Tag: Hong Kong

Going home?

As I sit here writing this one the apartment is a hive of activity. Boxes piling up all around and the sound of tape and cardboard filling the air. It’s the time that many expats in Hong Kong have experienced many times over – the sounds of relocation. And accompanying the noise are those questions, fears, concerns and the sense of dislocation. We are relocating back to the UK. My fault as my very long suffering wife remind me regularly.

But is it going home?

Out of all the questions that come up when you move back to where you come from this is probably the one that I come back to more and more and with less and less of an answer. I really don’t know how I feel about going back to the UK. Quite honestly it doesn’t feel like a country that I recognise. Gone seems to be the tolerant hard working but somewhat smug nation that I grew up in, replaced by a nation that seems to think the world owes it a living and that all foreigners are in some way bad – just for being foreign. A country where the Daily Mail has gone from being a comic for the distinctly odd to a sad reflection of broad swathes of society. A country that is currently in the throws of debating whether to remain as part of a multinational and multi cultural world or descend into being a small island that can somehow stand out and above the rest based on a distinctly rosy view of our position in the world.

We’re starting in Greenwich, somewhere I know very little about but it looks good on the tourism site and GoogleMaps.

Image courtesy of Robert Bradford at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

While there must be something good about the place I am struggling to see it and while you might then ask why on earth relocate back there the simple answer to that one is the alternative was Switzerland. As someone once said to me its a great place for the morning but you’ve done it by lunchtime.

This is the third time I’ve moved countries and possibly the most daunting. Not knowing anything about the culture of the country your moving to is part of the fun. Coming out of our front door and not having any idea of what to do, where to go and how things work is all part of the experience. I’m not sure this applies to coming back to the UK.

We will see

Tags change, Experience, Hong Kong, London, Relocation, Travel

Buildings and Places Uncategorized

Hanoi. Growing up quickly

Post author By The Burble....
Post date February 17, 2016
No Comments on Hanoi. Growing up quickly

It’s loud it’s busy it’s a messy energetic city of hope. I love it. Like I love a large amount of South East Asia but Hanoi has a special place in my heart as this was the first city we travelled to outside the expat homeland of Hong Kong.

Only an hours flying time from the glitzy, shopping centre that Hong Kong has become the contrast couldn’t be much bigger. Hong Kong is brash, bright and, in its own mind wonderfully successful while Hanoi is the little brother that it desperately hopes won’t mess up the sandwiches. Which of courseHanoi sets out to do, and does, very effectively. To the extent that it even has its own sandwich.

But it is the energy of the place that astounded me when I first arrived. Hong Kong is brash and bright and everyone wants to make money – end of the discussion. But in hanoi everyone wants to do everything, live, learn, make money, eat, teach, and shout. And mostly while riding a moped. If anyone has seen the Top Gear special that they did in Vietnam and wondered if it was really as busy as the pictures showed (surely they cut it to look busy?) well I can assure you that it is a lot worse than you see on the film. I think it was James May that compared his scooter to a US tank with the line that the scooter has freed more people than the tank ever did and in Hanoi, as a microcosm of the cities in Vietnam he was exactly right.

Mopeds are everywhere, occasionally on the tight side of the road going in the right direction but mainly coming at you from in front behind and ay other direction possible. I have yet to see one fly but its only a matter of time. Some video will give you the idea.

Crossing the road in Hanoi is an experience. Locals helpfully give you the rather distracting advice just to ‘step out and keep going straight the bikes will swerve round you’ or that is what I think they are saying as my local language skills aren’t too strong. But the advice does seem to work (testament as I am writing this after two trips to Hanoi) and the bike riders do seem to realise that killing pedestrians isn’t a good idea; especially if you are riding with Grandma, your husband, your children and your dog all on the same moped.

Cars however are another thing. 3 years ago when I went to Hanoi there were a handful of cars on the road, mainly taxis, and they had adopted the riders ideas and tended to swerve round you. Which is no mean feat in Hanoi where many of the roads are only wide enough for a couple of bikes. But I have to report that Vietnam in its headlong rush to develop has seen a rapid rise in the number of cars and the new car drives, probably never having ridden a motorbike, have not worked out that you can go round pedestrians. And so they don’t. Which makes crossing the road a far less exciting experience than wading trough mopeds doing their best to avoid you.

Hanoi sites on the Red River about 85 miles in land from the South China Sea. Hanoi is the national capital although it lost this title to Hue after 1945 following a successful take over by Ho Chi Minh. It only regained the title in 1954 after the French, who used Hanoi as their regional center for Indochina, were defeated at Dien Bien Phu. At the end of the Vietnam war in 1976 Hanoi was once again declared the capital of the new Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Visiting any Asian city is always an experience and you long to write about the scents of perfumed streets, the quality restaurants and the calm of a city going about its business. And if you do you’ve never been to a developing Asian city. The noise is all mopeds and horns, the smells are two stroke fumes combined with outdoor cooking smells and the city is anything but calming. It’s noisy, smelly and exciting and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Tags Customers, Google, Hanoi, Hong Kong, Travel

Communication Customers Uncategorized

Told you I don’t understand marketing

Post author By The Burble....
Post date January 3, 2016
No Comments on Told you I don’t understand marketing

Just went into a store to buy my wife a new all electric super whizzy toothbrush. As with most shops in Hong Kong they didn’t actually have what I wanted but they did in the warehouse.

