Easily Amused » Travel

Why HSBC Sucks

David Xia — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:41:51 +0000

HSBC is not "the world's local bank" as their motto states. You'll find branches in 86 countries on every single continent, but each region's HSBC is an entirely separate bank.

I opened an account in Hong Kong's HSBC last summer. When I left the country, I left behind a sizeable chunk of change in the HK HSBC account. Now I want it back so I can close the HK HSBC

Chinatown Bus, Worth the Risk?

David Xia — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:04:44 +0000

If you ever step onto a Fung Wah bus and notice dozens of them hanging inside, DO NOT GET ON. Here's why...

Summer Embers

David Xia — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 08:57:55 +0000

Some experiences are seemingly unremarkable when we live them and prove to be significant only afterwards, glittering like gems hidden under layers of cortical detritus and beckoning us to unearth them through reflection. Other experiences are not latent and are immediately meaningful.

Five Reasons Why You Should Visit Xiamen

David Xia — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:02:26 +0000

Located in China’s Fujian province across the strait from Taiwan, Xiamen is a bustling coastal city offering all the usual amenities for travelers with Western sensibilities as well as a rich plethora of traditional Chinese culture and customs.

Why I Wouldn’t Live in Hong Kong

David Xia — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:02:10 +0000

"For creature comforts, Hong Kong is unsurpassed, but Hong Kong is culturally barren. Living there is something like living inside a cash register."

Tai Mo Shan, Done

David Xia — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 18:12:19 +0000

A sign reading "No Trespassing," a ten foot high fence wrapping all the way around, barbed wire everywhere? Sounds like an unambiguous invitation to me.

Getting Away From the Machine

David Xia — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 04:27:27 +0000

There’s a digging machine at a construction site near my workplace in Hong Kong Central. Enormous, cylindrical, and piston-shaped, it prepares the foundation of a new building on Pedder Street by driving a sheer metal shaft at least two feet in diameter into hard, raw concrete. When steel collides with stone, the ground shakes and an ear-splitting clangor pulsates through the air as the threatening piston trembles and rises to strike again. An auditory manifestation of the city's pace of development, the piston slams into the ground again and again – a metronome beating out the urban tempo.

“It’s like all the Mexicans in NYC just stopped working one day.”

David Xia — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 06:29:31 +0000

Imagine every Sunday all the Mexicans in NYC with low-skilled jobs stop working, go to Wall Street or Times Square, and just throw one big street party.

What Is a Trowel?

David Xia — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 08:05:39 +0000

From: David Xia To: CEO HK interns Subject: DID YOU SAY HIKING?!?! Dear fellow CEOs, A question first: are any of the guys bothering with getting a tux for the Ivy Ball?

Massive, Harmonious Madness

David Xia — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:53:52 +0000

A day spent experiencing HK's Mass Transit Railway (MTR) is enough to put any urban-dwelling American to shame.