Hong Kong air quality

The clear summer skies over HK were long gone, and we had some of the worst air pollution I’ve seen in a very long time on this trip. And it was quite a long trip — more than five weeks during September & October 2007. That did give me an opportunity to once again see the Tai Hang fire dragon parade (see last year’s posting & adjacent pictures), a fun part of the Mid-Autumn festival and the 127th time it’s been held.

Tai Hang fire dragon head …..and tail

And I think I’m now on my way to becoming a real HK native (I guess all I have to do is learn the language real quick, huh??). I’d ride the MTR subway from my apartment in North Point to Central, and then head over to my office in IFC2, the tallest building in Hong Kong. Or else I would get off at Admiralty instead & go to my other HK office, in Lippo Center — which overlooks Victoria Peak and the mountain side.

Roger’s IFC2 office at Mallesons

The reason for all this is a contract we won to assist the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in determining whether they should become a carbon exchange. The prime contractor is Mallesons Stephen Jaques, an Australian-based law firm with offices in HK — and they kindly gave me my own office on the 37th floor of IFC2, with a beautiful view of the harbor, my name on the door, and a great team of people to work with! The firm I’ve been working with, International Environmental Trading Group (IETG), is a sub-contractor, along with Climate Focus, a Netherlands-based firm that specializes in the carbon market. You can read about our selection in the HKEx press release.

Credit: CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets

Another important reason for this visit is that I was invited to speak at the CLSA Investors Forum, a week-long financial conclave (perhaps extravaganza would be a more appropriate word?) addressing the Asia-Pacific marketplace. In addition to first-rate technical sessions, CLSA also hosted a number of great social events (including one with the band INXS), and tickets in HK were definitely on the ‘hard-to-get’ list. (I know, because I tried — unsuccessfully — to get some more).

I’m going back to HK soon for another extended stay, so the next set of ‘Raufer Updates’ postings might take a while. In the meantime, however, I’ll suggest yet another book about the city — this one entitled Queen’s Road Central & Other Stories, by Matthew Harrison. As the title hints, every story is linked to a physical location in the city, and one reviewer captured its spirit: “The stories are an entertaining way of looking at Hong Kong through the eyes of Hong Kong people, expatriates and returnees, showcasing the intersections of romance and work, the ups and downs of careers, and the chaos and pace of the city.” What is truly amazing to me, however, is that the author has another full-time job, as a senior research official in the Research & Planning department at a major HK institution. The book never says where — so I won’t either — but let me just say that I’ve come to know the author, and also know the difficulties of writing a ‘non-fiction’ book — and I simply can’t imagine (literally!) going through the same thing in fiction. I’m really quite impressed.