Hong Kong

We arrived in Hong Kong around 7 at night on the 15th. The first thing that struck me when I got off the plane was the cold. I cringed as I realized that I hadn’t actually looked up the weather.

My friend Roxanne had come to HK in December and said the weather was in the 70’s. Then my brain did something that I didn’t realize until now, it decided that this meant it was only getting warmer from then. I thought, “ok, 70’s or higher” and packed accordingly.

As I looked around at the scarves, hats, boots, and winter coats of the people around me, I quickly realized my error.

How could this have happened? Why would I not think to look up the weather for a place I knew I was visiting?

The reason that I’m venturing, is that I had a lot to do. There’s a lot more research than I’d imagined for traveling. Usually when people travel, I’d imagine that they have loads of time in between their trips to research and explore. I had 4 weeks while teaching, with two countries to look up. Between flights, hotels, attractions, and exchange rates, I guess I was all too willing to let the piece of evidence that I had for the weather here be sufficient.

Luckily, it’s not nearly as cold as Beijing. I’ve had to resort to jeans and my North Face shell most days, but I’m definitely not suffering.

Also, I noticed that people in HK are overdressed for the cold, in my opinion. It must just be because I come from such cold weather, but the temperature here is in no need of gloves and hats. I think they just enjoy the change to add fashionable accessories. I will definitely give it to Hong Kong for being a cosmopolitan city, much more so than Beijing and KL. We are staying at the icehouse, right in Central Hong Kong on Hong Kong Island. It feels nice to be back in a real city, with people in business suits and rushing crowds of people who walk with determination. I was actually looking forward to getting pushed by a crowd, and have gotten my wish.