Hong Kong

Wow. I'm in love love love with Hong Kong.

This picture is the view from just outside my hotel room (my room has the same view but there's glare from the window). Insane.

As the cab took us from the airport, my sister said, "I feel like I'm in the future somewhere. What on earth do asian tourists come to LA for?"

I've been here less than 24 hours and I'm already stunned by the city. First, it feels like an asian London to me--the street signs are the same as in the UK, the layout of the streets, the general infrastructure (save here it's modern, there it's sort of decrepit). The one difference? We searched for a good half hour for a place to sit and have a beer, to no avail. That is not a problem one ever has in the UK.

And then the mix--ultra modern luxury, side by side with cramped markets selling cheap trinkets and "copy watchy!" (as the knock-off Rolex guy called them). Glorious skyscrapers beside horrible 1950s dingy dirty squalid apartment blocks.

And boy, one sure feels like a minority here.

To all our readers: Happy Christmas to you and your families!