Hong-Kong, first time, 09 December 2003

We are in Hong-Kong since yesterday, passing by for 3 days before going to Vietnam. It was a 5 hours flight from Tokyo.

We have had a great time in Japan really, and Laurence and Yann treated us to a few places and restaurants to make it all the most memorable! We were so lucky. Kyoto was brilliant with lots of temples (could hardly do all of the essential ones!) and Hiroshima quite emotional but a huge busy town, you would never think... They are off buying Louis Vuitton bags, forget the atomic bomb... Until the bus stop calls "atomic bomb dome"!!

We have been upgraded in Hong-Kong in a suite in the YMCA (just luck!) so we have a "flat" in the 10th floor.. Great!

Today writing from Victoria Peak, the mountain above the city. It's lovely but a bit hazy.


Hong-Kong, third time, April 2004

Folks,

Ah that's more like it: bars on the windows, not enough room to swing a cockroach, 14th floor of the block next door to the notorious Chungking Mansions... Hong Kong.

Spent our last few days in China in a city called Shenzhen built just along the border with Hong Kong. Another sprawling landscaped city full of shiney skyscapers and shopping malls. 50 thousand people lived in Shenzhen 10 years ago now it's got a population of 6 million!!

It's a dangerous place apparently... We met an american guy who told us how (a couple of years ago ) he'd been attacked and left for dead. When he arrived at hospital instead of stitching him up the medical staff asked 'what can we do for you?...' followed by '..so where's your money'!! Luckily for him and no thanks to the hospital his chinese work mates were incredibly generous and took it in shifts every day to nurse him back to health over the following 4 months!!

SARS is back again... the latest outbreak occured in Beijing while we were there but typically the authorities hushed it up for a full 20 days before we arrived and only bothered to declare it after we'd left to go to Shezhen!

We had our temparatures checked by thermal imaging cameras when we arrived by ferry in Hong Kong. The heath declarations are a joke particularly when arriving from the mainland.... questions like: 'Have you exerienced any breathing difficulties..?' and 'Have you come in to contact with anyone who has SARS in the last 10 days?'. Anyone who visits China experiences breathing difficulties! 9 out of the 10 world's most polluted cities are in China and I've also heard that SARS is seasonal thing that's been happening on the mainland for years. Anyway China, nice people shame about the government.