Goose bumps

For almost 50 weeks a year, Hong Kong enjoys a tropical, humid climate......

Almost I'd said, notwithstanding the fact that "global warming/climate change" is in vogue, every year-end there are a few weeks of bitter cold weather which makes the people here shiver like ice-lollies........

Is it that cold? The thermostat just dips at 8 degrees centigrade (47 degrees Fahrenheit), not even freezing point, thus not even the slightest chance of a drop of snow. So pathetic you might think.

Nah,nah....nah....hold on to your horses first. The fact that for 50 weeks of the year tropical temperatures reign here, there is no obvious need for central heating in the households and use of isolating building materials is ofcourse unheard of....

Which means in effect that whenever a cold front hits Hong Kong, everybody makes a scramble to on their warm air-blowers, electric heaters.....and suffice to say, that cold weather garment sell like hot cakes......

Ofcourse, there is a personal touch to this story......as long as I recall, 8 degrees centigrade in Belgium was nothing to worry about.....but 8 degrees down here in HK is something different.......what's the difference then?

Thing is that in Belgium or any other country with a culture of central heating indoors, we always have had the chance to get our body temps up to heat with the central heating available....so whenever I ventured out, at least my body was already sufficiently heated up to withstand the cold weather so to say.....

And as for Hong Kong....without adequate heating, our bodies never have the chance to properly heat up, leaving us 'cold' all day long................get the picture?!?

Thus we make do with what we have here, hot air blowers, electric heaters etc to keep us snuggly warm....

So spare your laughter.........and feel for yourself how cold it really is down here.........

Brrrrrrrrrr.......Hong Kong............brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr