Hong Kong
As reported elsewhere, I’m in Hong Kong (or more correctly, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region) for work. It has been a long time since I last travelled for work and had to stay anywhere overnight (the last time I stayed in a Travelodge on the M1 motorway near Sheffield).
I arrived late on Friday night and was pretty bleary-eyed as I caught the hotel shuttle from the airport to Causeway Bay, having got up very early on Friday morning to go to our office in Sydney en route. However, a few things struck me (and thankfully not the bus!) as we journeyed to the hotel. Firstly, it was the first time I had ever seen rows of identical skyscrapers. In fact I don’t think I had ever seen even a pair of identical skyscrapers before. Then I noticed that vehicles have yellow registration plates to the rear and white ones to the front, evidence of the British influence still present. I was amazed at how much traffic there was, too.
The Hongkongers love their cars! The grey concrete veins and arteries around the city are constantly brimming with high-performance cars. There are also lots of buses, which seem to raise the temperature of the streets by a degree as they pass by.
Yesterday afternoon I took a walk in the drizzle and found an area where each street seemed to consist almost entirely of small commercial garages, each of which seems to feature mechanics working on German sports cars. I don’t think I have ever experienced such a smell of engine oil!
Last night, after a very nice meal, I took a wander around the shops. I was amazed at how bright it was as I left each of them. The sky remained the same grey as it had been during the day, except rather than the sun illuminating the cloud from above, it was the city lights illuminating the cloud from below. I shall not be seeing many stars here!
I think it’s too misty to bother going up to Victoria Peak today, so the City Centre beckons for a bit of exploration. I shall leave you with a link to a website I read about on the flight over: We Are What We Do.