Altitude Sickness

Sunday 18 March

Hotel Renaissance – Harbour View

Woke up to vertigo. This is my view:

I have renamed the first meal of the day The United Nations Breakfast Buffet. Pancakes and waffles for the Americans and dumplings for the Asians. Somewhere in between was a continental breakfast. Naturally I had to try dumplings.

Thought I’d check out the spa facilities. Wow the ladies sauna has a floor to ceiling window. I sat looking over the harbour, trying to sweat off the dumplings yet hoping that the window really did have mirror glass as there was a building site 10 floors below the sauna window.

Café Deco Peak Galleria

To get to The Peak you can take a taxi or the venicular train. There is also a bus but you might not fancy a trip up a mountain round hair pin bends in a double decker.

There are fantastic views from The Peak – if the pollution is not being blown from mainland China. Despite the name of the restaurant I could not see any art deco influence, more like a 5 star TGI Friday’s.

We met the HK pioneers and had our first introduction to networking Asian style. Business cards are passed with two hands with the card facing the recipient. You must reciprocate the exchange of cards. It is the equivalent of a handshake and the formality is different from western networking.

Amy Tsang is the Assistant General Manger of Jidou Limited. Amy joined Jidou Limited, a digital entertainment powerhouse in Hong Kong in 2001, and has played a major role in creating Jidousports, the first international sports animation brand from Hong Kong.

Kwai Bun started his adventure as a flight attendant and world traveller. Inspired by his journeys, he continued his enthusiasm in computer graphics, and founded ManyMany Creations Ltd. His short film, "A Robot's Worth" has won several animation awards globally. His name means a V.I.P but he does not have the arogance of some of the so called VIP's I have met. This might be because he started his company from humble beginnings , with 2 PCs in a village house. ManyMany has grown rapidly and Kwai Bun has transformed himself from an artist into a business leader.

Wallis Wong is actively involved in the IT and wireless industry in Hong Kong and the Asia-Pacific region. He has successfully developed and launched more than 20 mobile games and services including two award winning games, 3G Mopas and Hong Kong War. His company is 3G Dynamics.

Perhaps it is the altitude of the restaurant thats has made me go a little spaced out, but I sense that we will become not just business associates but good friends. We share many things in common. Not just a desire to succeed in business but a curiosity for life.