Field Report 1:
Hong Kong - May 15, 1998
From Susie Misini's apartment, Repulse Bay, Hong Kong
By Chris Kostman
Hello friends!
Greetings from Hong Kong, where the world is clean and the view from where I'm staying looks like a James Bond set. I'm on the 26th floor of a just amazing apartment building looking out over Repulse Bay, with bright green and lush overgrowth covering the surrounding mountains all the way down to the surfline. A variety of islands fill the bay and the South China Sea beyond, not to mention tons of boats and ships, from the local junks to the modern supertankers.
Humidity is high, as is the heat, but it's not unbearable. Today I teach two spin classes at The Hong Kong Country Club, the first facility to get an indoor cycling program in HK. Yesterday Linzi and I visited the Club, then enjoyed a breath-taking 25 minute walk back to Repulse Bay on a beach-front walking path that was beautifully free of nutcase cyclists and clueless rollerbladers.
Folks here drive on the wrong side of the road, so one has to remember to "look left, then right, then left again" before stepping onto the street.
It's a community of 6.5 million people and the most densely populated city in the world, yet 60% of its area is still green and undeveloped. No graffiti either.
The population is 60% Asian of every kind, the remaining 40% a mixture of everything, including 160,000 Yanks. Yesterday I met a little old lady from Pasadena, in fact.
Plans call for me to teach two classes today, two tomorrow, then lead an all day instructor workshop on Tuesday, another class Thursday morning, followed by a 6 hour combined workshop on heartrate training and biomechanics. Back to LA on Friday.
Our host is Susie Misini, a 30 year old Australian fitness professional who has lived here for four years. We met last Summer when she was in LA cruising the LA fitness scene. We met through my buddy Toni Brown at Sports Club/LA and the timing was right for Susie to participate in my August 3, 1997 Indoor Cycling Instructor Workshop at Bodies in Motion. We've stayed in touch since then and things have finally worked out for Susie to bring me and our one of a kind cycling program here. In fact, I'm the first to bring indoor cycling here, even before my old friends at Spinning (Circle R!) get here...
Went to dinner last night at The Peak Deco up at The Peak, which looks out over the most amazing view of HK. This is certainly one of the great city views of the world. Everything here that doesn't look like a James Bond set looks like some sort of a sci-fi movie.
Of course, it's not all exotic and exciting. McDonalds, Pizza Hut, 7-11, and the like proliferate. Good old American economic and cultural imperialism at work.
The most wacky thing about this place is the cost of rent. We're staying in a nice, but not huge, two bedroom apartment. The rent? $12,000 a month!!! Apparently, though, everybody's who's got expensive rent has it paid by their employer. GE and other multinationals will pay whatever it takes to gain a foothold in the Chinese mainland, apparently.
The thinking here is that HK is one step away from Shanghai and Beijing. The one country / two systems thing they're doing here in HK expands next year to include the last colony out here, Macau, which still belongs to Portugal. Also, I've been amazed to learn that locals here believe that Taiwan will eventually be brought back under mainland Chinese control.
Well, all for now. Hope you're all well back home!
Your friend,
Chris Kostman
To read more Field Reports, click here.
|
