Hong Kong in a whirlwind

Yesterday, I awoke to quite a view. The buildings are big in Hong Kong!

I spent the morning in the local office meeting with managers within the business, followed by a long, but extremely rewarding planning meeting with our agency at their office right in the middle of "Central", the uber-chic part of the city. We walked to lunch along avenues upon avenues of high-end shopping malls. I have never seen so many designer stores in such a large number. For example, we walked past an Armani store the size of a multiplex cinema arranged over five floors -- and that was small in comparison to many of the other fancy shops. All the shops are also in malls connected by elevated walkways because of the incredible heat and humidity in the summer. I got a small taste of it and it makes even a short walk hard work.

The bottom line; Hong Kong makes the coisette in Cannes and Fifth Avenue in New York look like Wallmart! For me, it's a little toooo showy. But the buildings are amazing, the buzz of 8 million people on such a tiny island is electric and it's most definitely the Manhattan of the East.

I sped back to the airport at the end of the day to fly on to Australia overnight. All the transport links so far have been phenomenal - on time, clean, airport to center of city with no hassle, clear directions etc. London must be a horrible shock for people from these countries.

This morning I landed in Sydney.... I'm updating this over a treble-shot coffee before heading into a full day of back to back presentations and meetings. Tonight, if I'm still able to keep my eyes open, I'm going to walk to the Opera House and take some pics. The office has views over the harbour to it, and it looks magnificent. Can't wait to see it up close -- can't quite believe I'm here, in fact.