That said: man is capitalism rampant over here.
CUHK sent us a little "Survive and Thrive" booklet, and one of the advice quotes was "Hong Kong is very modern and international on the surface, but [highlighted in blue] its soul is very Chinese"
Two weeks in, that soul has struck me as being very concerned with making money.
I've been going on about how convenient and awesome the Octopus Card is, and it is! I was just thinking and realized that one of the primary purposes it serves is to allow a person to spend more money, faster. Want a drink? Swipe it! Want to go somewhere? Swipe it! It doesn't feel like you're spending money if you're just swiping - not as real, so you can spend spend spend.
Mong Kok? Walk the streets, try to bargain, spend money.
Sha Tin? Here, exit the MTR/KCR into a giant mall. And spend money.
Want to have air conditioning or do laundry? Spend money.
Want to go to China? Buy a visa, show proof of hotel reservations and airfare: spend money.
It's like this but instead of "smoke" it's "spend money"
If it weren't so expensive, this sort of thing would almost be beautiful
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