Our time in Hong Kong was great! We were amazed at how clean it was for a city of 7 million people. We saw numerous signs stating that the premises were cleaned hourly and we actually believe it because we shared many an elevator ride with people who were wiping down the walls and buttons on the lift. We even passed people cleaning the light fixtures along the street--now that's thoroughness! There were also countless hand sanitizers mounted along walls, desks, elevators etc.--probably to combat outbreaks of SARS and avian flu.


Another interesting observation was that the scaffolding used to hold up buildings that are under construction is made of bamboo rather than metal. We were impressed that an unaltered plant material could be so strong!


As far as the actual sights and sounds of Hong Kong there are two things worth mentioning. One is the beautiful night scenery--mainly the skyline. The buildings on Hong Kong island are of all different shapes and sizes rather than the typical alternation between rectangles and squares and the buildings are actually part of a nightly lazer and light show as they are lit with multiple colors and sometimes moving themes. We enjoyed these buildings on the shore via a sunset cruise and, of course, the lazer show (along with fireworks for the Mid-Autumn festival). It truly is something worth seeing.



The second special event in which we participated was seeing a theatre production in CHINESE! Okay, it had English subtitles, but the entire show was in Chinese and included some traditional dancing and ear-splitting singing performances. Unfortunately, the Chinese text seemed to be 3 times as long as the English subtitles so we must have missed out on something--certainly the jokes as the Chinese were often laughing for reasons we could not determine! However, we still felt like we participated in something unique (as far as tourists are concerned) and entertaining as well. We'll see how the Chinese opera and acrobatic shows go in Beijing...more to come on those events...