Now in most countries something in the warehouse means it’s in Lithuania and if you order it now it should be with you for the next millennium.

Not In Hong Kong. No warehouse is more than 1 minute from the shop and they always have what you want. Always.

And so one minute later I was paying for the toothbrush and readying myself to face the nightmare of Sunday afternoon food shopping. But this being Hong Kong you get free stuff with your purchase.

A set of sore brushes and some toothpaste. Great. And Dettol. A bleach for cleaning toilets and floors.

Now I really know I don’t understand marketing.

Tags Business, Communication, Experience, Hong Kong

Buildings and Places Communication Customers People

Come Fly with me…

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You know you have been flying too much when you know your way around airport without knowing which country you’re actually in; unless its Heathrow which is the exception that proves the rule.

You’ve been in the air too much when you begin to recognise aircrew and can actually tell before you take off whether they are going to look after you well. But the real indication is when you get an invite from your favourite airline to a weekend launch of something.

Tags Business, Communication, Experience, Hong Kong

Buildings Buildings and Places Uncategorized

The Peak – The Tardis in reverse

Post author By The Burble....
Post date April 5, 2015
1 Comment on The Peak – The Tardis in reverse

One of my favorite buildings in Hong Kong – The Peak Tower. According to the the tourist guide the tower sits at 396 meters above sea level and is one of the most stylish architectural icons in Hong Kong. And situated at the top is the Sky Terrace 428 the ‘highest 360 viewing platform’ sitting at ‘and you probably guesses this already 428 meters above seal level.

Its a spectacular building sitting like some upturned boat dominating the sky line. Or at least it used to dominate the skyline but this is Hong Kong and now at least 3 buildings have appeared between us and the Tower; in just 18 months.

But what I find so interesting about this building is that it performs a trick that only seems possible in the movies. Its bigger on the outside than the inside. A remarkable feat of building and engineering leaves us with a huge edifice sitting on the top of the Peak and a range of small scale shops and coffee houses more suited to the back streets of Wanchai.

It is one of my favorites from the outside. The inside has gone missing and I’d like it to come back.

Tags building, Cantonese, Hong Kong, places, The Peak, Travel

Uncategorized

For cultural sensitivity training – take a taxi

Post author By The Burble....
Post date January 30, 2015
No Comments on For cultural sensitivity training – take a taxi

I have to admit that I probably take too many taxi journeys in Hong Kong. And the only justification I really have is that they are a very easy and cheap way to get around town. I know that they are not the most environmentally friendly alternative – although even in Hong Kong there are now a few Prius taxis, and that they clog up the highway but I still take them.

They work and that’s very important. And not only that, as I have discovered taxi’s are a great way of learning a bit about a different culture.

Like taxi’s all over the world the way the Hong Kong system works remains a mystery to me. Why for instance does a taxi driver need 6 or more phones on the dashboard? Apparently to make sure that they can give a personal number to a preferred client who can call them directly. I suspect no client is ever going to know that someone else is also using the same number but that’s Hong Kong for you.

I am fortunate to live in an area where local taxi drivers tend to park overnight. Great news in the morning if you get your timing right. Hint, leave at 7 to 730am. Get it wrong and you can be waiting for a while. Just don’t think about trying to get a taxi at 4pm as this is shift change time.

And if you’re in Hong Kong I’d really recommend you download the Hong Kong Taxi App which is an absolute lifesaver.

Oh and sit in the back.

In Sydney however sit in the front. It took me a long time to work out why when I got in a taxi the front seat was pushed so far back. Coming from the UK where you actually can’t sit in the front of a black cab I’m afraid I always sit in the back. Which in Sydney is the wrong thing to do. For some reason the driver wants company; and wants to talk to you. Now taxi drivers in London are known for being talkative but I’m afraid are just not in the same league as in Sydney – and I never thought I would say that. So be prepared to talk. And being new to the country and not knowing anything about local politics/sport/celebrities/weather etc. is no excuse for silence.

In Italy, where I have just come back from, sit in the back, put a seatbelt on and if I may suggest, a crash helmet and full body armor. Now I know stereotypes are dangerous but I have not been as scared in the back of a taxi for a long time, nor as close to the car in front. I thought we had actually got into the back of the car in front at one point. I wonder if you order your dents at the same time as you order your car to save the hassle of actually crashing into someone.

New York is of course a completely different experience. You either climb into the back of an old Ford Crown Victoria or the slightly newer Ford Escape. Remarkably both are rubbish which is quite an achievement. The Victoria has no suspension and the Escape (never was a name less deserved) has no room in the back. Literally no room, as the screen that is installed between the front and the back takes up all the room. Cutting your legs off is the only way to fit. And both taxi’s come with a driver who will almost certainly have no idea where you are or where you want to go. In a city like New York that is largely a grid pattern it is a mystery how authorities manage to find so many people with no sense of direction. I really think I should have been paid by the driver in some cases.

