Hong Kong where 7 million move effortlessly !

I have been in Hong Kong since Friday, almost 5 days and have been blown away by the way that this city has developed since the last time I was here with the Satachi team shooting the ill-fated XT commercial for Telecom. That must have been 2008, (4 years ago) and I can still see Paul Reynolds (the CEO) in overdrive endeavoring to capture the sympathies of the NZ public from the South Island lake that they filmed his apology at !

This time my visit has been very different, to be here over a weekend has meant that I was able to do so many of the touristy things, which even though I have been here a few times before, I have never done.

Maucu the Contrasting Worlds ...

I have visited Maucu Island,  the Vegas of the East! and loved the mix of Asian and Portuguese architecture contrasted by the flashy casinos that take center stage, so much money, it is overwhelming to say the least.

Maucu

I have trawled the ladies market and been blown away with the blatant knock offs, Marc Jacobs, Jimmy Choo, Mulberry and off course the much loved Louis Vuitton, featured loudly and proudly from the walls of so many stalls (yes reluctantly I did make a few purchases but not for me, for Sam my daughter of course) a very real consideration for any well established brands producing in this market ...

Monkey Entourage

I have climbed the 500 steps to the temple of 10,000 Buddha's .. whilst being chaperoned by groups of monkeys ..sampled an array of Chinese food, managing to stay away from the pork and chicken products ..and visited the huge malls of IFC and Landmark on Hong Kong Island .. these are like nothing I have ever seen before on the travels I have done .. all the while I have felt incredibly safe and have never seen any police nor heard a siren and I find that incredible in a city this large.

Temple 10000 Buddha's

Yesterday was about business .. I am determined to get to know the nuances of this market, who is here, and what does success look like for them. I have met with Invest Hong Kong, to discover some of their stories, met up with two NZers living here, one for over 30 years !!  The delight of the day had to be my meeting with a Chinese male that is heavy into manufacturing for a large NZ brand ..  this meeting was all about establishing the relationship first, as is so often the case and out came the wine, one of my favorites no less, Gibbston Valley Pinot Noir 2009 !! Needless to say the rest of my day was written off as I whiled away what was left of  the afternoon with this charming Chinese man, of 63 years of age!!!... then I'm hardly getting any younger .. ! Stuffed into a taxi at 6pm I raced to my next appointment only 5 minutes late, to continue on the wine trail at the Dolce de Vita Bar in Lan Kwai Fong, here I learnt all about the hospitality trade in this country from another wonderful host, Grant .. so for those of you that intend to visit, the picks for food are Yardbirds and Dragon I on Hong Kong Island and I definitely intend to sample them when I am next back !

 
Day complete I devoured a Subway Sandwich as I navigated the ferry back to Kowloon ..  looking forward to the expo that I intend to spend the day at today. The opportunities here are endless  and I can see why so many ex pats want to live here, many that I have met have no intention of coming home, or are doing so reluctantly to give their children the wide open spaces that they had to grow up in. Success here is about relationships, it is about taking time to investigate all the opportunities, sure there are horror stories but I have seen these in NZ as well.

Temerity of 10000 Buddhas

Talk to as many people as you can, arrange to meet others working and doing business up here, Trade NZ has been a huge conduit for me in this market, in all my meetings I have yielded useful information, whether it be as simple as a relevant trade show or a great place to eat, it is all part of doing business up here .. as with everything this city transacts largely with mainland China, thankful that they don't live there, they have established their factories in Guang Dong and Guangzhou.

You will need someone on the ground if you intend to do business here and I suggest a Chinese person is a strong way to go .. either that or a crash course in mandarin!



My two weeks are very quickly coming to an end.. I am pretty much on my own in this city and have never felt more connected. I'm not sure I want to leave .. but then I  have commitments .. in fact stuff that I'm excited about ..as  I get to judge the Edible Art Awards in Hastings this Saturday with Ray McVinne .. another great NZer that I haven't yet met.