Hong Kong amazes right away…

Safely arrived in Hong Kong last night. It was 1 am in Hong Kong on Sunday night, or 12 noon back in the US and I had just lost a day of my life. Over 24 hours of travel along with the time change made Sunday completely disappear.

First impressions: Safe, clean and efficient. Getting out of the airport on the Airport Express, into a taxi and to my hotel was smooth. The hotel room was of decent size with a great TV line-up. I got to choose from CNN, Bloomberg, BBC World News and a number of other stations, including NBA TV. Yep, back-to-back NBA games to help get me sleep.

Lan Kwai Fong gets a solid slow clap…clap…clap. Good water pressure. Great shower. Very good breakfast buffet and a TV line-up that works.

The walk in to work was great. At times I felt like I was back in England. What is it with the impact that little island has had on the world? I passed H&M (I know it isn’t English but it feels English) and Marks & Spencer along with MacDo (McDonald’s), KFC and 7-Eleven. Hong Kong is bustling.

We are spoiled with a 33rd floor view of the city and peak into Victoria Harbour from our office. The Citi and Bank of China buildings surrounding us are amazing. The line-up of touristy things to do this week and next has been growing quickly. Pricing isn’t making me blush as we just had a solid hot lunch of rice with two toppings (yep, doubled up the sweet and sour pork).

I am truly impressed by this city.

Rant of the lunch break: 1 for the price of 2 seating on planes as Air France has introduced a Body Mass Index limit in some cases forcing people to pay for 2 seats. Totally necessary in some cases, but let’s be honest. This isn’t a “We’re a French airline and our French customers need this.” This is a “Hey, fat Americans, screw you.” You know what, fair play. I was happy to be next to a smallish Asian man on my flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong yesterday because my shoulders are arlready wider than the seat. I hate having a little flab sliding under the armrest getting into my seat. I’m all for the 1 for the price of 2 system.

Goodnight and God Bless,

Scott