengers to get off the subway/train before boarding. Getting is more expensive including foods and clothing’s comparing to Japan. Comparing to the service we get in Japan in a restaurant, HK is really bad. Most restaurants we see are very un-sanitized.

The second day in HK we go to Discovery Bay. By the end of the day, my youngest young has developed heat rash and hives. He did not feel too good, so my eldest son carried him on his back and we headed back to the hotel. He had that in Japan but just not as bad and just require cooling down and sleep. On the bus in Discovery Bay, a girl was nice to give up her seat for my son as this is very rare in HK. But then, an older woman sitting behind was horrible. I could definitely use the b word to describe her. She peeked from behind, gave out strange look, murmur something to her companions, peeked again with a look like I do not want to be near him. It went on for a few minutes until I finally cannot stand this and asked her if she has any problem with my son. Then, she avoided to look into my eyes and made up some lies about it is about another person sitting next to my son as if I am born yesterday. I attend a lot of meetings at work, so reading body languages is quite simple for me. Subway is the same with people giving out strange looks but not as horrible as that sorry excuse of human which makes me feel ashamed to be born in HK. She probably thought I could not understand Cantonese as I talk to my wife in English since she is not Chinese. So, my wife decided to stay in the hotel and its immediate area until the flight to leave – counting down anfew days from now, rather than go shopping. After these horrible experiences, it will be really slim for us to return to HK even if we will be travelling in Asia. We were planning to do quite a bit of shopping in HK, but it looks like all the money will stay in our own pockets instead.

Overall, we missed the clean air in Tokyo and Kyoto (Osakan also smoke and walk at the same time). Nice serrtvices wen got in Japan. Although there are still a few Japanese will give us strange look and saying anything like ‘gaijin’ but none as bad as we had experienced here in HK. If you want to travel to HK, go ahead, but for us no more. None of us are masocist.

Just a few more days before we leave and can’t wait to leave either.