[originaltext]W: This month we are speaking to Nick Bailey about his time in Ho

W: This month we are speaking to Nick Bailey about his time in Hong Kong. Nick, why did you go to Hong Kong?
M: After I had finished university, I thought that it would be a good chance to go traveling. I’d also heard that there were some good acting opportunities for people who wanted to get into cinema or adverts or films, so I thought that would be a good chance to go and try it out in Hong Kong.
W: What were your first impressions of Hong Kong?
M: Well, as soon as you get off the plane you really, you notice the heat, it’s like opening an oven door. It’s really humid in Hong Kong. And then later you go to the city and it’s quite amazing in the harbour and with all the tall buildings and it reminded me of the pictures I’ve seen of Sao Paolo, in Brazil.
W: And what were the best things about your stay there?
M: Well, the food is fantastic, you can go to these restaurants called Dim Sum restaurants, and it’s like you’re in this restaurant and it’s massive, and there’s lots of people there, and these old ladies pulling these trolleys around and they’ve got lots of little plates of Dim Sum. Dim Sum is basically little dumplings filled with mincemeat, or filled with chicken, or filled, or vegetables. They’re really delicious, and you can have soy sauce as well, that’s really great.
W: So the food is wonderful there. Anything else?
M: Also, there’s lots of really interesting people there, in Hong Kong, you can get everything from Vietnam Vets to prostitutes to, to business men escaping from bad debts back home, it’s quite interesting you get to meet a lot of different types of people, you know.
W: Did you come across anything undesired? Or what was your worst experience?
M: I was living on an island. It had a mountain and it was obviously surrounded by the city. There were no cars, and all were riding bicycles. But the worst thing about living there was that we were on a flat and there were lots of mosquitoes. I suppose they must have come from a pond or something. So at night I got bitten a lot.
W: So you did not live downtown? You lived on an island, not the main island I suppose? That must have given you a lot of inconvenience?
M: That’s true, more or less. As I lived on an island, I had to get to the ferry in the morning, which meant I had to get up at 5:40 in the morning. Because the ferry is about 40 minutes. So that was too bad having to get up early.
W: Would you go back? Do you have a kind of plan to go there and find a more permanent job there?
M: I’d really like to go back. Since I left, it’s come back to China. It went back in 1997. So I’d like really to see how it has changed, I’ve heard that it has changed a lot.
W: And what was the funniest thing that happened to you?
M: Well, lots of funny things happened really, but there was one funny incident in a post office. On the island where I lived, there was one post office. I went in there and all the blinds were pulled down. I went up to one of the windows and knocked on the window. After about a minute the blind went up and a little guy said, "yes, what do you want’?" And I said I’d got this letter and he was about to give me the stamp for England and then ! said that I needed to send it registered, and so he said, "oh, next counter" So, anyway he pulled the blind down there, and I went to the next counter and then a few seconds later the blind went up and it was the same guy there. I thought that was quite funny.
W: Did you have any problem with the language?   
M: Yes. Although, you know, it was an English colony, a lot of people do speak English, taxi drivers don’t really speak the language. So I had to learn to how to say I’d like to go to where I, to the place, you know, to my house in Chinese, in Cantonese which they speak there. You do have to learn a few Chinese phrases in order to get by.
W: What about the work that you did when you were there?
M: Actually I was quite successful. I ended up getting in quite a few adverts. I was in an advert for shampoo once, when 1 had more hair, and then I was in lots of soap operas. I was in a Japanese soap opera once, and I was by this swimming pool and there were two girls fighting over me, which was really good. And then I was in this British detective series called Yellow Thread Needle Street, and I had a few minor roles in that. When I went back to England I actually saw myself on television, in this series.
W: Were the people different?
M: Yeah, they have got this strong idea about losing face. They don’t like to have their respect lost in front of others. They like to keep up their face to other people.
W: Thank you very much, Nick, that was very interesting.