Hong Kong

So, I realize that updates are long over due and I apologize. I've been keeping quite busy over here, but will try to start updating now as I don't want to leave everyone back home out.

Let me start by saying that Hong Kong is truly a great city! The government ad slogan here is "Hong Kong: Asia's World Class City."

Imagine taking Manhattan and maybe Boston and placing them on a small patch of a Hawaiian island and then replacing the accents with more melodious sounds of Cantonese and the Queen's English. That is Hong Kong in a sentence, though the city warrants much more than that.

Hong Kong Special Autonomous Region (SAR) is actually made up of a few different islands and a small peninsula off of the mainland (the New Territories and Kowloon). Janet and I are staying on Hong Kong Island (the main island) on a peninsula known as Stanley. From here it is about a 30-minute bus ride to Central, which is located on the other side of the island and is the main financial district that is comprised of all the big buildings that make up the famous Hong Kong skyline.

Some major differences that I have experienced so far in Hong Kong are:

• no spitting
• much less smoking
• people are great at queuing
• a huge emphasis on cleanliness, including bathrooms always stocked with soap
• a large western influence, with many people speaking English
• much more expensive than the mainland!

Coming to Hong Kong after being on the mainland is a little like returning to the west. Even the grocery stores here have an excellent international selection. The first store I went into, I spent about 30 minutes wandering the aisles in amazement after seeing items like Florida Natural Orange Juice, Taco Bell Salsa, a huge variety of cheeses and many other items that you might find back home along with a number of other international products you probably would not see in a Publix or Winn-Dixie.

Having arrived before most other people, Janet and I spent most of our free time trying to take in as much of Hong Kong as we could. We visited Lantau Island, home of the world's largest sitting bronze Buddha (every place in Asia seems to have some type of largest Buddha as a claim to fame) and Hong Kong Disney, which I didn't actually visit but did see a ticket station in the MTR (subway) station (tickets about $50USD).

On the following day we went back downtown, but took the people escalator (a series of escalators taking you about halfway up Victoria Peak) and I was excited to find a Krispy Kreme and stopped in for a "hot now" glazed donut. We rode on a tram the rest of the way up the peak, the highest point on Hong Kong island. The observation deck on the peak offers an excellent view of the island and surrounding areas (see my pictures). While there, Janet and I had lunch at Bubba Gump's and I thought it was a bit funny to see menu items such as Lt. Dan's BBQ Chicken and Jenny's Lemonade in Hong Kong.

On Saturday, I visited a bookstore. One of the most exciting things about Hong Kong is that one of the stipulations in the return to China is that Hong Kong will retain to a large degree its autonomy for 50 years from the 1997 handover. An important part of this is a relative freedom of press and speech, so you can find most any book and Internet sites are not blocked (so thankfully I've finally been able to upload photos again).

Another important aspect of Hong Kong's autonomy is that its economic system can remain the same. Hong Kong is consistently rated as having the world's freest economy with a laissez-faire capitalism (little govt. intervention system). There is a very simple tax system with the top income tax rates being currently set at 16% and the per capita GDP ranks 14th in the world (ahead of Canada, the U.K., Germany and Japan, among others).

After making a find at the bookstore, I took the MTR over to Kowloon where Janet and I explored the excellent Hong Kong Museum of Natural History. The museum traces the history of Hong Kong from its geologic formation to colonial rule under the British, to the return to China and is worth a visit. After the museum, we where excited to stumble upon an Outback Steakhouse and couldn't resist treating ourselves to a Blooming Onion and dinner.

Later, we made the short walk to the Avenue of Stars where we were perfectly positioned to watch the Hong Kong Symphony of Lights. The Symphony begins every night at 8PM and is a show coordinated between a number of the big buildings in Central (across the water from Kowloon), with a few boats in between shooting off fireworks. The buildings flash their neon lights and lasers and it makes for quite a fun show.

I know that this entry has been drawn out, but I think it brings everyone up to speed with what has been going on in Hong Kong. This morning, Orientation Week began and I'll try and include more about that in my next update. Also, if you have not yet checked, I have put up a number of new pictures and the link to the site is over on the right of the page.