My Neighborhood

Hello,
Today I have a rather simple theme.  I am going to talk about my neighbourhood! While this may not seem a big deal, my neighbourhood is rather unique.  First of all it is right smack in Kowloon, one of the most densely populated places on earth.  There are seven million people in the Hong Kong territory total, and Kowloon must have over half of them.  Once in a while I am struck by how crowded the sidewalks are and how tight and narrow everything is in the stores, but I am getting used to it.  To pack so many people in such a limited space,  since Hong Kong is 70% natural, they have tons of high rises.  Some are really high, high, high rises.  Apartments are small and expensive.  My little flat, 710 sq feet, actually one of the bigger ones around, can be bought for $350 000 Canadian.  Rent is $2500 Canadian.  You can buy or rent a decent house in Red Deer for that kind of money.  But if you are careful, food and transportation are cheap.  Buses, subways are less than a dollar as is the ferry to Hong Kong.  Taxis cost two to five dollars for a fairly lengthy ride.  A decent meal at a decent restaurant $4 or $5 dollars Canadian.  My neighbourhood has plenty of restaurants, a laundry mat, 4 or 5 dollars for a heavy load, grocery stores and open air markets where you can find decent prices on many items.  So except for the housing, you can, if you are careful live on the cheap.  Yet there are plenty of high end stores especially over in Hong Kong.
Now back to the neighbourhood.  Kowloon is noted for having several buildings built in the Bauhaus mode, which was popular in the 50's.  Many of them are being torn down to be replaced by high end apartments.  My neighbourhood is so typical of what is going on all over China.  The economic boom has caused cities to become a mish mash of high end first world buildings, next to middle of the road structures, across the street from a slum.  One building in my neighbourhood is first world on the ground level, middle class on the second floor and third world slum at the top.  This mish mash of buildings and people, mainly chinese, mixed with indians (real ones from India) and the occasional white guy( me) makes my neighbourhood interesting.  Yet there is a quaintness too.  The vendors at the open air market know who I am and great me like an old friend, waitresses at the restaurant know me as well and great me with a smile and something in Chinese, I hope hello, its all kind of quaint now, but never boring.   Yet, despite all the choas of my neighbourhood I feel quite safe. The police are always on patrol and people tend to be gracious and concerned about making a living rather than trying to mug you.  So all in all a great place to be.

Till next time.

Adios,

Dirk