Day 1 in Hong Kong Part 1 – Before The E*TRADE Intervention

We woke from a wonderful Westin Bed slumber and headed out to a day in Hong Kong. Of note is that we truly had no particular destination in mind. This is the equivalent of heading to NYC with the plan of going to Grand Central and figuring it out from there. Our time in London was brief so we needed to be tactical; we have 4 days in HK so we figured we had more flexibility to roam around and get lost. We took full advantage of the getting lost piece. He transit stations in HK are all connected, whether vertically by escalators and elevators or by a labyrinth of tunnels that take you literally blocks and blocks. Our MTR (the Metro, L, T, Bart) station was one level down from the Airport Express stop that had served us so conveniently the day before. A walk from the W Hotel lobby through the Elements Mall in Kowloon (a post on Mall culture is forthcoming) with still more Prada and Valentino and Armani and the like 

Hi Wendy

and down the escalator and to the “Tung Chung/Disneyland Line”. 

Beautiful escalators everywhere...and they all work!!! (take note, Metro)

Yes, we said Disneyland. The Mouse House built a Disney theme park on one of the HK islands and the MTR goes right to it at the terminus of one of the lines – the Disneyland line. We actually planned to hit up the park just after eating at McDonalds and hell freezing over. The Kowloon MTR station is crazy convenient to the financial district in HK. And of course we used our Octopus Card (see earlier post) to speed right through. One stop on the aforementioned train line and you emerge at your stop…well, your choice of stops. You see, there are probably a dozen signed and lettered stops one you emerge from the first set of escalators. Each letter has an accompanying sign that gives some reference point. Some are sites, but the majority are buildings. HK doesn’t do addresses as much as it does buildings. You work at IFC2 or Pacific Place 3 or Exchange Place. Since we didn’t have any destination in mind and were in no particular rush to get there, we picked IFC. Of course, even after you pick an exit you are still face with choice after choice of exits and walkways that take you even more destinations. According to the guidebook, the majority of the buildings are owned by one company, and each of them is connected by some sort of walking device. We ended up in yet another HK mall (the IFC Mall) and located a Starbucks (addiction knows no geopolitical bounds).

View from the IFC Mall looking East

Addiction sated, we finally emerged onto street level in HK.

HK is disorienting at first. There are huge buildings everywhere and, unlike NYC or DC there is no grid or order. They also build buildings on top of other structures (malls) which themselves are 6 stories or more and take up blocks. And the signage, although plentiful, makes reference to building names, which is helpful if you know where you want to go, but isn’t particularly helpful if you are meandering. With our trusted Eyewitness Guide we located the Legislative Counsel Building. 

The building is one of the last standing colonial buildings. It used to house the Supreme Court and now is the home to HK’s parliament. It is a tiny little thing situated amongst towers of steel. There is probably an allegory here to the democratic traditions juxtaposed against the new HK drive to create more land (yes - they are backfilling - more on that later) and build bigger and better structures.

From there it was across the street to the HSBC Bank Headquarters. The building’s web-like metal exterior is said to have the strongest feng shui in HK. To be honest, it seemed kind of ugly to us. Just a few blocks away sits the needle-shaped Bank of China Tower. That building was designed by I.M. Pei, and we quite like it. Those who know say its feng shui projects negative vibes onto buildings around it. What do we know? Although the HSBC Bank HQ leaves an aesthetic to be desired, it does have a pair of lions that we quite liked. Rubbing their paws is said to be good luck, and since we both enjoy good luck and miss our Zacky, we hung with the lions. 

Eric respected the lion's personal space while Karen got right in there...

Our meandering continued and we visited the Mandarin Oriental Hotel (the original, not the newer one mere blocks away). It was not nearly the palace we expected. Lovely, but not as impressive as other Mandarin properties in which we had visited. Like the rest of Hong Kong, it is filled with high-end shopping. According to the guidebook it was once HK’s tallest building. Now it is a blip on the skyline.

You’ve probably noticed by now that we were wandering sort of aimlessly. The same occurred to us. We figured we needed some local knowledge, but were kind of at a loss for the “local” and “knowledge” part. Then we had an epiphany – E*TRADE has an office in Hong Kong. Sure, Eric had never met the team there, they had no idea who he was, and we had no idea where it was, but other than that it seemed like a wonderful idea. A little Google action (LOVE the new Droid Pro and the Verizon unlimited international wireless) and we were on our way. We tried to find the office using streets, a strategy that doesn’t work in HK. In HK you need to know the name of the building you need and then find the walkway (above or below ground) and follow the signs to that building. We just wandered around or 30 minutes until Eric called the E*TRADE offices. Should you ever need them, they are in Pacific Place 2.

Here’s the thing: we knew no one in the office and, as it turns out Eric wasn’t carrying business cards. In a culture less warm than HK’s, this might have presented a problem. Eric sauntered in and asked Eilene at the front desk to please pull up “K-E-R-E-N-S-K-Y” on the intranet, and up popped his picture. We then explained that we were on vacation and asked for Willie So, a lawyer in the HK office and the only name Eric knew in the HK office. A brief conversation between Eilene and Willie ensued and out emerged Willie. 

Willie So, embracing a perfect stranger

He was incredibly warm and, after he got over the shock that we would fly off to Asia without a plan, he jumped into the spirit of things with some suggestions. Then he decided Eric needed to meet Helen Chan (she runs the place). Helen could also not have been lovelier, and between Helen and Willie Eric emerged with an itinerary for the day and lunch plans with Willie and Helen for the following day. Willie walked us down to the tram and we started part 2 of our day – After the E*TRADE Intervention.