Wednesday

Wednesday was a nice day. We woke, ate, went to the airport and then to Hong Kong. It was also my 41st birthday. I tell you, 41 sure seems young to me. I joke about being old, but I don’t really feel it.

Upon arrival in Hong Kong, we were picked up by motor coach and guides. This was the first time I’d made the commute from the airport into town in anything other than the airport express train, which runs from downtown to the airport. The perspective from the bus, although it follows pretty much the same route, was quite different, and I enjoyed the ride.

Our guide told us a lot about Hong Kong. It’s interesting how different the people are in HK vs. Thailand. HK people are a little less friendly; perhaps it’s the further Westernization they’ve experienced, or perhaps it’s because the people at the lower end of the economic scale there live in 200 sq ft spaces, with 4-6 people in a unit. They have a huge population, and real estate costs from $400-900 a sq ft. Ouch!

There’s a ton of wealth in HK—more Porsches, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Bentleys, Maseratis, Rolls Royces, etc., than I’ve seen anywhere; the first time I saw it was no more special than this time. I really get a kick out of seeing all of these great cars. And of course, there are tons of BMWs, Mercedes, and Audis, with some Toyotas and Hondas lumped in. Notably, there are a few American cars to be seen, albeit mostly pick-up trucks.

The expatriate community in HK is rather large, too. It’s a pretty diverse culture, and though I’d been there 3 times, I had not explored it much. Most of my time there was spent with my colleagues (and friends) from our Geddes Shanghai office, and our activities usually centered on Chinese restaurants and just walking through neighborhoods. This year, however, we did the expat scene. We started that Wednesday night by going to Lan Kwai Fong, an area on Hong Kong Island that resembles a mish-mash of San Francisco, Fells Point/Canton, and also my picture of European cities (I’ve yet to go) based on pictures.

Ironically, we (Andy, Chris, Dave, Jeff, John, Pete and I) went to LKF but ended up eating in a place called Bulldogs. It was on my list of things to do, but I had planned to eat at the one next to the hotel. I’ve eated in that one before, usually when I get jonesing for some U.S. type food. In fact, it’s an Australian pub, and they make the Great Aussie Burger, which is outrageously good—a gigantic burger, lettuce, tomato, beet root, a slice of pineapple, bacon, a fried egg, and cheese (I think). It’s got to be 6-7” tall, and it took me less than 10 minutes to wolf it down. From there we went to a few bars in the area for a little bit. As usual, I was in the early departure group, and was back at the room by 11, working on pictures and stuff. The other guys came back shortly after us. I think it was about at this point that the week had started to catch up with people.

A funny side-story: Dave and John H bought shirts from Bulldogs. The sizing in Asia is definitely different from the US. Neither of them is “big” or anything, but they each wore shirts that were 2-3 sizes bigger than they’d wear in the US. Remember that if you travel—try things on. I guess it’s not so funny now, but watching them get shirts, try them on and send them back was a little humorous at the time.