Arrival

This is the luggage tag a co-worker gave me as a parting gift.
It aptly expresses how I was feeling as I left for my trip.

I flew out at 1:20 a.m. on Friday Nov. 4, after a full Thursday of work, flew about fifteen hours and landed at 5:00 a.m. Saturday Nov. 5, HK time. Wish I'd remembered to get pictures of the inside of my Cathay Pacific flight, which was very nice, for economy. Anyway, here's HK International Airport, reputedly one of the very nicest in the world. So lots of niceness all around, so far.

Hong Kongers are a bit obsessed with hygiene. You would be too, if you'd been hit with SARS, bird flu and swine flu within a few years.

They're also a bit obsessed with Steve Jobs, like most of the rest of the world.

On the Airport Express train that goes to Hong Kong Island in about 20 or 25 minutes, passing through some of the more far-flung suburban areas along the way.

Below is the inside of the train. Public transportation in HK is very sleek and efficient and easy to use. And cheap. They have awesomely clear and rather pretty light-up maps of where you are and where you're going.

Upon arrival at Hong Kong station... here's one of the very clear and useful neighborhood maps they put up in the subway stations:

Below is the first thing I saw upon emerging from the station... the International Finance Center 2, second tallest building in Hong Kong, which I saw much more of, and so will you.