Living in a Cage in Hong Kong
While the price of houses and apartments in Malaysia (especially in the city) continue to climb up, and condo size start to shrink, things are a lot better compared to Hong Kong.
I recently read this article in CNN that really brought the point about the cramped living conditions on the island.
Chung lives in a 625 square foot (58.06 square meter) flat here with 18 strangers.
The place is sectioned into tiny cubicles made of wooden planks and wire mesh. Everything he has acquired over the years — clothes, dishes, figurines, a tired TV set — is squeezed into this tiny cube, a modernized version of what is known here as a cage home.
Chung is one of the hundreds of people waiting for government help to find home, and at the moment they have to make do with this.
Chung’s cage is a newer yet less-desirable model, we are told. The wire mesh one, which resembles an over-sized rabbit hutch, is apparently more comfortable.
Occupants have less privacy, but the temperatures don’t get as high as in the wooden-mesh variety. A thermometer in Chung’s home reached 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit). Sometimes it gets so hot, Chung said, that he wants to die.
Check out the article here with the accompanying video.
