Hong Kong

Hong Kong is boring . . .

Actually that's not true - Hong Kong is one of the most active, far-from-boring places I've ever been. . . it's just so much more like home than anywhere else we've been so far. But even just looking out my hotel window, I know that boring doesn't describe this place accurately: the panorama of my windows reveals rolling mountains with bright pink and blue structures built directly into the side. Skyscraper after skyscraper dot the mountain side on the right half of my window, and more container ships than I can count fill the harbor on the left. Every high-rise window sports an airconditioning, dirty windowframes and clean clothes hung out to dry. Most windows also house dead or dying plants and other knick-knacks.

Hong Kong is actually, now that I think about it, a strange mixture of old and new. Gritty homes and streets mix with gleaming high-rises and colorful advertisements. Brand new buildings sparkle high above the harbor, boasting names on top like Bank of America, T-Mobile and AIG . . . Yet juxtaposed nearly on top of these brand new buildings are shorter, grittier, older buildings that could stand a good pressure washing.

Everything here is built nearly on top of each other, into the mountains such that a good snow would render the city incapacitated. The city streets consist not of flat grids like Atlanta, but of winding, hilly roads that snake in and out from roadside fruit stands selling frogs and snakes for dinner, to giant McDonalds and Starbucks.

Several times we drive past an immense graveyard, spellbinding in its enormity. Graves cover an entire side of a looming mountain. Like the apartments and other buildings, the graves are nearly stacked on top of each other to maximize space - providing an eerie blanket of gravestones as far as the eye can see.

In other news, I got a job offer today while we were visiting the Hong Kong fair -- Roberto (one of our vendors) asked me to do their website for them . . . in Tuscany, Italy! :-) I dont know how serious he was, but I spent all day dreaming about living in a 100 year old house in the Italian countryside . . . now I just have to convince some friends that it's the perfect place to start our community ;-)