First Stop Hong Kong

I did not realize what I was in for when I flew from Boston to Chicago to make my Hong Kong connection.  It only dawned on me that the flight was going to be 16 hours.  That's two 8-hour work days back-to-back.  Of well, I settled in for the long flight and plowed into a good number of my backlog of magazines I brought with me that I had not had a chance to read during my everyday life in Wolfeboro.  Hong Kong is really a unique place.  So much of the British influence is still here despite Hong Kong being turned over to China in 1997.  Hong Kong has its own currency, immigrations, and so many of the freedoms inherited from the British that do not exist in Mainland China.  They even drive on the other side of the road than do the drivers up in the Mainland.

L to R: Howard Kwong '99, Raylene Davis,  & Jim Bastis

After a smooth entry into Hong Kong and a day to get my jet lag under control, I joined up with fellow Brewsterite Raylene Davis.  Raylene runs the summer programs for the Academy and is over hear on both sales calls and admissions visits.  We enjoyed a great lunch and good talk with alum Howard Kwong '99.  We took the MTR (subway) from our side (Kowloon) of the harbor over to Hong Kong Island to meet up with Howard.  Howard is one our staunchly loyal alums here in Asia.  We discussed ways in which to increase Brewster's presence in both Hong Kong and Asia in general.   Both Raylene and I look forward to Howard's help going forward.

Not having too much down time, we were back at our hotel to meet Nelson Ngai and his wife, Rowenna.  Nelson and Rowenna have two daughters that are Brewster alums.  In fact, we jumped into a taxi and weaved our way through the crowed streets of Hong Kong with a crazy driver at the wheel.  They have these grab handles above the door of the taxi that you can hold onto when you need to.  Well, I never let go of the thing until we got to our destination.  We met one of their daughters, Janice '07, at the restaurant.  It was here that I had my first collision with Asian cuisine this time around, although I did manage to enjoy a goodly amount of tonight's offerings.  I must be getting soft or just flat out used to Asian cuisine  this being my fourth trip to Asia.  Nelson and Rowenna's other daughter, Susan '09, is back at Penn State finishing up her final year.  It was good to meet Janice and her folks.  Janice is working in the fundraising area since coming back to Hong Kong after also attending Penn State.  We parted ways with us walking back to the hotel.  I know Friday nights bring out people no matter where in the world they are, but here in Hong Kong the lights on the buildings are so bright and go on for miles as do the number of people on the sidewalks.  You cannot walk a straight line anywhere here in Hong Kong.  It was a very enjoyable evening.

Tomorrow we fly off to Shanghai.