Saturday, December 15, 2007

Santaland: Hong Kong Edition






One of the strangest and weirdest things about HK, has been the absolute adoption of Christmas. They LOVE it here, and it is everywhere. Everystore has not only xmas decoration,, but they all talk abotu how their items for sale, whether it be curlers or hygeine products all are part of the "spirit of christmas." I have already been driven out of several restuarants and other locales because of the constant repitition of christmas beats.. i say christmas beats, because the soundtracks don't even get to the whole song before they repeat. Think, "Noel, Noel" and that's it.. or just abotu every other annoying christmas tune, but on constant repeat after only 4 or 5 bars.






I took a nice walk and go a kick out of this shopkeeper at 11:30 at night deciding it was time to decorate the closing gate of his shop with a reindeer.











I later made it to Lan Kwai Fong where i was accosted by ... drunk white santas!







I was staying in Wan chai, which i first thought of dubbing the "Rush Street" of Hong Kong, and it may be true, but Lan Kwai Fong, i think is the Bourbon Street of Hong kong. This is apparently where all the westerners seemed most comfortable.
I am not sure what to think about the entire santa stuff... i mean there are no religious overtones, they have just embraced the consumer aspect of santa. Should i, the atheist, or should the devout, be more offended?


Btw i will leave you with this photo.. this is of the Hong Kong Products Fair in Victoria Park. It is essentially a mob of people both buying and selling everything from "worm in the earth" elixirs, to George Foreman Grills (with Jackie Chan) and children books. I am in front of a stall that is selling a magic elixir made from honey... hence the man with a bees beard.





1 comment:

JD said...

Wow... I didn't think Christmas music could get any worse. They repeat snippets of songs? Not even the whole songs? Yikes.