
Originally Posted by Michael Tsang:
I am born in Hong Kong, is a Hong Kong citizen and have never emigrated. However, I don't like Hong Kong and want to leave by 2021.
Hong Kong does not offer what I want. As Hong Kong is just a city, I also look inside mainland China as well, but a country is even worse than a city.
My main sport is trail orienteering and I'm currently in the top 100 of the world ranking list, however, there are too few training opportunities here. For each format there are only about 2 races per year, but if you want to maintain a high standard, you should be doing training races every month. Nearly all of the high-level races are in Europe, but going to Europe from Hong Kong is very costly which I can only do it at most 2 or 3 times a year. However, Hong Kong will be holding the world championship in 2020. If we talk about orienteering in general, than it is OK as it is now very popular in Guangdong.
The other main sport I do is swimming. I like to do open water swimming, but the problem is, although Hong Kong has a magnificent coastline, the open water community is very small. It is very easy to find long-distance mass participation open water swimming races in the UK or the US, but in Hong Kong, nope.
There are 3 marathon swimming races in Hong Kong every year. The HKASA 10 km Open Water Championship follows FINA rules which only cater for elites (equivalent to sub-2:30 marathon), the other 2 are Clean Half and Cold Half, which are 15 km in length, probably the longest swimming races in Asia. However, the participation count is so few. The organiser limits the event to 30 solos, however, there are fewer than 10 (!) solos participating in Cold Half every year.
The problem is that, all of the mass participation swimming races in Hong Kong are so short! A lot of races which attract hundreds of swimmers are only 600 m (less than a km!). The iconic cross harbour race is 1 km, but the competition classes require a decent level to qualify. Some clubs are holding races of around 3 km, but not more for mass participation. Their 5 km races are "for advanced swimmers only", which the organiser only accepts entry from people they already know.
I am looking in mainland China as well, but despite the population, there are basically no mass participation long distance swimming races along the coast! Nearly all races are of elite level and by invitation only, e.g. the Xiamen - Kinmen race. I would like to do marathon swimming eventually but there are no races for me to bridge the gap between 3 km and cold half 15 km! Think of the situation where you don't have 10 km or half marathon to run after finishing 5 km, but the city is holding a marathon every year! Is it insane?!
People are promoting open water swimming races in the Philippines, including 5 km, 7 km, 8 km, 10 km, 15 km etc. but the problem is the Philippines is so damn hot!!!!!!!!! Your preference may vary, but I don't want to swim in 29°C water. It's too hot for me.
This introduce to the next reason why I want to leave Hong Kong - the climate. Hong Kong is so damn hot in summer and never cold in winter. I have to use A/C from April to November every year - but in 2018 I had to keep the A/C on even after winter solstice! I'm very afraid of hot and like to set the indoor A/C to below 20°C, while wearing a thin T-short and shorts. In the summer I get dizzy very easily outside, walking uphill from the 904 bus stop on the tramway to HKU can make me headache. I have to stop all my physical exercise unless it is in an air-conditioned place - for swimming I have to go to an indoor pool in summer where the A/C is strong enough.
I am waiting desperately for the summer to go away, such that I can resume my swim training. The sea temperature goes down to 24°C (anything warmer is too hot for me) only in October, which humorously is when the "swimming season" officially ends, 21°C in early December which I am the most comfortable in, and 18°C not until January, if the preceding weather is cold enough. (It is still 19°C at the time of writing this). Basically this is "summer swimming" in winter. It is not possible to do "winter swimming" in Hong Kong because there is no ice and snow. In the summer, I even don't want to go to the beach despite I LOVE swimming, because it is SO HOT! Better stay in an A/C room.
This climate also means I can never do any winter sports in Hong Kong, including ski orienteering, ice swimming and ice sailing (corresponding to the main 3 summer sports I do in Hong Kong - foot orienteering, swimming and sailing).
There, I get bored very easily as I don't like the kind of "entertainment" and "nightlife" in Hong Kong. I have no nightlife because I get up early for swim training, especially in winter where the university pool is closed in the evening.
Now, another aspect why I don't like Hong Kong and want to leave is my career. I am a software developer, by the very nature like innovation. I also supports open data as well and would like to build solutions using 100% open data. However, everyone knows how useless Hong Kong government is in terms of supporting innovation - a lot of things, like e-bikes, are banned, and even cycling, which is an environmental friendly way of travelling, is discouraged in urban areas (Hong Kong and Kowloon). Most taxis stay cash only in Hong Kong while taxis in other places are accepting various electronic payment methods, therefore every time if I plan to take a taxi I have to find an ATM to withdraw cash, which may not be available in rural areas. And a lot of "public utility" companies refuse to do open data as well, where it is now the norm of some European countries and Taiwan cities. In terms of innovation, Taiwan is a huge step ahead of Hong Kong.
Also, the civil rights, freedom and rule of law in Hong Kong is deteriorating as well in recent year, and may be totally gone when we hit the 2047 deadline.
Although I can earn money in Hong Kong, money can't bring me happiness and can't bring me my desired lifestyle. Therefore I want to find a European country to emigrate to, with proper winter, where I can do orienteering every week or even after work in summer, and swim in ice water in the winter, and get support for my innovative entrepreneurial ideas using 100% open data. I am still deciding where to go, but language will be a great barrier, no matter Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia or Lithuania. (U.K. and Ireland are the only countries in Europe without any language barrier - English is officially used there)