Hi JR, I saw from TV that your team has arrived HK today. What is your plan here ? Start training tomorrow or take a tour in HK ? As almost of you are seeds, you will start playing on coming Tuesday, right ? If you (or your teamates) need to find out anything in HK, please feel free to let me know. Wish you have good results in coming tournaments. Ricky
Thank you! Hi Ricky!! Yes, we arrived on saturday and I've been to the ladies market yesterday! We practised yeaterday and will practise again this evening before I'll start playing tomorrow. Thank you for your kindness to show us around in Hong Kong!! Hook up with Cheung. We're trying to arrange a meeting between Laybourn and me with all you guys from the Badmintonforum!! Kind Regards Jonas
"ladies' market". that's the street with the hawkers in Mongkok on the Kowloon side, right? did you visit the street next door with all the sports stores as well?
Re: Thank you! Hi Jonas, The Ladies Market, located in Mong Kok, is an extremely crowded and polluted area. People who are not used to those type of environment or people who are allergic to dust may get sick easily when visiting Mong Kok for the first time. Even I, who grew up in Hong Kong until the age of 10, need to make sure that I've taken an allergy pill before visiting Mong Kok. Otherwise, I will Was everybody on the Danish Team feeling OK after visiting Mong Kok? I hope they didn't feel any discomfort after visiting there, as their tournament peformance might be affected And also Jonas, Congratulations for winning the China Open Men's Doubles.
Re: Re: Thank you! This is the 1st time I read something like this ... If you are talking about eating something on the street, it makes more sense. If you are talking about someone will get sick simply he/she goes there, then ...
Re: Re: Re: Thank you! Actually Ricky, a lot of people are like that. They will get running nose or skin allergies because they are not used to the pollutants in Hong Kong. Alergies are not only limited to food alegies. People can be allergic to so many things that is in thin air (eg pollen from flowers, which is a very common form of alergies in North America. Dust allergies, which is very common when people who are not used to the most crowded places in HK go to vist there for the very first time)
Sorry to disappoint you Edwin but a lot of people living in HK get runny nose anyway. You do not have to live overseas and visit HK lit trans 'nose allergy'.
But for those who are experiencing nose allergies, some of them will feel the allergic effect to be more severe when they're in regions like Wan Chai, Causeway Bay, Mong Kok, or Shum Sui Bo; while their allergic effect will not be as severe when they are in much more beautiful and cleaner places like Hong Kong Park, Kowloon Park, The Peak, Repulse Bay, Shek-Oh, Stanley, The Water Reservoir areas, etc (hint: Jonas, here are some of the places where you may want to visit the next time you play in HK :>). The high level of dust particles may be the primary reason for allergies. Just like other form of allegies, a lot of people can gradually develop the immunity to nose allergies as times goes by (of course, some can't and their allergies will get worse). That's probably why some out of towners like myself who have allergies will experience a high level of discomfort when I go back to HK for the first time; but as I settle there, I still will still experience a small level of discomfort - but not as much as before. I guess my original question to JR should be rephrased as whether any of his teamates have suffered from allergy effects after visiting Mong Kok for the very first time.
I think if someone may get sick to visit the places as you listed, then he/she should avoid to goto any crowdly place. However, I'm sorry that I'm a poor people and I need to work in Wanchai (do you know the HK Open was hold in Wanchai as well) and eat in Causeway Bay, visit Sham Shui Po occasionally to buy computer stuffs, ..., etc. I really can't afford to spend my whole day in Hong Kong Part, Repulse Bay, Shek-Oh, ..., etc. p.s. JR, I'm sorry to debate in your own forum. Really sorry about this.
OK. If I rephrase my original question as "JR, I'm guessing that this is the first time that you and your teamates are visting a such a crowdy place before playing in a major tournament. Does this affect your Tournament play in any way?", would it be a more acceptable question? Ricky, my appologies if you are offended by my previous posts. I never said that you're poor (espeically when you have a such a large collection of Yonex Racquettes :> ). It takes me a while before I can get used to visiting the crowded area (I mentioned earlier that dust allergies can be overcome as time goes by). And when I'm used to it, I'll probably go there a lot more frequently. This doesn't mean that I'm poor either. It only means it takes time to adjust before I can visit those places more often. (BTW, I have skin and food allergies since I was born, and I later picked up nose allergies. That may explain why I need time to get used to crowdy places when I visit HK) Since JR mentioned that he visited Ladies Market shortly after he got off the plane, my intention is to ask him whether he or his teamates have simliar symptoms that I have experienced. It certainly wasn't my intention to start a debate. Let's end the debate and wait for JR's reply. Would this be fair enough?
<shrug shoulders> my families hay fever symptoms improve if they visit HK. So just to reiterate the point that these symptoms can affect everbody in different places. Dust is also relative - I was pointed out the pollution above San Francisco, it's nothing compared to London.<shrug shoulders again> Basically, I think the problem lies in the statement implying people get sick easily just from the dust. Just because you have an allergy does not necessarily imply you have fallen sick as you have rightly pointed out.
