I’ve received my first cheque (‘check’) here.
Went to an ATM to deposit it, and noticed my balance increased by $300 immediately. It’s quite surprising as usually none of the cheque funds wont be available until its cleared.
Let’s see how long clearance takes.
Don’t forget your ID. Doing lots of things here requires ID (bank account, post office, phone contract setup, etc) and rightly so. However, only form of valid ID here is my Passport, as I don’t have a Californian state issued drivers licence or ID.
It’s a pain to always bring your passport, but don’t forget it in those early days!
Critical thing these days to get set up early is a local phone service. Many people have said this could be very difficult without a social security number, but its easy, just a $500 deposit is required.
so, $1000 poorer (500 for me and my mrs). The deposit will be returned after 12 months automatically, or, after 6 weeks of advising of a SSN.
It’s been good, even if you are too small and sometimes a bit mouldy.
Ta ta.
Who be hating mainlanders eating in the train,
take a look at yourselves in the mirror.
Ergo
This is mold growing in the corner of my room. I am a super hater of the humidity, so I already run the aircons all the time, as well as dehumidifier year round. Yet, this bigger colony grew.
Wiping down the wall produced this. This isn’t dust, its the mold. Giving the walls a wipe down with bleach, death to the colony!!
Pro’s and cons
There has been some recent growing problems between Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong people, with a recent video captured in the Hong Kong MTR of some mainland tourists improperly eating on the train and a response video by a mainland professor (visable here: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzQ0NzE0Njgw.html – youtube deleted it as it promotes hate speech).
While its horrible that this Professor has said some things about HKers (calling them dogs), a lot of what he has said is true.
1) The Hong Kong man scolding the mainland chinese was doing so in Cantonese. They can’t understand him. He is being abusive and not useful in any way.
2) Hong Kong people feel a level of superiority over Mainlanders, due to colonional past, basic law in Hong Kong and overall wealth of the SAR.
However with increasing growth in the mainland the Hong Kong people have been getting incredibly jealous, unhappy with mainland Chinese entering Hong Kong without realsing their economy requires them to survive.
A lot of things have changed, Hong Kong people don’t control all the factories now and instead work for mainland bosses.
3) Hong Kong people (in general) are just as rude, or more rude than the Mainlanders. Today, there’s a good example, I was sitting in a restaurant eating lunch. It was very cold, so the door was shut, however every time someone walked in or out, they would open the door and not close it. Very few people would bother to close the door after them.
Also, when boarding / exiting the train, you’ll rarely get given a chance to exit before people will push past you to get inside. For people who praise themselves as being more civilsed than Mainlanders, they should really look into the mirror.
This is one of the biggest complaints for HKers now. Another big topic is Mainland women giving birth to Children in Hong Kong (thereby the child getting permanent residence in Hong Kong) , criticising these women without realising a majority of the population of Hong Kong has entered this territory through similar means.
As a typical Hong Kong complaint, their hatred is directed at some inane group, rather than suggesting and lobbying the government for changes in immigration laws, or the basic law, so that mainland women won’t be permitted into Hong Kong on an immigration basis or abolish the one sided (racist) Jus Soli laws.