Return from Hong Kong

I just got back from Hong Kong last Sunday night (14 May, 2006). The flights went well enough. I probably was less tired as I walked through my doorway than I had been on previous trips of equal length/time. That was a pleasant surprise, although I seem to be taking longer to readjust myself to the time-zone here than I thought I would take.

After over a month there I still was not ready to return to the USA and Colorado. There are probably several reasons for that. The first is that I have lived in Colorado too long to see it as an “exciting” place to live. There is not doubt that Colorado is very conservative in nature compared with other places. There is also a notable lack of cultural diversity here. Having worked a few years in a job with took me to San Francisco relatively often, I’m convinced the “Bay Area” would be a better choice for me at this point in my life.

Back to my trip, I lived in the Panda Hotel in Hong Kong for the month I was there. Until the new airport was built, the Panda was the largest hotel in Hong Kong, having over 1000 rooms. While one of the new hotels close to the airport is now larger, the Panda still comes in at a respectable 2nd place, in terms of size.

The Panda is located in Tsuen Wan, a community located in the “New Territories”. While many of the newer hotels in Tsim Sha Tsui and Central are more elegant, I actually prefer staying at the Panda. Of course, the lower price at the Panda is a draw, but more importantly, the community where the Panda is located is much more of a “local” community than a “tourist” community (as are Tsim Sha Tsui and Central). I really like immersing myself in the local culture where ever I go, so it is much more pleasant for me to stay in an area which has many less tourists in it than some of the more “up scale” communities. In addition, once a person is away from the tourist areas, he/she has almost anything they need within a very few blocks of the hotel. I like being able to walk out of the hotel and find grocery stores, bakeries, local restaurants, and department stores within a minute or two. The tourist communities are full of… well… “tourist trap shops”, not to mention having no “local flavour”.

I came to Hong Kong for many reasons. One of which was for business. Attending trade fairs is not only enjoyable for me, but important to my business as well. Like many Asian countries, the level of technology is much more “state of the art” in Hong Kong than in the US. If I want to see what mobile phones, televisions, and consumer products will show up in the US two years from now, I come to Hong Kong. Like in Europe, the mobile phone technology is light years ahead of the USA.

I also had planned on taking the train up to Guangzhou in the Guangdong Providence for the Canton Trade Fair. “The Gods” seemed to be working against me, however, so I never made it there. As a start to my “travel troubles”, I had planned on obtaining a China visa when I arrived in Hong Kong. I had no idea that the Easter holiday would be observed by the China visa office, but it was. So I could not get a visa in time to attend the first session (first week) of the fair. That was really ok with me, as the products and companies I really wanted to see were all in the second week of the fair. When I tried to finalize my plans, however, it turned out the hotel reservation I had made did not work out… Instead of feeling frustrated, I decided just to recognize that sometimes do not work out as we had hoped. I decided just to accept my fate and not be upset. (This is a good way to be, I think. Getting upset at things we can not change really makes no sense if you think about it.)

Having said that, I was disappointed I could not see some of my friends and business acquaintances in Guangzhou. I was really looking forward to seeing my friends from Zhenmei Foods and Voyage Leather Products. One of the things which pleases me the most about doing business in China is the importance of personal relationships within business. Maintaining good personal relationships is not only pleasant, but also imperative when working with Chinese companies. This used to be true in the US as well, but I think we have lost this. That is unfortunate, in my opinion. In China, I feel a real “connection” with my business contacts and consider them my friends as well as my business partners.

While there is no doubt the people I meet in Hong Kong and China are genuinely sincere in their interactions with me, I am not always sure they strive to understand me as much as I do them. This is not a criticism of them as much as it is a simple observation. I get the distinct feeling Americans are looked upon as being “all the same”. I say this because I am often told that I do not behave “like a typical American”. While I take this to be a compliment, I also feel I would not be told this if Americans were looked upon as being individuals rather than as a “homogeneous group”. Still, I am not complaining, as it gives me pleasure to represent my country in a positive way.

Ok… as a “guy”, I can not resist writing a little about my impression of Hong Kong and Chinese women. I have been coming to the area for long enough that I think my observations are sound, and not those of someone seeing a culture for the first time. Of course, by speaking of Chinese women in general I run the risk of grouping them together as “all being the same”. That is not my intent. Like anyone, each Chinese woman is unique in herself as an individual person. Having said that, I am only speaking in general terms here, so I will have to take a few “short cuts”. In short, I really like Chinese women (generally speaking). Like so many other American guys, I have really grown tired of being thought of as “the enemy” by American women. (Sorry if I again appear to be placing an entire group of people into one “shoe box”.) I can only speak of my past experiences. Those experiences have been one of feeling very “under appreciated” by American women. (Come on guys… You know what I’m talking about.) On the other hand, so many Chinese women I meet seem to genuinely appreciate a man if he is well behaved, thoughtful, and sincere. I’m not trying to imply here that I have personal relationships with a lot of Chinese women. (Far from it.) I am instead making these statements based more on observations of how women interact with men in general in HK and China. I know this is a lot of writing just to get to one simple point… That is, I only wish to compliment the culture underlying Chinese women for showing a little appreciation for “a good man”. It is refreshing to see!

I will continue this later, as I really want to talk a little more about the culture I encounter when I go to HK and China, including the food, business environment, etc.