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Seven more things you’ll have definitely said or done after living in Hong Kong for three months

While we’re at it…

Written by
Graham Turner
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With TOHK being the experiential melting pot of born-and-bred Hongkongers and more recent arrivals that it is, we decided to gather round the campfire (our least dirty desk) and compiled our experiences and observations of what people say and do after they’ve been here for three months. If you missed our first contribution to this topic, it’s here. There’s more though, read on...

And if reading this makes you mad, discover another 11 things that make Hongkongers rage

Seven more things you’ll have definitely said or done after living in Hong Kong for three months

Drink on a work night and call it ‘networking’

Drink on a work night and call it ‘networking’

Remember, the first three drinks are pre-networking. The next batch are networking, and the last few rounds are the debrief. We’re not judging – it’s important to network and to use to the word as much as possible in any bar with clientele that mainly wears suits. What does all this drinking actually achieve? Usually nothing. But who cares? You networked. 

Pretend that you like going to jazz nights

Pretend that you like going to jazz nights

It feels like whenever we meet someone and ask them what they like doing in the city, going to a jazz night is the immediate response many produce. We’re not sure when it became a really cool thing to say: is this the La La Land effect? Oddly enough, any time we do go to catch some jazz in the city, these people are nowhere to be seen.

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Fail to get a bank account

Fail to get a bank account

It’s no secret that getting a bank account in Hong Kong is at best like pulling teeth and at worst, akin to achieving cold fusion. For a city that prides itself on being an efficient centre of global finance, the administrative hoops one has to jump through can be a nightmare. And if you’re successful, there’s the time you have to waste watching each page of your application form be double stamped and triple signed. 

Tell anyone that will listen about the wonder that is your Octopus card
Photograph: Shutterstock

Tell anyone that will listen about the wonder that is your Octopus card

“Did you know that you can use it to buy stuff at 7-Eleven?”

Yes.

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Master the ‘Hong Kong handshake’

Master the ‘Hong Kong handshake’

Aka, learning how to eject your business cards as fast as they will leave your purse or wallet. Everyone must have one. What’s your name? Who cares. Let’s have lunch. Here’s four more, give them to your family. Remember lunch.

Learned the art of urban manoeuvring

Learned the art of urban manoeuvring

Newcomers often stumble through Hong Kong’s crowded streets like the town drunk – bumping into people and attracting copious animosity. But give it a couple of months and they’re gliding through the streets, sliding between pedestrians like something out of The Matrix.

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Say it’s hot, again.

Say it’s hot, again.

“It’s hot.”

Break from the norm and try some of these

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