riverman wrote:
wrote in message
ups.com...
Riverman -

The Year(s) of Living Dangerously are coming to a close. For all
the
good that your works accomplish, it does create a fair amount of
anxiety for those of us in the concerned observer camp. Soon we
will
be able to breathe a collective sigh of relief.

RailTramp


Thanks, rt. In reality, its been like a Canyon trip: there were only
a few
moments of actual danger, lots of hours of percieved danger, and a
whole lot
of hype. One real dangerous time was when we were being held up at
gunpoint
by the army, the other was during the coup attempt (the first, real
one)
when there was open warfare about 50 meters away at 2AM. All the rest
of the
time has been a mixture of seeing life 'over the edge', a slow
building of
personal walls combined with a growing dissatisfaction with the
direction
the country has chosen to go, and a serious avoidance of anybody with
guns
and a grudge.

I'm ready to go, mostly because I can. I know a lot of people who
would
never leave here, either by lack of choice, or by cutthroat
entrepreneurial
motivation. With the UN and the NGOs in town, this place is a rocking
wild
west town right about now, and a lot of fortunes are being made.

I worry that I won't have so much to say about Hong Kong that will
interest
anyone! :-)

--riverman

I'm glad to hear that you were not caught in the cross fire, and though
not as exciting, I am sure you will keep us regaled. Just don't drink
the water! TnT