HK Arrival & Marketing in Macau

This is my first post in Hong Kong. I wanted to make chronological posts starting with my Thailand vacation which occurred before arriving in HK. But too much is happening so I'll have to save Thailand (which rocked) for future posts. Anyway...

I arrived in Hong Kong on 9-10-05 (they do their dates day-month-year here) and the next night, I had dinner with my two bosses; Dr. Justice (sounds like a comic book character, huh?) the School of Design (SD) head and Dr. Yu, the SD Multimedia Innovation Centre (MIC) head. Also present were designers from the US and HK. I was digging the international creative vibe I felt and the view was spectacular. I took this picture (which really doesn't do the view any justice) from the Vietnamese restaurant we ate at. I believe the restaurant was called Rice Paper and it was located at Harbour City on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong. I had been to Harbour City earlier that day when I had lunch with Dr. Yu and the president of a US toy company. I was already in love with HK that night!

So fast forward to nearly two weeks later and it feels like a lifetime ago. I'm still loving it here, but I've been battling a sore throat all week. I think it's a combination of the air quality, many late night parties, long hours at the office and the stress of dealing with moving and immigration. They sure work and play hard here! These last two weeks have been the fullest 2 weeks I've lived in a long time!

I'll probably write in greater detail about the last two weeks in another post. But I want to write about tonight while it's fresh in my mind. Tonight I met a women in a book store at Times Square called Page*One. She had the coolest looking glasses! It turns out she got them in Macau 'cause that's where she lives. She does marketing for The Venetian in Macau. She told me that Macau has a population of 500,000 and has a huge lack of media and design talent. To discuss the opportunities in Macau, we had drinks and dinner at a place called "People's Coffee & Books." This is a really cool bookstore/cafe with a tongue and cheek, nostalgic design motif based on old Maoist China. She logged on at the cafe and showed me the Vegas-sized plans for expansion in Macau. Looks like Macau, like the rest of China, has huge growth plans!

Sonia is Portuguese/Chinese and speaks 4 languages; Portuguese, French, Cantonese and English. But we spoke mostly in English 'cause that's what I speak best. She lived in Europe for 7 years before moving back to Macau. She comes to HK once a month, so I just happened to catch her at the right time. She asked me to send samples of my work and she would forward it to the right people at The Venetian. Sonia is just the latest example of the many interesting people I'm meeting out here. I'd say there are two major types of people here; Very international and very local. She obviously falls in the former category.

The only other thing worth noting today is that I went to a local salon and asked the very local hairdresser to give me a new local hairstyle. I figure since I'm in a new place with a new job and making new friends, I might as well get a new hairstyle. Not sure what I think of it yet, but it's shorter and it looks like something local 20-something year olds might have. They were trying to get me to dye it brown. Looks like a lot of the young kids do that here. I'm not in my 20's anymore. But many people here seem to think I am. I'll have to think about it...

Basically, despite the stress and challenges of moving and setting up out here I'm having a blast meeting new people and seeing new things everyday. Everyday is a new adventure and I'm learning so much!