Hong Kong rain. The constant drips from air conditioners are disgusting. For some reason, the public housing people do not like central air. As such, window air conditioners are everywhere.
No napkins. In any native restaurant, you are not given napkins. In one of the particularly authentic Chinese joints, they actually made us pay for "menthol" napkins. There was no TP either.
No clear right of way. Pedestrians are not yielded to by cars or other pedestrians.
People walk slowly. They rarely walk up or down the escalator. They walk slowly on moving walkways. Maybe I was just used to DC, but for a metropolitan area it was a little annoying.
Stinky fruit is overwhelming. Someone ate a durian on our floor, which is against hotel policy, and our entire floor stunk. We actually called the front desk and complained about a gas leak. They were somewhat amused when they arrived and told us it was a fruit. Click on the link above (the underlined word durian) and read some of the descriptions of the smell.
Bloomberg is the best TV show here for english speakers. We all agreed on this, so it's not just Mom and Dad's influence on me.
Can tops are pull-tabs. Is this the British influence? We only had one pull-tab mishap.
In official walking areas, you are forced to walk on the left. Almost everywhere else they walk on the right.
British influence is very noticable in the city. From buildings to restaurants to widely spoken English, you can tell the Brits were here for 100 years.
Hideous public housing everywhere. And since 50% of the people live in public housing, you are constantly looking at public-skyscrapers.
Nearly constant 95% humidity. It makes DC seem like a desert.
Public transport is fast, clean, efficient, and air-conditioned. Their metro is far superior to DC's. We never had to wait more than 2 minutes for a train, and the service area was pretty extensive.
Overwhelming odors. Hong Kong is a very smelly city. This is probably just a typical Western response to Asian odors.
There are dozens of hookers in every expatriate bar at night. Is that cute girl really dancing with you? Yep. And those flashy red pumps she's wearing aren't as good for dancing as you'd think.
No open container laws. The more I think about it, the more open container laws (while walking) don't make any sense.
Ubiquitous 7-elevens.
American sailors are seemingly everywhere when U.S. gunboats and carriers are docked. Who do you think the hookers were following around?
Beers are cheap at gas stations, but expensive at bars. And by expensive I mean generally more expensive than bars in DC, while beers are less than a dollar per beer at gas stations and grocers.
Night markets. Thriving cheap and illegal goods sales. Fake watches and pirated DVDs abound. Though, they are cracking down on designers shoes and handbags.
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