To the 55th floor

Thursday 21 November

I woke at about 9.30, having had a two hour sleepless spell in the middle of the night. Well at least that made the decision. By the time I’d have got to the CTS it would be perhaps too late to think about a two day visa and I switched my plan to one of going to Vietnam on the 26^th and just doing that country well rather than rushing through China and then rushing through Vietnam.

So I got going in a leisurely way and decided to go for a walk along to Central. I went first to the new Wan Chai conference and exhibition centre. It seems to be a magnet to Chinese tourists with the Golden Bauhinia and the Reunification monument. There are lots of people offering to take your photograph in front of the former and lots of Chinese availing themselves of the offer. I then set my sights on the tallest building in the distance as a target and slowly made my way towards it. Slowly, mainly because this part of HK is only semi-friendly to pedestrians. I quickly learned that, where possible the upper walkways (Barbican style) are a better bet. The target building turned out to be the International Finance Centre, 88 stories and some 400 metres. At the ground level is a huge upmarket shopping mall – Bond Street in a mall. I discovered that one can get to the 55^th floor by going to the exhibition of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority. This turned out to be more interesting than I expected and of course gave stunning views with the ability to look down on a large number of the corporate trophy buildings. Big. but not as big as this one. The HKMA exhibition included a timeline of developments starting with the British occupation in 1841, before which there was no paper money in HK – just coins and silver. It also stressed the importance of stability with a large section on counterfeits and gave the background to the 7.8 peg against the USD as well as the role of HK as a go between China and the world. I must admit I have a niggling doubt about this. I can't quite see why a go-between is going to be needed in the long-term. Oh well; not to worry.

At lunchtime, I’d had some spicy noodles and beef. Very nice and very spicy. I’m a messy noodle eater. In the evening I went to a Wan Chai restaurant I’d noticed earlier and had rice and mushrooms. The man seemed a bit crest-fallen as he was recommending the prawns and rice. But I knew what I wanted.