4 ms·
Think OP has misunderstood a few things about Hong Kong. First of all, the designer shops are not really for investment bankers; they are for tourists, particul
by robjan 9y ago
Think OP has misunderstood a few things about Hong Kong. First of all, the designer shops are not really for investment bankers; they are for tourists, particularly from the mainland. Hong Kong is the most visited city in the world and people from the mainland love to buy high quality tax-free goods. Sometimes for personal use, often to sell. It's easy to spot people from the mainland squatting and re-packing their bags outside these stores.
Second, about 90% of the tech scene is now Bitcoin or Blockchain. It's really unsustainable. I'm not sure where they got the impression that there isn't anything blockchain here.
Most of the other analysis was just on the stuff that exists for tourists. We don't use balloons filled with hydrogen and lights, most people don't study abroad, the meat is perfectly edible and the pipes are outside the buildings by design - it makes them much easier to service!
By the way, face masks are partly to prevent the cold wind (Chinese medicine) from entering your body and partly to stop others from becoming infected with your cough/cold.
- ywnner_0001 9y agoI guess it depends who's counting, but I'm pretty sure BKK is the more recent, most-visisted city. What you said about HK applies to BKK as well however. I'm really surprised of the opinions that tourists form of the city, given that there's basically zero correlation to the lives of residents. For example, it's pretty common for (older, less enlightened) people to talk about the city's red light districts, as if they occupy the entire CBD. Although the well known ones aren't too far from major thoroughfares, you'd literally have to go out of your way to see anything seedy while traveling in the city. People also talk about how difficult it is to get around, citing unprofessional taxi drivers. Residents drive cars or take the elevated train / subway, or more recently, Uber et al. The taxi industry serves (or preys on) the tourist industry almost exclusively now. Residents tend to avoid peak times and when you arrive somewhere you'll usually have the option of a valet or an underground car wash, so you're comfortably going from AC zone to AC zone. Or I've known people who've stayed at a hotel on a major road and then complained about the city's congestion, not knowing they're too far from anything enjoyable in walking distance. Residents don't walk anywhere, really. It is congested but more importantly, too hot. I could go on but won't. I'm sure the OP's take on BKK would have made me cringe as well.
- innocenat 9y agoAs a fellow BKK resident, I beg to disagree. I use Taxi (regular one). I walks a lot (yes it's painful), but that's life. But I avoid rush hour CBD like plague, yep.
- scbrg 9y agoWas it really too much of a strain to actually type the whole name of the city, and the districts, so that those of us not familiar with every city in the world could have had a clue? BKK? CBD? AC? TMA-2KTO.
- sho 9y agoTo be fair, although perhaps a bit impenetrable to outsiders, pretty much everyone I know uses airport codes almost exclusively to refer to cities in texts... or made-up TLAs like JKT for Jakarta when the airport code (CGK) is non-obvious. It's just a habit and I'm sure the GP didn't intend to be obtuse.
- homarp 9y agoBKK = Beer Kept Kold. Or BangKoK CBD = Cajun Beer Draught. Or Central Business District AC = Air Con. Or DC TMA-2KTO: Too Much Alcohol 2: Kept Too Cold OP : One Punch, a great Manga
- angled 9y agoOne thing I was surprised to learn this week is that Hong Kong doesn't have a tax treaty with the US! I wonder how that will go with any capital gains taxation on Bitcoin / cryptocurrency profits...
- larrysalibra 9y agoHong Kong doesn’t tax capital gains so if you’re American you pay normal capital gains and if you’re not you pay nothing.