Hong Kong v London at Christmas

In my photos from December, I’ve got lots of Christmassy shots, from vastly different climates.

London looks great when it’s dressed for Christmas, with bright lights piercing the dark of winter.  I took these pictures when I was shopping at Selfridges on Oxford Street.

But there are advantages in being in warmer climes for Christmas, with these festive red trains and clothes in Hong Kong.

Kowloon Harbour City’s “Starry Christmas”

I wish I’d taken more photos of Christmas decorations in Hong Kong.  My solution: send you over to another blog instead, where the author of  “My Hong Kong Husband”  has done a better job of bottling the Hong Kong Christmas spirit.

Hong Kong: Chun Yeung Market

I’m back in the UK now after a month-long trip to Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia.   As an antidote to jetlag and the grey British winter, I’m posting these colourful photos from Hong Kong markets.

My first stop, the source of those red chillies, was the wet market on Chun Yeung Street, near North Point on Hong Kong Island.

The whole street is double-lined with market stalls and shops selling meat, fish and seafood, Chinese medicine, clothes, and household items.  And of course, a huge range of tropical fruit and vegetables, like these shiny red wax apples.

And Chinese cabbages.  These bring back memories of my time in north-east China.  Every winter, people in Dalian would buy these cabbages, and then store them in the open air, on the roof of their apartment buildings.  No fridge or freezer needed when the winter air is cold and dry enough.

Back in Hong Kong, in another market near Graham Street, I found these pomelos.  I miss these – sour grapefruits are no substitute.  I wonder if I can buy them somewhere in London.

There will be more posts from my holiday.  If they appear at odd hours, blame the jetlag.

Hong Kong: Expat or Tourist?

I’ve just spent a week in Hong Kong.  Some days, when I walked around with my camera, I was the archetypal tourist.

On other days I felt like an expat again.   I spent many happy hours with my old friends in Central and Aberdeen, relying on them to find the best foot massage, the best Singaporean laksa and the best Sichuanese garlicky-tofu.

The best thing about expat life must be this lasting benefit, of making friends around the world.  People from Singapore, the UK and the Philippines meet in north-east China; and ten years later we are together in Hong Kong, talking happily about our other friends who have scattered across the continents to Norway, Japan, India, Indonesia and the USA.

On the other hand, the best thing about being a tourist is seeing the unexpected, like a dog running a shop in North Point.