Hong Kong Phooey

One of the greatest perks about my job is the travel. Two weeks ago I went to Tokyo; last week Hong Kong; and on Monday, I'm going back down to Hong Kong. Being able to travel all over Asia is really showing me how diverse this continent truly is...and I've only been to three major cities so far. I can't wait to see the rest!

Let me tell you a little bit about Hong Kong and it's lovely inhabitants. Whenever you picture a Chinese landscape or Chinese city, chances are the image that you're drawing in your mind's eye is one that is exactly like Southern China and HK. There are rolling mountains, which were gorgeous from the Airplane, and then tucked into the side of the mountain by the water is a little place I like to call Hong Kong (Everyone else likes to call it that too).

I taveled to Hong Kong to meet with our largest distributer there. I stayed at a 5-star hotel on a mount ainside overlooking the entire city. While I was there, I was able to tour the world's largest wine and cigar cellar. I saw many amazing things: a couple wine bottles that were recovered from the Titanic, five full bottles of wine with labels signed by Thomas Jefferson, three of Lance Armstrong's Tour de France championship bikes, original Monet and Van Gogh paintings. The experience was amazing. Check out my pictures using the link in the sidebar.

Hong Kong to me really seems like more of a western city. Which makes sense because of it's affiliation with the British. You can definitely tell there is still some British influence. One example is that all the buses are double deckers. HK is a lot more like New York City then it is a Chinese city. Only for the fact that everything is much less spread out when compared to Shanghai and Beijing that have to occupy a huge area of land to encompass the 20 million people who live there.

I'll talk more about it when I get back on Tuesday from HK again.

Things Ezra has learned...

1. Chilean people have odd work schedules. They don't show up till about 10:00, go to lunch at around 3 or 4, and work till 8 or 9. It's really messing with my internal clock and metabolism.
2. They speak Cantonese in Hong Kong. Cantonese is an extremely goofy sounding language and it sounds like they're falling off a cliff whenever the end sentences.
3. I leave February 24th to spend 4 weeks in Santiago Chile. I'm going to be the tour guide for my Japanese Distributors from Mitsubishi when they visit for a week. And the other three weeks I'm getting trained on the company's history, how to make wine, how to run a vinyard...etc. etc. etc. You know, the usual stuff. :-)
4. Where to buy the best fireworks in 2 weeks for Chinese new year.......I'm gonna lose a finger, I just knowit. Just kidding mom.......... ....no I'm not. ;-)
5. Our office is relocating to Singapore as soon as I get back from Chile. More on that A-Bomb later.

Love,
Ezra