The view at the end of the journey

The Harbour view.JPG
Originally uploaded by Chazzyg.

I walked out of my house in South Philly at 5:15 am on Saturday morning, and 26 hours later, I was looking at this view from the window of a Hong Kong hotel room. The journey was, for the most part, tedious beyond endurance, especially the flight from Chicago to HK, 14 hours on a flight where every seat was filled and the legroom in economy class was a little shorter than my leg. Read, write, doze, writhe, eat, repeat ad lib. But the airport in HK is brand spankin' new and really gorgeous, and the city itself, even at first glance, is breathtaking. Much to remind one of London at first - driving on the left hand side, road signs and roundabouts in UK style. My hotel and the school are located in a district that's recently seen some major high-end development, so everything is grand and pretty much spotless. But you don't have to walk far - just a block or two - before it starts to feel like Chinatown - garish neon signs for restaurants and clubs with little old ladies out front beckoning me to check out the sexy girls. Odd reminders of home - 7-Eleven convenience stores, McDonalds (of course), Starbucks (of course - first thing you spot as you ascend the airport escalator in the main concourse). Click on the photo to go to Flickr and look at today's other pix - only few but I bet there'll be more tomorrow!