We are halfway through the weekend and there are various levels of indifference towards the 10th Anniversary of the Handover. Yesterday, traffic was snarled all over Hong Kong Island as Chinese dignataries whisked about here and there. It was quite annoyingas major arteries were stopped entirely for 15 – 20 minutes at a time while other roads were shitdown completely. Some of the media are making a big deal of the anniversary. Others see the event as no big deal, such  as the BC Magazine at left.

For Tess and I it is a milestone, mainly because it is a marker in time to show how much ground we’ve covered since 1997… engagement, marriage, Sebastian and the triplets. On Friday night I had a quick drink with a friend of mine, Ray, who arrived in Hong Kong in May 1996, the same month I arrived. We met in the Mandarin Oriental hotel Captain’s Bar. We talked about how much Hong Kong had or had not changed. We agreed the place feels more cosmopolitan and diverse than eleven years ago when we first arrived. Other than that, however, Hong Kong feels about the same. The last year it has also felt more vibrant with all the economic activity across the region and especially north of the border in China.

Ray and I met for drinks for the last time in Hong Kong for quite a while… Ray left this afternoon to take up a new job in Dubai. Along with Sebastian and Sela, I drove Ray and his wife Lucy, son Max, to the airport this afternoon. Tradition in a way… in 2002 they left for New York and Tess, Sebastian and I drove them to the airport then, too. The kids have just finished ice cream cones and in an hour we head into Central to watch the Handover fireworks. To see some of the posts on our web site from the actual Handover and the One Year Anniversary, click on the links below.  (At left, Sela and Carys one morning this past month.)

Day-by-day, play-by-play, of the few days leading up to the handover, please click here.

One Year Anniversary of the Handover, please click here.