Brrrr....It's cold in here!

For the past month, I have been experiencing the Hong Kong "Winter". Winter here usually lasts around 2 months and the temperature drops into the high 50's. The local women break out their designer puffy down jackets and their fur coats. The younger crowd puts on their extremely high furry boots and studded UGGS.

You would think coming from NYC that I would find temperatures in the 50's to be quite mild for winter weather. I don't have to bundle up with layers of clothing, my earmuffs and gloves are tucked away in the drawer, and I don't have to wear tights under my pants. The truth is even though it's not so cold outside I am still freezing...inside!

The buildings here are designed to handle the hot, humid weather which Hong Kong suffers from a great part of the year. During the summer, the buildings blast the air conditioning so hard that you can feel it in the streets as you walk past building doors. In the winter, however, the buildings feel just as cold as in the summer because they are not heated.

My flat is freezing! We live on the 26th floor and the saying "heat rises" is not true in this case. All I want to do is turn on the heat..too bad my building doesn't have any! Thankfully, we invested in two space heaters which I move from room to room with me depending on where I am sitting. I also bought a hot water bottle which I bring into the bed with me at night to warm up the sheets.


It's so hard to motivate myself in the mornings. I feel so cold, that I don't want to take off my cozy pink robe to get dressed for the day. I end up putting on way too much clothing because when I get outside, it's always much warmer than the room I just left!

Chinese New Year is right around the corner and I was told that a cold New Year is a sign of good luck. I hope it's a cold, lucky, holiday. I'm just glad I won't be in town that week!