Hong Kong, 4.15 am, Saturday morning... still haven't de-jetlagged.

Hong Kong people are very small as a result of the relentless Darwinian pressure of living in shoeboxes. Blocks of shoeboxes are everywhere, stacked hundreds of metres high, vying for airspace. In fact, there is hardly enough air to go round, and anaerobic strains of Homo Hongkongus have already been reported in heavily populated areas.

H Hongkongus is very pragmatic about what it can swing, and sales of goldfish far outweigh those of cats. There are millions of goldfish shops and other shops, and a major puzzle of HK is this...where does Homo Hongkongus put all the stuff it buys? A contending theory is that they they throw out all that old stuff and no messing about. This manifests a dream capitalist system comprising a) a fashion-conscious consumer base running riot with cash, b) limited shoebox space for new possesions, leading to c) a huge turnover of goods.

Transport is efficient, and each stack of shoeboxes has several elevators dedicated to a set of specific floors to speed up movement of goldfish purchases, and to allow air to be shared around more effectively. This is impressive, as are the tube interchanges where you can get off one train, take a deep breath, and scuttle across the SAME PLATFORM to jump on a train on ANOTHER LINE to get you to that different part of the city that you want to go! No messing about taking half-a-dozen elevators in a potholing expedition just to change trains.

Moneymaking and moneyspending are taken so seriously that the TV news reports on any minor disruptive work in the transport system. I have seen H Hongkongus being interviewed while waiting for trains that are late by just 3 MINUTES! This constitutes national news around here, and its not Swiss-German efficiency self-righteousness, its just GET ME TO THE SHOPS ON TIME, I have GOLDFISH MONEY and I need to spend it NOW!