Gone from Hong Kong

I don’t know if I’m going to continue with this particular blog. Maybe I’ll change the name. Maybe I’ll just keep on going, in a misnomerly fashion.

I left Hong Kong just over a month ago. After four years of heat, pollution, excitement, travel, crowds, fun and dim sum, I decided it was time for a change of scene. So I’m moving to the US with my girlfriend. I don’t know how long I’ll be there, or what the country has in store for me. I’ll be on a journalist visa, which allows me free access in and out of the country for five years.

I’m not looking for a job, but I am looking for work. I am now a freelance writer, which means exciting and uncertain times are ahead. (If you happen to know of anyone who needs words written, then please feel free to let me know.) I can’t wait.

I was happy that, before I left Hong Kong, I got to write one last meaningful feature story for Time Out. It was about expats and immigrants in Hong Kong, and the distinction between the two. For me, it was personal as much as it was academic, and it touched on the importance of cultural contribution as opposed to cultural leeching (a term I resisted using in the piece). I was impressed and pleased by the intellectual depth of the discussion in the comments section at the bottom of that story on the website, too.

Here also, is the last column I wrote for the magazine, a too-brief farewell.

I’m working on a new blog, a group project, that will launch within the next couple of months. Watch this space and I’ll announce it when it’s ready. In the meantime, if you want to say hello, you can contact me on Facebook or email.

After reading this story about digital distractions in the New York Times, I’ve decided to stay off Twitter. I haven’t been using it since I left Hong Kong, and I have to say I’m not missing it. I’ve realised that the subtle self-induced pressure of having to read through the latest tweets was actually introducing another element of stress in my life, not to mention yet another mental distraction. Twitter has been useful to me in the past, but I’ve just decided it’s something I can happily live without.

Hong Kong, in the meantime, I will continue to miss — but so far that sense isn’t outweighing the excitement of a new direction in life.

See you soon.