Hong Kong is an amazing sight to behold as you sail into the harbor on a cruise ship. Legions of high rise buildings perched on steep hills flank both sides of the harbor, and by night the whole city turns into a sparkling cacaphony of electronic illumination. The easiest comparison would be Times Square in New York City, but much larger and spread out, with an Eastern mystique to it.

I believe that Hong Kong is even bigger than New York City, both in geographical size and population, and as a result I felt like I only saw a very small fraction of what Hong Kong has to offer. Each time I visited it was just for a day, so really all I had time to do was walk around the downtown area where the ship was docked, get some food, check e-mail, take care of some personal business, and go back to the ship.

My friend Jon Roche, who was the bassist on the ship for a period of time, absolutely loved Hong Kong, because as he put it "everything works". It's true; the place is clean (though not as antiseptically clean as Singapore), you can find anything you need easily, there is a good subway and bus system, and the city offers everything one could expect from a modern cosmopolitan metropolis, while still maintaining an Eastern flavor. Reportedly, the whole city was designed with the principles of Feng Shui in mind, which is a Chinese science or philosophy of architecture and interior design which allows for the proper energy or "chi" to flow freely, postively influencing people with a sense of well being. Maybe that's why everything works so well!

EPILOGUE (written circa 2/01)

Thank you for reading the "How Deep is the Ocean" travelogue. If anyone has made it all the way through this entire travelogue, I would be totally amazed - even I almost didn't make it! I had no intention of making this so long, but once I got started, it was difficult to stop. What you have read has gone through several revisions (not to mention computer failures where I lost entire segments) so what is written is not necessarily exactly what I was experiencing as I visited these places in real-time. The memories documented here have been filtered through time, more recent influences, and forgetfulness, so I apologize if there are some factual errors included.

Even though there were some intensely unpleasant times for me onboard the ship during this particular tour (one death threat can ruin your whole day!), I am still extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to visit all of these places. And life onboard the ship wasn't ALL bad - although I have vowed never to return to a ship gig.

My hopes in writing all of this is that I could somehow share some of my good travel fortune with you. I hope that reading these entries brought you enjoyment, a sense of what the places were like, or maybe peaked your curiosity to the point where you would consider going to visit one or more of the places yourself. I would like to hear your feedback about what you have read here. Was it intriguing or just boring?! You can send me an email or better yet sign the "guestbook". All of your comments are welcome, especially if you have visited any of the places referred to and have a different perspective to offer. Best wishes to you from Harry.