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Letter from Japan: Wake-Up Call
Hong Kong's honky-tonk ways makes it truly a second-rate city
By PETER McKILLOP
September
22, 2000
Web posted at 2:30 p.m. Hong Kong time, 2:30 a.m. EDT
I recently spent a weekend in Hong Kong, and as I flew back towards Japan, all I
could say was, thank god I live in Japan. Coming from an accused "Japan basher,"
that might surprise some readers. But there is a reason why I have spent seven
years in Tokyo, and not Hong Kong. Frankly, the lifestyle in Hong Kong is
appalling.
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I actually lived in Hong Kong from 1990 to 1992--and it was already a mess. I
remember looking out of my window from the new Bank of China building and
watching visiting U.S. Navy ships release a blue-green plume of who knows what
into Victoria Harbour just as a Star Ferry chugged by. And each week I would gag
when I'd see a vast brown slick of effluent being discharged from the Hong Kong
side into the harbour.
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What was bad in 1992 has become intolerable in 2000. A layer of filthy,
yellowish smog hangs over the city like a wet toxic rag. The harbour continues
to be a septic sewer as landfill narrows its borders and raw sewage flows
unabated.
But what astonishes a visitor from Japan is just how bad the service in Hong
Kong has become. I recently spent an evening in an Italian restaurant in
Central's Lan Kwai Fong district. To get to the restaurant you had to maneuver
your way past hundreds of inebriated expats drinking in the street. The so-
called Italian restaurant was in fact a roach motel where cockroaches check in--
and cleanliness checks out. In a period of two hours, we had to kill three
roaches climbing on the walls surrounding our table. By the third crunch, the
waiter apologized, saying that the restaurant had recently been fumigated, which
somehow had made the cockroaches come out from the woodwork. Like I care why
there are cockroaches within inches of my Caesar salad. The food was also
appalling; what the restaurant claimed were fresh artichoke hearts were in fact
canned. Finally, the restaurant provided us with a few frozen desserts.
Now compare that to a recent experience in a Tokyo restaurant: The food was
fine, the ambience pleasant, but the service was not up to the normal fabulous
Japanese standards. I complained, and the owner, without asking any questions,
refunded the meal in full with a formal, written apology. Can you imagine that
happening in Hong Kong?
It's sad to see that even great institutions in Hong Kong are losing their edge.
Twice in recent months I have stayed at the Mandarin Oriental. Over the years I
have practically lived at that hotel. The decline in the hotel's infrastructure
and service is conspicuous. Either they are planning to tear that building down
or they have forgotten what made the Mandarin great. It seems that every time I
visit there is a small disaster. This time it was a sudden loss of water early
one morning--just as I woke up and minutes before a critical meeting.
The fact is that no first-class hotel should ever have that problem. Worse was
the hotel's sullen response. The duty manager gave his ritual apology and said
he would provide a free ride to the airport and upgrades when I returned. Did
those upgrades materialize on my next visit? Not a chance! Surprise, surprise!
There was no record of the complaint, another duty manager told me. Well this is
on the record: No more visits to the Mandarin until they remember what once made
the hotel great.
These are just two incidents among dozens of rude slights, miscues, and
breakdowns that will frustrate any visitor's attempt to enjoy Hong Kong. If you
are not repulsed by the wretching air, polluted water or ear-splitting
construction, the rudeness and indifference of the average service worker in the
city will stun anyone used to the civility and politeness of Tokyo.
Hong Kong's honky-tonk ways is the clearest indication of why it remains, at
best, a second-rate city, more in the league of Cleveland, Manchester, or Gdansk
than the truly great world cities of Tokyo, London, New York and Paris. When
Hong Kong realizes that the new millennium revolves around service and customer
satisfaction, then perhaps its leading merchants, restaurateurs and hoteliers
will begin to treat their visitors with a bit more dignity. Until then I think
I'll seek refuge in Manila.
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