Karaoke style Kungfu

Every once in a while it is hard to believe I actually live in a place like Hong Kong. Being a small-town boy I kind of always thought I'd remain like that for all eternity. Yet here I am, in the middle of the growing Asian markets, in the middle of all the action you only read about in the news back in Finland.

I have only lately began to realize there's much more to the local culture and way of life than would've seemed at first. For most part of my stay I've been basically living a gweilo's life without much authentic touch to the local life. See, you can try to live like a "local" by not going to McDonalds all the time, or avoiding eating western food, or not going to LanKwaiFong to drink - but it's still just a charade. It is very hard to find that local thing if you're just another gweilo.

Let me put it this way: I thought I was very much localized and aware of the local way of life. Being here for over an year, and trying to avoid the typical gweilo/tourists spots, I thought I had finally come in touch with the Chinese within me. Ha, I couldn't have been more wrong! What I lacked was true knowledge of what local places were like. I knew the theory, not the practice.

Meeting Chi changed everything of course. What better guide to the local life than a local?

I've already been telling earlier about funny and strange occurrences being with her: local cafes, bars, parties and restaurants, etc. And I have been enjoying them a lot every single time! It's always something different, it's always something interesting. I've been learning a lot about the sincere way of having fun here - not the kind I'm familiar from Finland (not saying there's anything wrong with that) but something completely different.

The best way to describe my experience is through what I realized yesterday.

Again, I was out with Chi for a late-evening dinner. We were in KwaiFong (an area that probably saw its last gweilo in 1965) and had the idea of going to a local small restaurant. At first everything seemed as usual but the instance we walked in (and the general population of middle-aged construction workers having an evening off see us/me) there was a loud greeting in Cantonese, some apparent comments of having a gweilo around (as judged from Chi's reaction of bursting into laughter) and ever-continuing interest towards what I was doing there. So, Chi kept talking with the quite a lot, explaining my background and all that. It was all in very nice atmosphere, albeit very weird.

The place had a TV that showed karaoke and all the men (as stated, middle-aged construction works or such) were singing out loud, very loud, in chorus that would make baby-Jesus cry - but me laugh.

During the evening I started observing the characters I saw. Suddenly I realized this was actually a lot like what I had seen in movies. In fact, all the classic shady-but-merry-restaurant characters were there. The stereotypes were so obvious I couldn't help but laugh a little. The men singing; the loud, rude but funny old woman waitress; the owner of the restaurant sitting casually in one corner in a dirty t-shirt; the guy in the back who doesn't say anything; the guy who comes in and everyone greets happily. And so on. I realized that many of the places I've been to before actually are very similar to this.

Characters... so many characters. So much life and so much stuff I had no idea actually goes on in real life.

I only wish I spoke more Cantonese so I could take part in the fun. Now, I'm just a random spectator who is left without a word as Chi tries her best to work as an interpreter.

The lesson I've learned while being with Chi is that the average live of average people in Hong Kong is completely invisible to a gweilo. They live in different areas*, they eat in different restaurants, they go out to different bars, they party in different venues, they shop in different shopping malls, and so on.

*Gweilos tend to live in specific areas in Hong Kong while most of the areas, especially in New Territories and northern Kowloon are left to mostly locals.

Of course, here comes ME to ruin all the fun from everyone! Ha! It's like a black man playing ice hockey - and being good at it!

The local life is very appealing. As I said, the way of having fun seems very sincere here, almost childish. Every place I've been to I've been received in good, albeit sometimes weird, humor. Seems when they go out, they are already in a mood that is only achieved by a Finn after a few rounds of beer. They socialize, they are loud and they are genuinely set on having a good time.

Oh, and despite the shady appearance of the restaurants, the food is superb! If it wasn't for Chi, I would never go into any of the places because of my silly prejudice. But I'm glad she knows better.