Traveling to Hong Kong in 2008

On mainland Hong Kong, no one really cares about the colour of your skin; everybody is too busy rushing around, caught up in the daily pursuit of another fistful of dollars. Not that the Hong Kong Chinese are unfriendly, just that they don't have time to notice. Here, no one scrutinises your cash or does a double take at the signature on your credit card. All that matters is the colour of your money. After all, this is the world's biggest financial centre crammed onto an island roughly the same size of Martinique but boasting nearly six million people. If this place had a motto, it would have to be "work hard, live fast"; you can almost hear the mantra of the commuters scurrying to work in the morning: "Gotta get paid, gotta get paid, gotta get paid."

And what's all this money for? Well, for one thing Hong Kong has the most expensive real estate in the world, hence the reason for all those super high-rise buildings and why most families live in flats no bigger than your average British kitchen. Plus, Hong Kong Chinese like the finer things in life. Around Central, the island's equivalent to London's Square Mile, men and women are impossibly stylish, decked out head to toe in designer gear. And why not? They can afford it. The workforce here enjoys Asia's second-highest take-home pay and the major designers are keen to take advantage of this. The Far East is now the biggest market for premium branded goods, bigger even than the States. Designer stores such as Chanel, Armani, and Versace, appear in shopping malls with the kind of regularity we associate with Next and Gap over here.