It’s official. Mr Shallot and I have been living in HK now for one whole year. The time has gone pretty quickly except for my period of unemployment which seemed to be somewhere between endless and forever. I’m actually missing those days sometimes – if only I could have been paid throughout that time, I could have been unemployed indefinitely!

While I enjoy living in HK, there are some things that I miss about Australia (family and friends aside). Here’s some of them and how I’ve adapted:

Australia – Seeing a clear blue sky on a regular basis
Hong Kong – Dream or look away from the sun, then it is almost blue. This is one of the main reasons why people from HK tend to holiday on tropical islands.

Being able to swim at any beach that I felt like
This is another time to dream. Most beaches have a bit too much rubbish for my liking but Doggy Shallot has doesn’t seem to mind.

Regular supply of Smiths Salt & Vinegar Crinkle Cut Chips
This is admission to our house for any guest. Special thanks to my aunty and uncle who went about the call of duty brining 6 large packets and carrying them half way across HK.

Real coffee shops / cafes
There is an ok coffee shop near where we live and one right near the ferry terminal at Central. These are for takeaway coffees. To drink in, there is quite a nice French café near where I work. Cafes are few and far between. Most people drink Starbucks and Pacific Coffee – I tend to boycott those.

Cheap steak
Don’t look at the price. Most meat we buy is from Australia whether we’re at a restuarant or a shop. If only cows could swim, it would be cheaper!

Our house
We have pictures and the best woman who is currently living in it sends us updates with how our garden is growing. Much appreciated as was the lemon tree she gave us for Christmas. We’d been meaning to buy one for a while.

2L and 3L milk
Buy extra cartons. For some reason milk in a carton doesn’t taste the same as milk in the plastic though and from an environmental point of view, it also seems more wasteful. The taste point is very similar to how I feel about Coke in cans vs bottles.

Fresh orange juice
This is a throwback to our poorer days when Mr Shallot and I treated ourselves to a carton of Just Juice periodically. Now, we buy Just Juice regularly. Freshly squeezed is difficult to find but not impossible.

Dog parks with cafes (eg Bones)
On weekends, we take Doggy Shallot to a park near us where we meet with other dogs and their owners. Mr Shallot makes coffee for us to take down and others now do this too.

Being able to cycle to work in (relative) safety
Until I’ve learnt to cycle on water, this one would be impossible (if I could cycle on water I think I’d probably make more money from doing that than my current job anyway!). We ferry into work each day which is quite a relaxing way to go.

Variation of weather beyond hot and cold
Between air-conditioning, heating and the general temperature between outside and inside, we can almost account for seasons. We are able to kill plants by not watering so this allows for leaves falling off between the supposed months of autumn and winter. It’s the bringing them back to life in spring that we have problems with. Mr Shallot is quite a good gardener though. I’m better at buying new plants.

Less screaming children
One evening in the DB Plaza a child was screaming as she was playing. We were all sick of it and her parents didn’t appear to mind the noise. So every time she screamed, I screamed too. Her father managed to get her to be quiet after a few goes while the other adults around were laughing at the whole situation. I began to see what she got out of it though – it’s quite liberating!

Three Clicks West (though I’ve been told that no longer exists!)
There are some nice restaurants here and we’ve just started going to a few. I haven’t found one that has the degustation menu yet.

Reasonably priced Australian wine
I’ve acquired the taste for Chile and Spanish wines – not bad and at the equivalent of AUD6, I’m not going to complain!

* Thanks to The Whitlams for the title to this post. Interestingly, this song is actually about Sydney.