However the prize for the best taxi service goes to (drumroll please) Bangalore.

I suspect some might be surprised by this choice but let me elaborate. As service goes picking my bags up from the front desk of the hotel isn’t that uncommon. Nor is getting my cases out of the back when we arrived at the airport. What was slightly unusual was the insistence of the taxi driver to accompany me to the check in desk, and then thru security, and then thru the gate and onto the plane, and finally waving goodbye only after providing me with a glass of champagne. And then only accepting what the meter showed.

Taxi’s teach you something about a country and its people. If you want to know more get a bus. But that’s a whole different story.

Let me know your taxi experiences

Tags Business, company, Customers, Englishman in New York, Hong Kong

Customers Service

My passport? O que?

I have mentioned in a few postings how much I value speed of service and how some organizations put so much effort into making things simple and efficient. So it came as somewhat of a surprise to me to be writing this blog as a result of being refused entry to a country and being put on a boat back to Hong Kong; oh and at the same time abandoning my children to their fates.

Tags Business, Customers, Hong Kong, Macau, service, Travel

Risk

Fridge Magnets – A killer in waiting?

Post author By The Burble....
Post date August 17, 2014
No Comments on Fridge Magnets – A killer in waiting?

Sometimes internet stories get rejuvenated for no apparent reason. I have no idea how or why this happens but it can be fascinating to see what is ‘trending’ at any point in time. And todays story is one about fridge magnets and how they can become killers. Now I am the first to admit that there are a few fridge magnets in the house although they actually reside on the front of the oven. A spaceman from the US, a cocktail menu from Singapore and a polar bear make up the current contingent. I don’t know where the polar bear came from but he seems happy.

However while the polar bear is happy I am wondering if I should be anymore – until today I had never considered the polar bear and friends could be a killer.

Tags Business, Communication, Hong Kong, Risk

Uncategorized

Mirror Mirror on the wall…Oh heck

Post author By The Burble....
Post date August 3, 2014
3 Comments on Mirror Mirror on the wall…Oh heck

I have had one of those weeks where I can’t quite work out if it went well or not. And as is sometimes the case, this particular concern is based on a difference between my perception of myself and that from people around me who I trust.

And from my wife who I trust and who sees everything.

The issue that has caused me to stop and reflect is how I go about building teams.

From the feedback I have got there is little doubt that the people who work for me understand what I want them to do and actually spend a fair amount of time and effort getting on with it. The question is what happens when I am no longer there. Have I created a team that works well together even if individually people are pulling in the right direction.

Stopping, reflecting and deciding to look at what you do is probably something we all know instinctively we should do but I suspect we find it incredibly difficult to do. I know I do. And I know that my typical reaction to being told something that I don’t understand is to ignore it or take it personally. Or both.

But the word at the end of the first paragraph is key. I’ve got feedback from people I trust and if they are saying something I probably ought to listen. Its taken me a long time to get to this point but I do feel ready not only to listen to the advice but to do something about it.

I think we all know we need to do some things better or differently. No one (and maybe not even me) is that good. But actually recognizing it and then doing something about it is difficult.

Oh goodness this is sounding like a self help blog. Its not its meant to be about business.

Finding people you really trust, listening to them and then acting on their advice isn’t easy. But in business it take so much to just keep going and keeping your head above water that we don’t do enough of it.

And we should do more.

Its a lot easier than looking back and realizing what you should have done.

Let me know what you’ve stopped to reflect on? And what you did about afterwards.

Tags Business, Experience, Hong Kong, reflection

Background

A New York Mourning

I’m just back from NYC from a joint business and vacation trip. Its amazing, having lived in New York for more than three years before moving to Hong Kong, just how much it feels like home. You get off the plane and everything is familiar even while a lot has changed. Although of course nothing changes like Hong Kong where once a week at least three of our local shops have closed, been refurbished and reopened as something else.

Image courtesy of porbital / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Maybe its that pace of change that stops Hong Kong from feeling like home yet. Or maybe its the fact that in New York there are people who recognise me nearly two years after I left. Going into a bar for dinner and being recognized by a waiter who seems genuinely interested in what I’ve been doing just makes the place more comfortable.

Sure, in Hong Kong we have local restaurants where after regular use we are now well known but with the exception of one – Stone Nullah Tavern in Wan Chai – it still doesn’t quite feel like home. Of course Stone Nullah is an American style bar and maybe that’s part of the attraction. They go out of their way to make us feel welcome.

A view of Hong Kong Harbor from the Peak

My wife pointed out to me the other day, as we ruminated on where we might move to next, that it takes a long time to feel settled in a place. Often it takes between 18 months and two years just to feel like you know the place and how things work. Moving internationally is something that I’d recommend to everyone but I have perhaps, in the past three or four months, overlooked just how long it takes to feel settled. While getting a cheery wave and a ‘joe sun’ (or correctly spelled: jóusàhn) from locals is a testament to getting better known, its still a long way from being settled.

So I’ll keep hunting for good bars and restaurants and welcome your recommendations in the comments section below! For the expats living abroad, what made you feel settled in the country you now call home?

Tags Business, Hong Kong, New York City, Travel, United States