Hong Kong

I've spent the past few days in Hong Kong. It was nice to be able to clear immigration in 20 minutes and enter a lively city where no one stares at you, where trains run every few minutes, and there isn't a gun to be seen anywhere. I always enjoy Hong Kong for a few days and have never stayed any longer. If I did I imagine the place would quickly become claustrophobic and frighteningly consumer-capitalist. True I don't speak Cantonese or have family there and this can be a limiting factor. Moreover, I hear the hills and jungle in the new territories makes for some good hiking. So don't get me wrong, it's not that I think that Hong Kong is a bad place.

But there are constant signals that consumerism is king over here. The televisions in the Airport Express hint as much with their unending images of fashion designers and celebrities raving on about their new hand bags, shoes and mobile phones. I have never seen so many different choices for clothes and electronics in the one city. I tried to find a pair of hiking shoes to replace my current, smelly pair and managed to find four eligible options.

There are so many choices for the consumer that it is easy to miss the army of casualised workers, many from neighbouring developing countries, responding to your beck and call in the shops and restaurants you visit. There is such an expectation that money buys you goods and services in Hong Kong that when I tried to put my rubbish in the bin at a local McDonald's a friend told me that here there are people to clean up after you. On Sundays and public holidays you can see thousands of Filipino workers sitting on the ground in open spaces like a giant, CBD picnic. What they represent is an army of wage slaves with no place to be free except the public space you and I walk on.

Surely there has to be more to an Asian tiger economy, the Asian model for development, than this? Perhaps there is. Over the past few years there have been growing demands among Chinese residents for greater democracy and transparency in government. I suspect there is a long road yet to travel.