Adjusting to Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Skyline


A Bustling Victoria Harbour


It is a bit shocking to go from a country with virtually no roads to a country where Louis Vuitton is the national uniform. I have always loved Hong Kong, but for the first time, I'm no longer sure how I feel about it. A lot of fun can be had in this city, but something about spending US$2,000 on a Dior handbag seems totally wrong when you consider that the average Filipina maid in Hong Kong makes US$550 a month, or when the average Nepali lives on US$2 a day. Sure, people are handed different lots in life--I get that...but still. Perhaps what concerns me the most is that I know that as soon as I'm away from Nepal or Mongolia or India and settled back into life in the States, or Europe, or even Hong Kong--I know that commercialism will sink back in. The ads will cloud my memory and I too will go back to wanting--perhaps not the US$2K Dior bag (because, well, I have my secret sources for these things)--but the Eames chair or the Louboutin shoes or some other item that costs more than some people make in a year. And the thought of this bothers me.