Main Image: Australian Bruce Ryde (above), from Sydney, who started living in Hong Kong 36 months ago. Photo: Viola Gaskell
The concrete cityscape of Hong Kong and its 90 per cent humidity during monsoon season can be overwhelming for any Australian having grown up in an expansive space by a breezy shoreline.
Yet the former British colony – home to around 100,000 Australians and more than 600 Australian businesses – has not only one of the largest Australian communities abroad, but also is the fifth most preferred home from home for the nation’s expats.
The charm of the city lures many Australians to make the move. Sydneysider Bruce Ryde, who arrived 18 months ago after living in Singapore for many years, says that his desire to live in Hong Kong started at an early age.
“When I was an eight-year-old, my best friend at school went on a round-the-world trip; that was highly unusual and a very big deal in the 1970s,” Ryde says.
“When my mate returned, he showed the class a Super 8 movie of his adventure, projected onto a screen in the classroom.
“The footage was so evocative — it showed Hong Kong harbour, the massive Queen Elizabeth [cruise liner] was in port, junks with red sails floated past and there was the extraordinary vista of the city as a backdrop.
“I remember thinking ‘Wow, what a city’. As an eight-year-old boy in suburban Sydney, Hong Kong seemed like the bustling centre of the world.”
Bruce Ryde checks on work at The St. Regis Hong Kong, which will open in Wan Chai in the summer. Photo: Viola Gaskell
Ryde, now living in Hong Kong in his capacity as vice-president of Marriott International’s luxury brands and brand marketing division, spends his day overseeing the hotel group’s expansion across Asia Pacific, including subsidiary brands such as St. Regis, which will open its luxury hotel, The St. Regis Hong Kong, in Harbour Road, Wan Chai, this summer.
Ryde began his career in Australia working in the ground-staff customer service department of the fledgling East West Airlines, a regional carrier which flew to Norfolk Island, Noosa and Alice Springs. “Much of the catering was home-cooked by local members of the Country Women’s Association,” says Ryde.
“They’d supply fabulous sandwiches and home-baked biscuits; when we tried to move from fresh to long-life milk for the tea service there was such a protest from customers that we didn’t dare make the switch.”
