It’s amazing where you can be – and how you can feel – after flying 15 hours. We departed from Los Angeles at 2:00am on Wednesday and arrived on the other side of the world at 7:00am on Thursday. The ride was long but easy, and as we moved from airplane to thermal body scan (no quarantines!) to passport approval to baggage claim, any residual jetlag gave way to palpable excitement in the group. From the moment we touched the ground – we were off and running.
Soon after arriving in Hong Kong, our prof. Mike Chinoy received a call from CNN/Anderson Cooper requesting him to appear on the AC360 show that morning (for its evening broadcast on the east coast) as an expert about the current crisis in N. Korea. So we quickly dropped off our bags at the hotel and rushed off to CNN headquarters where we watched Mike get put in makeup, set up on a sound stage, and go live on the air. My classmates and I then received a tour of CNN and had the opportunity to chat with several of Mike’s CNN colleagues about journalism in Hong Kong and current news in China. The impromptu visit to CNN was a truly amazing way to start our trip in Hong Kong. It was one of those moments when I realized just how privileged I am – to be a part of the Annenberg school, to be among distinguished students and professionals, and to be hanging out at the CNN headquarters mere hours after landing in Hong Kong.
What could top CNN on our first morning in HK? A dim sum feast that could feed an entire village…or just 12 hungry Americans. Mike ordered a myriad of dishes, each better than the next, and we drank tea and re-energized for the rest of the afternoon. We got around town on the MTR (subway system), bought local cell phones, and headed back to the hotel to settle in.
I met up with Maggie, an HR associate at the HKTB to obtain my training visa (I’ll leave for Macau on Saturday to then re-enter HK as a trainee before starting work). Maggie was incredibly kind to bring the visa to my hotel and she provided me with a ton of HTKB materials – brochures, publications, the annual report…and you all know how jazzed I get about these sorts of things. Can’t wait to settle into some HKTB reading this weekend! A classmate, Jessica, and I went on a stroll around our neighborhood last night and stopped into a noodle shop for dumpling soup. The best $3 dinner I’ve ever had.
I’ve made a nice little home out of my nice little hotel room…I’ve got a mini-closet with 5 hangers and a teeny set of 3 drawers, but I’ve yet to get my goonish American body accidentally wedged between the bed and the wall…apparently it happens. What it lacks in space it makes up for in its view: my window opens out to Victoria Harbour, facing Kowloon, with the rolling green mountains in the background. At night with the Kowloon skyscrapers and the harbor boats all lit up, it is a beautiful sight.
For a day that started with extraordinary pre-travel anxiety and ended with a walk through the bustling and fragrant streets of Hong Kong, I cannot imagine a better welcoming to this city.
Hong Kong is breathtaking. It is magnificent. Its emerald green mountains rise up out of the land where you’d least expect to see anything other than urban development. Its skyscrapers meet the sea, which meets the mountains, which meet the skyscrapers again. It is dense and hot and noisy. It is seedy and shiny. It is modern and ancient. It even has a 7-11 on every corner. I’ve yet to begin to figure it out…maybe I will tomorrow.
Soon after arriving in Hong Kong, our prof. Mike Chinoy received a call from CNN/Anderson Cooper requesting him to appear on the AC360 show that morning (for its evening broadcast on the east coast) as an expert about the current crisis in N. Korea. So we quickly dropped off our bags at the hotel and rushed off to CNN headquarters where we watched Mike get put in makeup, set up on a sound stage, and go live on the air. My classmates and I then received a tour of CNN and had the opportunity to chat with several of Mike’s CNN colleagues about journalism in Hong Kong and current news in China. The impromptu visit to CNN was a truly amazing way to start our trip in Hong Kong. It was one of those moments when I realized just how privileged I am – to be a part of the Annenberg school, to be among distinguished students and professionals, and to be hanging out at the CNN headquarters mere hours after landing in Hong Kong.
What could top CNN on our first morning in HK? A dim sum feast that could feed an entire village…or just 12 hungry Americans. Mike ordered a myriad of dishes, each better than the next, and we drank tea and re-energized for the rest of the afternoon. We got around town on the MTR (subway system), bought local cell phones, and headed back to the hotel to settle in.
I met up with Maggie, an HR associate at the HKTB to obtain my training visa (I’ll leave for Macau on Saturday to then re-enter HK as a trainee before starting work). Maggie was incredibly kind to bring the visa to my hotel and she provided me with a ton of HTKB materials – brochures, publications, the annual report…and you all know how jazzed I get about these sorts of things. Can’t wait to settle into some HKTB reading this weekend! A classmate, Jessica, and I went on a stroll around our neighborhood last night and stopped into a noodle shop for dumpling soup. The best $3 dinner I’ve ever had.
I’ve made a nice little home out of my nice little hotel room…I’ve got a mini-closet with 5 hangers and a teeny set of 3 drawers, but I’ve yet to get my goonish American body accidentally wedged between the bed and the wall…apparently it happens. What it lacks in space it makes up for in its view: my window opens out to Victoria Harbour, facing Kowloon, with the rolling green mountains in the background. At night with the Kowloon skyscrapers and the harbor boats all lit up, it is a beautiful sight.
For a day that started with extraordinary pre-travel anxiety and ended with a walk through the bustling and fragrant streets of Hong Kong, I cannot imagine a better welcoming to this city.
Hong Kong is breathtaking. It is magnificent. Its emerald green mountains rise up out of the land where you’d least expect to see anything other than urban development. Its skyscrapers meet the sea, which meets the mountains, which meet the skyscrapers again. It is dense and hot and noisy. It is seedy and shiny. It is modern and ancient. It even has a 7-11 on every corner. I’ve yet to begin to figure it out…maybe I will tomorrow.
At LAX waiting to catch our flight to HK!Francesca, Adriana, Kevin, Dominic, Len, Melinda, CJ
Hanging out at CNN
Mike on Anderson Cooper 360
Dim Sum lunchMike, Len, CJ, David, Francesca, Adriana, Kevin, Dominic, Melinda, Jessica
View of Victoria Harbour and Kowloon from my window
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