Squatters

My Dear Wonderful People,

I found the following quote off the internet:  Hong Kong and Vancouver are two of the most unaffordable cities to buy property, according to the Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey published Tuesday.  In the 2014 survey, Hong Kong was branded the most unaffordable, followed by Vancouver and San Francisco. Australia's Sydney and Melbourne followed in the fourth and fifth positions.

Truly one of the craziest things about Hong Kong is its real estate.   Due to lack of land and high demand, prices for living space is astronmical.  A simple small apartment like mine (700 sq feet) can easily be worth over a million dollars Canadian.  Despite that Hong Kong has some of the most expensive and lavish homes in the World. They cost millions and millions of Canadian dollars.  Most of them are owned by mainland Chinese whose interest in Hong Kong real estate has driven prices sky high.  Yet, there are millions of Hong Kongers who hover around the poverty line.  The government here has build hundreds of public housing projects that provide many with at least a roof over their heads.  Still there are thousands who cannot or will not go to public housing.  Instead they go to the jungle, on the fringes of Kowloon, Shatin, and other places, and live in squatter homes.  While this is illegal the government has turned a blind eye, obviously better to have peace then a social upheaval.  Unlike the slums of Haiti or elsewhere, the jungle is actually, in my opinion, a nice place to live.  It is quiet, beautiful, and serene.  What I find strange walking through a squatter settlement is the lack of people out and about.  I guess they are sleeping, working or staying inside.  As a result I feel very safe walking through a squatter area. As I have declared many times before.  Hong Kong is a very interesting place.

Have a great week.

Love adios and ping on!

Dirk

These signs are everywhere in a squatter settlement, but are ignored.  I saw one sign in the middle of a fenced up squatter's garden.

Lovely real estate on the side of a small jungle covered mountain.

No streets in a squatter settlement.  Just narrow well maintained cement pathways.

Power is shared.

Note high rise apartment buildings near these squatter homes.

Nice location for a home. 

Hard to believe you are in Hong Kong. 

A variety of materials are used to build squatter homes.

Wow.

This squatter settlement actually had a bridge (think drawbridge of a castle) and fence barricading it.

This place is basically a cage.

One of the few people I actually have seen in a squatter settlement.  Guy was hauling water.

This area obviously had seen better days.

A forbidden city in the jungle.

Quaint.

This in my opinion looks great.

This not so much.  Weird.

Public housing or...

…this.

Hong Kong is an interesting place.