One should wonder after being here for five day if this really is civilization.
We arrived here and what a culture shock yet again. I felt like coming back to a civilized country.
Val was shocked by the fact that men were actually talking to her, and when she asked a question that males were actually talking back to her and not to me.
In the taxi from the airport no cars were driving towards us on the highway, no horns, clean water, no trash.
Coming from India we actually were in culture shock at the modernity of the place.
The rush outside, people more people walking the streets, malls and malls with every haute couture make packed together, watches, gold shops, restaurants, coffee bars.
A vibrant city.
We are staying in a very design hotel, the kind that uses an ipad where you sign on when you check out.
Great Sushi, great food every where a feast to the pallet, especially given where we were and the food we got the last two month.
The kids and I spent an afternoon together shopping for shoes and stuff we needed that Matthew has outgrown. The people trying to sell you fake watches are mostly Indian and their reaction at Matt speaking Hindi was stunning, all in awe and laughing away.
.
The kids had a blast at DisneyLand Hong Kong, we couldn't stop laughing at the un-understandable explanation in English given by this young HK girl fol followed regularly by a giggle that makes me smile as I am writing this.
So here we are back in the civilized world, spending, eating, shopping, having fun, is it was so difficult to adapt to the dirt, the difference of being, the crowd, the touchiness, the food, the hawking, the bargaining and it seem so easy to get back to civilization and the way things are around here.
One thing is certain it seems the values here are different, it seems that essence here is missing.
I can't help but find myself thinking about the kindness and the spirituality I have discovered in India, the acceptance the peace of mind and kindness of people in India. The contrast is immense in every aspect but the feeling of peace of mind and true values is without parallel back in the old country.
Kowloon is one big shopping mall, a feast for the rich and wealthy, decadent in abundance of consumption. I gladly took part in it and loved the shopping and the looking for things I didn't really need, but I remain hungry for the kindness and the welcoming of India.
To quote an Indian who was buying something at the pharmacy here, he was getting a completely normal answer from a Hong Kong city girl, this could have been in any modern dense populated metropolitan city in the West, (imagine it with an Indian accent), "Why are you answering me so angry". This summed it up for me, it wasn't the content it was such the closed way she was speaking vs the openness and welcoming we had experienced.
On our way to mainland China tomorrow morning for what is going to be a long day of travel, I am looking forward to the nature at the foot of the Himalaya.
We arrived here and what a culture shock yet again. I felt like coming back to a civilized country.
Val was shocked by the fact that men were actually talking to her, and when she asked a question that males were actually talking back to her and not to me.
In the taxi from the airport no cars were driving towards us on the highway, no horns, clean water, no trash.
Coming from India we actually were in culture shock at the modernity of the place.
The rush outside, people more people walking the streets, malls and malls with every haute couture make packed together, watches, gold shops, restaurants, coffee bars.
A vibrant city.
We are staying in a very design hotel, the kind that uses an ipad where you sign on when you check out.
Great Sushi, great food every where a feast to the pallet, especially given where we were and the food we got the last two month.
The kids and I spent an afternoon together shopping for shoes and stuff we needed that Matthew has outgrown. The people trying to sell you fake watches are mostly Indian and their reaction at Matt speaking Hindi was stunning, all in awe and laughing away.
.
The kids had a blast at DisneyLand Hong Kong, we couldn't stop laughing at the un-understandable explanation in English given by this young HK girl fol followed regularly by a giggle that makes me smile as I am writing this.
So here we are back in the civilized world, spending, eating, shopping, having fun, is it was so difficult to adapt to the dirt, the difference of being, the crowd, the touchiness, the food, the hawking, the bargaining and it seem so easy to get back to civilization and the way things are around here.
One thing is certain it seems the values here are different, it seems that essence here is missing.
I can't help but find myself thinking about the kindness and the spirituality I have discovered in India, the acceptance the peace of mind and kindness of people in India. The contrast is immense in every aspect but the feeling of peace of mind and true values is without parallel back in the old country.
Kowloon is one big shopping mall, a feast for the rich and wealthy, decadent in abundance of consumption. I gladly took part in it and loved the shopping and the looking for things I didn't really need, but I remain hungry for the kindness and the welcoming of India.
To quote an Indian who was buying something at the pharmacy here, he was getting a completely normal answer from a Hong Kong city girl, this could have been in any modern dense populated metropolitan city in the West, (imagine it with an Indian accent), "Why are you answering me so angry". This summed it up for me, it wasn't the content it was such the closed way she was speaking vs the openness and welcoming we had experienced.
On our way to mainland China tomorrow morning for what is going to be a long day of travel, I am looking forward to the nature at the foot of the Himalaya.
en effet quel choc de civilisation cela a du etre pour vous waw je peux pas m imagine mais oui avoir une bonne idee la dessus alors j attends la suite la chine bisous vous embrasse tous les 4 aron hetty
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