those of you who have visited hong kong will understand when i say it is a frenetic place. everything here is fast paced and upbeat. it is a city of motion - perhaps also a city that never sleeps.
there are however, a few pockets where there is relative calm. case in point - the marine department.
tomorrow we leave on a yacht race to the philippines. in anticipation of this, i submitted all port clearance forms two weeks ago. yesterday, i received a phone call telling me that our boat licence had expired and that i needed to renew it before they could clear us out of port.
so on a random wednesday morning, when i am supposed to be at work, i am instead sitting in the marine department. the atmosphere here is an oasis of calm. i am not sure if it is because sailors have an innate ability to be patient (i doubt it) or if civil servants just lead a more relaxed life. whatever the case, i feel as if everything has gone into slow motion. they walk slowly, they talk slowly and they process papers slowly. unbeliveably, although i have been sitting here waiting for the last 45 minutes, i am not too agitated. in fact, the word that comes to mind is "chill". who knew this was such a good place to spend a wednesday morning?