So I’ve finally made it to Asia thanks to Ambien and the power of positive thinking, fighting through my horrific claustrophobia we arrived in Hong Kong for a one-week business/personal trip.
When you travel outside the US, especially to major cities like Paris, London, and certainly Hong Kong, you are increasingly reminded that the US is not the center of the world, despite our strong beliefs otherwise.
Hong Kong and its territories is full of young, creative people, walking the streets on a humid Saturday night, very alive, great energy. Not Parisian energy, but significant gathering of world cultures. A gateway to the rest of Asia for me, to other cities like Beijing, Shanghai, possibly Thailand and Vietnam.
The pollution was almost immediately noticeable to me, with sneezing and wheezing so I will have to take precautions during the day.
Our hotel is the Marco Polo Gateway, on Kowloon, which is part of the Gateway Ocean Terminal shopping mall, an enormous shopping mall comparable to Paris and New York in the quantity and quality of the vendors. The hotel is a solid business hotel, like a Hilton in the states, a bit worn, but a good value. Its one deficit is a lack of wifi in the room but we are told the hotel is adding it soon.
Upon arriving at the airport we instantly knew we were not in the US when we observed airport workers walking with face masks and rubber gloves, temperature sensors in the customs area, and upon exiting the train to Kowloon and entering the bus, observing the driver sitting on the right side of the bus and realizing that on the stairs, the escalators, or the street we would not just be on the opposite side the world, but also on the opposite side of everything else.
After checking in we ate dinner in the mall food court which was closing at 10p.m.. We then walked outside to the Star Ferry terminal and marveled at the view across the bay to Hong Kong Island. Which is spectacular with all the buildings on the water lit up, a very modern skyline. Victoria Peak was blocked by haze and humidity but we should be able to see it in the morning. There was a beautiful lantern display in honor of the Asia games in which an enormous dragon lantern in several parts was used to bridge the world and its continents, weaving through them and among them, with the Eiffel tower represented.
We then walked toward the Penninsula Hotel and the Sheraton which are across the street from the Cultural Center where there is a science and space museum and acquarium, and various performance spaces. There is only one word for it, for all of it, fascinating.
