My hotel is in there somewhere

One of the glorious things about my job is that it takes me to some amazing places (though travel definitely creates its own hassles, especially for family back home). I’m humbled and grateful to be representing my university at a set of meetings in Hong Kong.

This is my first trip to Asia. Initial thoughts: man that flight is loooooooong. Even from the west coast. I wasn’t able to sleep on the plane, and towards the end of the journey I definitely entered into an alternate state of consciousness, fuelled by the novelty of the environment and by a deep, deep sleep deprivation hole. I barely remember arriving and checking in.

Perhaps the weirdest point of the voyage came during a stopover in Seoul, when I was approached by a young woman who asked me, “you’re Brian Lamb, right?” My first thought was that this was a reality TV prank, but it turns out she’s a student who had attended a workshop I’d delivered, and was returning to Seoul for the holidays. (Should have recognised her, but like I said, I was seriously trippin’… sorry Juyun!)

Like an idiot, I’m spending most of my first day holed up in my hotel room, working on a few unfinished tasks and preparing for tomorrow’s meeting. But I couldn’t resist taking a walkaround this morning. Hong Kong is a great introduction to the continent for a newbie: overwhelming, yet clean, safe, and with its colonial history a very high level of English usage amongst the population. Damned friendly people too… I had to be careful where I looked at my map, lest I prompt a passerby to stop and ask gently, “you’re not lost are you?”

More photos are posted on my professional weblog.