First Impressions

I arrived safely in Hong Kong yesterday afternoon and, so far, my impressions have been pretty positive. At first glance, Hong Kong island is absolute chaos and an assault on the senses. There are so many people, cars and buildings to look at. There's so much noise competing for your ears' attention from the traffic and the crowds. And the air is so thick with pollution that you can taste it. All I want to do is get out and discover it.


The juxtapositions are also fascinating. Walking around my new neighborhood, Sheung Wan, yesterday, I saw old, decrepit high-rise buildings that looked so pitiful and dirty that I felt like I was in some sort of Communist Gotham City. Yet go a little further and you find the most modern skyscrapers reaching up into the clouds and a shopping mall that is fancier than any I've ever seen in my life. 


Overall, it's a very different place than any I've ever been to before and one that will offer lots of new experiences. Yesterday, for example, I was in a restaurant at the airport where, for the first time in my entire life, I was the only white person. I can't believe it's taken me 31 years to have that experience.


No chance to get too acclimated today. I'm off to work in a little while.