Approaching the end of Week 3 and it's safe to say that the time is flying by.

Work is going well and I'm growing more adjusted to the vastness of Hong Kong.  Even after 8 weeks I doubt I'll have scratched the surface of the place.

Despite being over 5000 miles and eight time zones away, Hong Kong is, in its own surreal way, a home from home.  The road signs are the same, the traffic lights, it's right-hand drive.  You can take the ferry to Aberdeen harbour.  Not convinced?  How about a double-decker bus down Argyle st?  Although no longer a part of the British Empire, the remnants of colonialism are still there and it's hard to envision them vanishing any time soon.

Although indeed, like London it seems impossible to get rid of Scottish bank notes here!  I was surprised, when trying to change my remaining Scottish notes over, to be told by the assistant that they didn’t want my “Old Money” but instead would accept “Queen Money.”  My attempts to explain fell on deaf ears and I have still to get rid of them.

I am keeping busy at work and working through the project I’ve been set.  I have to compile reports for each month of the past financial year, I’m getting slightly faster with every month that goes by which is quite encouraging!  I’m becoming a little more accustomed to the early lunch as well.  I’ve been out with my colleagues for lunch every day for the past three weeks and literally haven’t been to the same place twice – Thai, Korean, Japanese, Cantonese, Shanghainese – I didn’t realise the many differentiations within East Asian food and it’s definitely a nice surprise to know there are numerous options available other than the staple Glasgow Chicken Chow Mein.  The office is friendly and it has helped that I’m working with a relatively small team who have definitely helped me settle in a bit and taught me a few things.

I was informed the other day that land in Hong Kong can cost in excess of HK$30,000 (£3000) per square foot (foot!), so that really puts it into perspective – the buildings don’t have 75 floors just for the sake of it.

My manager Stuart is currently at Fuji Rock for the weekend (Japanese equivalent of T in the Park), so needless to say I’m a bit jealous!  Although he did give me a copy of NME to read prior to departure, I’ve yet to decide if that softened the blow or made me more envious!

So, that’s day-to-day up to week 3 and it’s shocking to think a week from now I’ll be at the halfway stage, still so much to see and do…