Off Queens Road Central
The next day I’d been invited along to a coffee morning in a Starbucks in Central, so I used the complementary hotel bus service in town and made my way to the Starbucks on Queens Road Central. There are seven Starbucks in the area, which could lead to a lot of confusion if you are trying to meet up. The coffee morning was one that had been arranged by a local school’s PTA to introduce the parents of New Arrivals to what is happening in the school and in Hong Kong as a whole. The topic of discussion that morning was The Performing Arts and everyone was chipping in with productions to see, and drama schools for the children to attend. Although taking a child to a new country can be traumatic for all concerned, the networks that a school provides can be invaluable for any new person settling in. We have no such ready-made network in Shanghai as our children are already out of school. I recognise that although I am mainly extrovert, had I been a less independent and resourceful person and incapable of switching to a more introverted mode which I can do relatively easily, I would have found moving to Shanghai incredibly difficult. As it is, I can cope with my own company during the day, as long as I’ve got something specific to do, which is why this blog is so helpful. I do find that I prefer to ride on the metro rather than take a taxi – I’m never quite sure where I’m going to end up in a taxi, although no-one I know has yet had problems – as I’m more in control of what I’m doing, even if it takes me longer. I do find myself looking out for western women in the streets of Shanghai. There are not many and certainly not many without a family or partner around. Any I do see on my travels (and there are not many – maybe they are all in the retail palaces) tend to be much younger than me with small children in tow. I’ve seen maybe 5 Western women of my age who are not obviously tourists. I have yet to go up to them and start a conversation, but I expect before the end of the year I’ll get desperate. I see far more western men out and about and quite a few of them are my sort of age. Some of these come without their wives and families who refuse to make the move to mainland China. It could be that I’m living in a modern eastern version of the Wild West, where only a certain type of person is willing to take the plunge and come out here. Of all the places one could move to on the mainland, Shanghai is probably the easiest. The Shanghaiese are very friendly and smile a lot and are more than willing to try and communicate with dumb foreigners. I make the sellers laugh in the Wet Market when I go in and try and buy something, but they always help me get what I want. In Beijing the people are dour and rarely smile. I am so glad we are based on the coast and not in the northern capital.
I hate Starbucks coffee in the UK. It is usually bitter and over-roasted. But the coffee they serve in Hong Kong is much more to my liking. I had been invited to meet up at the coffee morning by the wife of a friend of mine from university. In her time she’s been a very powerful business lady, a partner of the consulting firm Accenture, and now involved in all sorts of projects including the complete funding of a kindergarten in the Philippines which teaches poor children to write their names and count to 20. (You cannot go to school in the Philippines unless you can do this and if your parents are illiterate or innumerate how can you ever learn?) We didn’t know each other very well, but we seem to have hit it off well and were spending so much time chatting after the others had left the coffee morning that she invited me to lunch at the Foreign Correspondent’s Club, just around the corner and up the hill, where Pauline is a member.
The FCC up the hill on the LHS
The Foreign Correspondent’s Club was set up as a home away from home for journalists to retreat to and where they can get all kinds of home comforts. Others can join as associate members and it provides a focal point for expats to meet. It is the sort of place that expects you to turn off your mobile phones…. that’s OK for me with my UK one, which is the one that works in HK, but I haven’t got a clue how to turn off my Chinese mobile, but as it doesn’t work in the former colony, that didn’t matter.
The dining room was full, as was the bar more or less, but they did manage to squeeze us onto a small table for a huge club sandwich each. I don’t know how you are supposed to eat a club sandwich. This was five layers of bread with four different types of filling stapled together with a long cocktail stick. I think I ate mine quite delicately, but I can’t be sure. It was all very enjoyable.
Many expats in Hong Kong have Filipino amahs, or domestic help. If you have children below the age of 7 you tend to have two! This does give Filipinos money desperately needed back home, they themselves tend to be mothers, leaving their own families back home with parents whilst they travel abroad to earn money. 25% of the GDP of the Philippines is apparently earned in this way. Having domestic help allows you to live the expat lifestyle. If there is someone to clean, shop and cook for you, you can get out and about and enjoy all the western aspects of Hong Kong, buying food flown in from the UK by M&S for example if you do do any of the shopping, but are you really understanding Hong Kong? The same in some way could be said of us in Shanghai. I do not have any domestic help, and although I do occasionally shop in the local Wet Markets I have yet to find one close by the apartment and although we do eat in restaurants full of local Chinese, I do buy most of my food at the foreign supermarkets: Japanese or Korean for protein and fresh vegetables, the local Carrefour for packaged goods.
HK Tram or Wizard night bus
After my lunch I made my way back to the hotel for a rest – on the Hong Kong night bus, or tram, trying to catch a glimpse of my parents’ former tower block overlooking the race course in Happy Valley, but failing miserably.
That evening we went to the Hong Kong offices of Richard’s company where they were having one of their monthly Friday night gatherings. Here the staff in the office and any of the line managers from the local factory are invited to come along and have a bevy or two and eat some of the food made in the factories and that being designed in the development kitchen, so that the employees understand the kind of food that is being made. Food which, as local Chinese, they may not normally eat. Everyone was very welcoming and kind and there was some excellent food to taste.
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