Man do we have a lot of catching up to do. This rapid fire traveling schedule doesn't leave us with all that much time to contemplate and write. If we aren't checking in somewhere, we're checking out and trying to catch a plane.
We were worried about where we'd stay in Hong Kong. It's a famously expensive city and we intended to be there for about ten days.
I always say, "Everything always works out perfectly," to which Todd always replies that it's dangerous to say that.
But for Hong Kong, things once again worked out perfectly. A week or two before we were to arrive we got an e-mail from a couple who live in Hong Kong, offering us their two extra bedrooms. Wow!
Even better, they live on Lamma Island, which is this strange island just off the coast of Hong Kong. Despite being only 25 minutes by ferry to the city consistently rated as the best city in the world to have a business, the island feels more like some Thai beach town.
There are no vehicles on Lamma island, just narrow pathways that connect the apartment complexes, waterfront restaurants, and beaches.
We met Jenny and Aaron as well as some of their friends right near the ferry pier and they showed us the way back to their place. We sat up for a while sharing our stories. .
They have an adorable daughter named Maeli (which means beautiful in Mandarin). Normally this would mean a settled normal life, but they traveled throughout Asia for a year or two with her until settling down to live in Hong Kong. Aaron is a programmer and is well known for being on the board of directors of Apache, the web server that runs most sites on the internet (including this one).
We spent most of our time with Aaron and Jenny. It makes such a huge difference to have a local to show you around and steer you away from the overrated tourist attractions. The highlight was definitely the vegan barbecue on the beach the last night that we were there. One of the things Todd and I are constantly looking for is guacamole, and Jenny made a ton of it. So good.
Hong Kong is a really cool place. It's a relatively thin strip of super developed urban area, bordered on one side by the bay and by beautiful green mountains on the other side. The perfect mix of nature and dense city.
In fact Hong Kong seems like nearly the perfect city. The ONE problem with it is that they speak Cantonese, which is a language I have no interest in learning. If they spoke Mandarin, I'd be there for months on end.
I may not go back for months, but it was an amazing place and a great time, and I'm sure we'll be back to visit our friends there next year.
Okay so I just wrote about half of a really long post about how awesome Thailand has been... and then it got deleted somehow. It's a shame when things like that happen to computer geniuses like myself.
So... from the top.
Todd and I reconvened on the small island of Koh Phi Phi (where The Beach with Leonardo DiCaprio was filmed). But this time we had company.
With wireless and syncing getting better, it's really getting more possible to work anywhere.
I think all those 1995 advertisements of an executive using a big old laptop on the beach kind of ruined the idea - they kept advertising it before it's possible, but also: on the sand at the beach has to be the stupidest possible place to use a laptop.
That kind of ruined it for a lot of people, but I'm realizing that a lot of limitations - aren't. I was invited to the Hong Kong horseraces on Sunday, and I was originally going to say no - too much work to do. Then I realized we could get set up in the lounge there, and I worked, taking a break to place wagers (we covered all costs and wound up up for that day) and watch the races, and working between them.
I'll post some pictures and videos from the races tomorrow. Hong Kong is such a nice city, everyone is great. And I'm realizing you're not tied to being in any one place to work - I got in a very solid day of work at the racetrack.
