Sarah and I arrived in Hong Kong late last night. Our flight got in on time and we had no trouble with customs, baggage claim or the express train downtown. But when we arrived at the Kowloon Station, we found a LONG line of people waiting for a cab - apparently a concert had just gotten out nearby. Oh well. We were at our hotel by 1am and fell asleep almost instantly.
Today we woke up refreshed and ready to explore Hong Kong. The weather forecast is not looking promising for our time here so we wanted to get out and see the city today because, even though it's pretty cloudy, at least it's not raining. Sarah found a great brunch place, aptly named Brunch Club, and we headed there around mid-day.
When we arrived we were quickly seated outside - it's a lot warmer here than in Seoul but we happily enjoyed the change of climate! Seated next to us was a middle-aged Chinese couple. About 10 minutes after we sat down, the husband (let's call him Joe, for simplicity) started cycling through all the available ringtones on his phone. At maximum volume. Not pleasant-sounding ringtones either - think 50 or so varieties of shrill telephone chords playing loudly at a table placed only inches away from you. The entire outdoor courtyard took notice and many began clearing their throats or looking at Joe hoping he would stop. He did not. I didn't want to be rude and ask him to keep it down, so we just sat at our table silently, making understanding eye-contact with each other and our fellow (non-Joe) diners (the ringtones were too loud to carry on a conversation).
After about five minutes, Joe realized that he had attracted the attention of the entire outdoor courtyard. However, rather than apologize, Joe took out his embarrassment on us, his closest victims and easiest targets. He began staring intensely and me, then Sarah - like less than a foot from her face, glaring at her. I intervened and asked him if there was a problem. This, obviously, did not sit well with him. Joe was furious that I would assume he spoke English (though, to be fair, it wasn't an assumption as I heard him order his food in perfect English to the waiter) and began ranting at me in Chinese. Among the words I couldn't understand, Joe made sure I got his point by infusing a few choice, four-letter English words and giving me the finger. His rant included "Don't I have the right to stare at the wall?!" (which was his crazy excuse for glaring at Sarah) and concluded with "Get out of my country!" (No offense sir, but Hong Kong is the most diverse place we have been so far and includes English as an official language, not to mention we were in an American restaurant, with only English-speaking staff.)
Since there is no reasoning with a person like this, we decided it would be best to relocate inside and enjoy our meal there. The food was great and it's a very Western-friendly place to spend a few hours in if you find yourself in Hong Kong. Joe was an unwelcome addition (he passed us on his way out and we were treated to another finger salute!) but I wouldn't expect him to show his face at Brunch Club any time soon after the manager had a word with him regarding his little outburst.
Anyway...a conflict with a local was inevitable at some point. Just a bit of a jarring experience, especially at a place that attracts so many Westerners. Oh well - thanks for the story, Joe, keep it classy!
When we were done with brunch, we headed to another nearby café to relax (conflict really gets the blood moving!) and do some trip planning. We will be in Australia in less than a week so we wanted to finalize our plans there.
We wandered around for a bit after that, exploring some more of Central Hong Kong, including the aptly named Soho (similar to the trendy NYC and London neighborhoods). Fortunately, we didn't run into any protesters - there was a clash with the police tonight that apparently led to the use of tear gas. Glad we missed that!
We had planned to stay downtown for dinner but found ourselves by the waterfront around the time that the Symphony of Lights was about to begin. We hopped on a ferry across the harbor and secured a good position on the Avenue of the Stars to watch the show. It was cool to see the buildings light up in a coordinated sequence, but the skyline itself is spectacular and we would've enjoyed our time just as much without the show.
View from the ferry ride across Victoria Harbor.
Almost show time. Found another couple to take our picture.
Hard to capture it all in one photo (video might've been better) but it was a great way to wind down our first day in Hong Kong!
After the show, we headed back to our hotel in the Kowloon neighborhood and grabbed some casual sushi for dinner nearby. Tomorrow looks like we'll have another dry day so we're looking forward to seeing some more of the city!