::Are HK people generally unfriendly?::

I was in HK for 3 days and realized its people were very unhelpful even when you speak their language i.e. cantonese. My buddies and I were supposed to stay in HK hostel located at Patterson Street in Causeway Bay. We were having difficulties trying to find this place and had to turn to its people for assistance.

However, when asked, they didnt even bother to take a glance at us and abruptly exclaimed (in Cantonese).. "Sorry, can't help..", "Well look for yourself.." or "It's just down the road, try to find again.."....yeah ....down the road but WHERE??!!

When we wanted to exchange currency for HKD, the lady at the counter didnt even put up a smile, and even threw the HKD at the collection area in front of her. How rude was that..even though we only wanted to exchange for HKD 100 which might seemed to her was a small amount, the decision is ours! Geez..

At the bakery, both my friend and I wanted to buy 2 egg tarts which cost HKD4 each. And so as I was busy familiarizing with the coins and all, and was given a (silent - she basically mumbled it) tell-off for being slow..but hey....what's wrong with them.. I need to make sure I counted the right amount to pay! Same went with the fishballs we bought from the stalls on the roadside. I requested the fishballs to be served on sticks instead of bowl..and she blamed me for her own effectiveness attending to the growing customers around her...!!

So tell me, are Hong-Kees generally hostile or was I just being unfortunate??!!

I heard HK has many nice places to visit but these encounters kinda make me reconsider for a second visit.

I have had similar experiences in Taiwan, Thailand and South Korea. I think it's entirely the way you look at things. There are rude people in every country... you just might be unlucky enough to score them at all stops. It helps to focus on the positive.

In terms of HK I found only happy, genuine, polite people who were ready to help. But I could be a lucky one.

Yeah, I agree with funkfaerie. I haven't had bad experiences in Hong Kong (though I was there for only a few days). Am sorry to hear you've encountered rude people there. I think it's also got to do with the lifestyle there and the way people do business. Hong Kong thrives on efficiency, it's about maximising sales in the least possible amount of time (seems that this might apply to a few Asian countries as well), and somehow that seems to raise the hackles of the sales staff involved. Weird, I know.

Looks like I was quite unlucky..
But I believe, this encounter shall not be the reason for me to not visit nice places in HK next time.
Havent been to Lantau Island and Ocean Park.

It's just the way of the Chinese i guessed (no offense)... I went to HK, Taiwan, China, and always have the same gesture from them... I guessed it's just their gesture to people... they don't smile, they talk fast, and it seems rude to us that are not used to them... but if you don't take it personally and just look at them generally... you'll see that it's just the way they are, and it's not because they don't like you... but it's their nature... so just enjoy when you're in Chinese countries, and just don't have high expectations on gestures...

Not the chinese... just some in some parts of the world...
HK is generally a very fast paced society and everyone is in a rat race so they generally do not have time to waste.

I seldom have good experiences in terms of service in HK too despite visiting there a couple of times so don't worry about it.

The good news is that it has been slowly improving... go in another 10 years time and probably it will be better

Don

well, u cld say it's the same in singapore... kl too maybe.

whenever u go to large cities / cosmopolitan cities, expect this kind of treatment.

i guess they all have other things to do besides standing around smiling and welcoming visitors to their countries.

everyone's impatient and just wanna move on with the next thing they have to do. so don't be too surprised if people brush u off when u ask for help. it happens.