Good Morning Hong Kong

Good morning from Hong Kong! I've made a real flip from Phoenix. Besides being on the other side of the world it's continuously rainy, 90% humidity, and most of the signs are in Cantonese. I feel wet all day long, which is appropriate since most of the day I'm actually wet.

The center of the city is on a small island. The skyscrapers crowd close around a central mountain. It's urban and rainforest merged together. Our hotel is on the mainland and just off of Nathan street, a major road that leads right through the busiest, flashiest shopping district and down to the waterfront where there's an amazing view of the skyline including one of the tallest buildings in the world. It's a great looking building but misses our own Sears Tower by 100ft. Too bad for them.

Many people speak English and there are plenty of English signs (since it was controlled by England until recently), so we're not in as tight a spot as we'll be in China proper. A few of us wandered around the city last night and were able to get around thanks to the good signage (and some inspired guessing). The dominant language here is Cantonese, which is apparently impossible for me to learn. Mandarin has four tones. Cantonese has nine with variations that can push it toward twelve. If you're not sure what that means, neither am I, but it sounds intimidating.

That's all the time I have for now, but I'll check in again later.