Back in January 2003, I had the opportunity to visit Hong Kong for business. Unfortunately all we did was work and entertain our clients, so we didn't have the chance to really see the city.

Fast forward to October 2003, Pratt & Whitney put everyone on a one-week furlough to cut costs as a result of a recent plant incident and subseqent shutdown, so I took the opportunity to go see Hong Kong again.

My initial plan was to hang out a bit with my friend Alain's niece, Olivia. She's a Swiss expat working in Hong Kong for a financial institution. Olivia's command of the local transporation system is uncanny. She knew more about how to get places than even the natives that grew up there. We visited an Cheung Chau Island the first day I arrived, went swimming, and ate some great seafood next to the harbor. It was my first experience eating "pissing shrimp". They're these large shrimp that have a bluish-purplish hue to the meat instead of the pinkish shrimp we normally eat.

Then fortunately schedules worked out so another friend, Jojo, was able to meet me also. She was working in Singapore but had quit her job and was on an extended vacation with her parents in Southern China and was able to break away and spend a week with me. Jojo was a wonderful host, tour-guide, and translator (I can't speak Cantonese) and I also got to meet several of her friends. I do have the sneaking suspicion she was trying to swap me for a bag of mangosteen one day, but I apparently wasn't worth it to the fruit seller. By the way, mangosteen are the best tasting fruit I've ever had, too bad they're illegal in the US.

Hong Kong is a blast. The prices are fairly inexpensive if you go to out of the way places. Everything is convenient, clean, public transportation is incredible, and people are courteous and very well-dressed in the latest fashions. We took several trips to surrounding islands, relaxed and swam at the beach, ate tons of great seafood, got massages, saw the huge bhudda on Lantau Island, went clubbing, etc. It was a blast. I highly recommend it and hope to go back again someday.