Tue 19 Oct: First work day in Hong Kong

Woke up early for some reason; 6 am. Only six hours sleep after a super-extended day. Well, OK. Press the remote controls to open the sheer and blackout curtains… And wow! Victoria Harbour is outside. How cool is that? (This one, you really need to click on…)

Into the shower to freshen up. OK, this is really too designer-y. What are these chrome nubs on the wall? Somehow they control the shower, and eventually I figure out how to work it. And once I get it going it’s a great pounding shower, very rejuvenating. I’ll be visiting this shower often, this being the tropics and all.

Amazing buffet breakfast in the hotel restaurant. They have everything from pain au chocolat to congee, big rustic bread, a dazzling array of juices, cereals, baked goods, crazy “hot dog breads” that look like pet toys… Mmmmm. The waiter brings me the South China Morning Post to read, and a story on industrial espionage catches my eye. As I’m reading it, I’m overhearing bits of conversation from the next table — sounds like someone is trying to firm up a trading relationship of some kind…

With breakfast done, it’s out front for a taxi (the doorman asks my destination and then tells the driver in Cantonese). Zoom! into the Hong Kong traffic. We zip along, dodging buses and other taxis (I believe every single taxi is exactly the same model of Toyota), passing gleaming office buildings and grimy old apartment blocks with washing hanging off all the balconies. It’s a poignant mix and hard to convey. On the way we pass some kind of closed shop that’s all covered in handbills — so strange looking when you can’t read anything at all except for the numerals.

Arrive at the office. It’s nice, modern, seems like home. I get my WiFi issues figured out, get the meeting agendas sorted out for the next couple of days, and get down to work.

For lunch, they invite me to the dim sum place downstairs. Very tasty; I try the chicken feet that are recommended (mind the bones!) and they’re yummy too. As we talk over lunch, I learn that typhoon Megi is coming towards us. Actually a “super typhoon” — a term which my host had not heard of before. In fact, if I read it right, this is the largest storm to make landfall this year anywhere in the world. And — yikes! — it is headed straight for Hong Kong!

Back to work, more meetings, good progress. The trip is going great from that perspective. I am nervous about hailing a taxi down below in the street, so one of my colleagues comes down with me, grabs the first one stopped at the light, and says stuff in Cantonese to the driver. Zip we go, back through the traffic, back to the hotel.

Interesting about the Cantonese. I had thought it would be more useful overall to learn Mandarin — so back home I downloaded a few lessons and was just starting out when someone told me that will be useless in Hong Kong. Absolutely right: everything is either English or 100% Cantonese. (Or foreign.) Nobody here speaks Mandarin.

Back in my lovely hotel room, I’m very tired and hungry, and it’s dinner in the posh hotel restaurant is a tempting idea. But since there’s a super typhoon coming, I may be stuck with that option later — I figure I’d better head out into the town now and explore a bit.

Down the lift (American: elevator) to the hotel reception, down another lift to the ground floor entrance, through the fancy mall and down a combination of lifts and escalators to the MTR (metro, tube, subway) and take the train to Hong Kong island, about a three-minute ride. Out in the air again, and wandering around in Hong Kong. This is the tropics — 10:00 at night and it’s still warm and humid. I wish I’d left my jacket in my room.

I find my way to the central-mid levels escalator, ride up a couple of sections, and find a Vietnamese noodle shop. Nasty old bathroom upstairs at the back, but tasty beef phở and paper rolls. Mmm. Satisfied, I stroll back down through Central to the MTR smoking a cigar, ride back to the hotel, peel off my shirt, shower, and collapse into bed. Zzzzzzz….