I’ve been in Hong Kong now for several days. I arrived on the 15th after two great nights in Taipei and went straight to the HPG office from the airport to say hi to Sue and Pete. They showed me around the office - I can’t believe how fast they’ve expanded and how busy everyone is over there! They are working on a hotel and casino project being built in Macau, the scale of which is mind-blowing. I’ll be visiting it sometime in the next few days.

Soon after I showed up they offered to let me stay in one of the empty company apartments - several employees are out of town at the moment. Now I’m staying by myself in a beautiful apartment in central! I can’t believe it! Too long here and I’ll be completely spoiled…

I’ve been having a great time exploring Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. Today I took the ferry to Lantau Island and saw the giant buddha. Interestingly enough, I read one of the plaques inside the visitors center and learned that the statue was inspired in part by the Daibutsu in Kamakura, which I had just visited while in Japan. The statue is relatively new, having just been built in 1989. I hung out around the island for the whole day, but still missed a huge art installation that I want to go back and see.

I’ve finally gone back and filled in a few journal entries and uploaded some photos from the past month! The travelogue map is now up to date as well.