Travel Blogging VII

Dateline: Hong Kong. We sailed out of Hong Kong harbor this afternoon about 5 p.m. with the sinking sun painting golden paths across the water, as it shone between the skyscrapers. If any city has a skyline like Hong Kong, I don’t know of one. Would I want to live here? Not even close. Do I like to visit here every few years? Definitely.

Hong Kong bills itself as “Asia’s world city.” The other DrC says whereas Singapore feels “engineered,” Hong Kong feels more “organic.” I don’t feel that difference but do see that Singapore is more cosmopolitan whereas Hong Kong is definitely Asian. Both cities’ populations are overwhelmingly Chinese in ethnicity, but Singapore exists in a non-Chinese “neighborhood” and that makes a difference.

Both cities were stalwart outposts of the globe-spanning British Empire, now Singapore has committed itself to be a place where westerners will be comfortable, Hong Kong isn’t “there” yet and may never go there. You’ve heard of design being “Danish modern?” Hong Kong is “Chinese modern.” Much of the “modern” has been added in the last 20 years, since we were here last.

We hear via CNN and BBC that Haiti has experienced a severe earthquake. CNN in particular was enjoying their role as disaster reporters extraordinaire far too much. It was all the CNN talking heads could do to keep from grinning and doing on-air high fives, knowing their ratings would go up for the duration of the tragedy. Their relish of a ‘good disaster’ is very nearly indecent.