Still jetlagged, I wake up at 6 AM famished and head down to breakfast. Amazing--a huge breakfast buffet that caters to all of the main cultures that Hong Kong caters to (Chinese, Japanese and English). I have had some sumptuous buffets, but none as diverse as this one--choose from dim sun, congee, Japanese noodles or an English breakfast. I chose dim sum in honor of the local cuisine.

    On the way back to the room, a couple in the elevator suggested that I get off with them on the 41st floor. They seemed nice. Why not! First, they showed me a lovely Japanese Garden with running water and Japanese lanterns--beauty and peace on the 41st floor. Then towering above the garden was a lovely Chinese landscape painting that stretched to the top, the 56th floor.

    The picture does not do justice to the beauty as one rides the glass elevator from the 41st to 56th floor. The painting is stunning with villages, boats, mountain trails, the Great Wall and Guilin Mountains. Every time I rode by it I found something new.

    The painting was completed by 40 painters at the Beijing Arts & Crafts Research Institute. I didn't know it at the time, but the themes seem to come from Wang Ximeng's "A Thousand Li of Rivers & Mountains and Dong Qichang landscape painting.

    Pauleen Ma (Wellesley class of 2001) and her brother Timothy picked me up around 10Am for a tour of Hong Kong Island. What a tour!

    We began with a trip up Victoria Peak, Tai Ping Shan (Mountain of Great Peace) in Chinese. One takes a funicular and the trip up and the top both reminded me of Corcovado in Rio (minus the statue of Christ).

    We meet Pauleen's father, Jimmy Ma (Counsel to the HK Legislative Council) at the Jockey Club for a delicious dim sun lunch and a discussion of Chinese law and the status of Hong Kong as a Special Administrative Area of China. Clearly, this is all still a work in process and interpretation of Chinese law seem to be 9/10 of the law. The situation is very fluid and ambiguous.

    On to touring the south side of Hong Kong Island. First stop--Repulse Bay. The beach was lovely and the Buddhist Temple in honor of life savers was fantastic.

    Final stop (and I mean final since I am fading rapidly), Stanley---Beach, crowded market and Murray House. Murray House is an old British barracks or administrative building (some dispute here) that has been transferred here from Central. 

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