We spent over five years in Hong Kong, and it changed our lives.

Not only was the job -- project management for the Airport Core Programme, at $21 billion, world's largest (at the time) infrastructure projects ever -- really interesting, but being in Hong Kong at a time of geohistorical change was a unique and unforgettable experience for us.

We had a rich, full life there too, in a kind of Blade-Runner-Meets-Old -School-Tie kind of way.

We got to participate deeply in regional culture; participate in a 100-Kilometer hill race called the MacLehose; Fulfill theatrical ambitions galore with the American Community Theatre; Paddle like mad people in Dragon Boat Races; be witnesses to history, as the Territory was handed over to the mainland Chinese; and watch with dismay as the economies of Southeast Asia tanked in 1998 and onwards.

But most of all we had some good times and some really good friends.

AND ALL THAT WAS JUST THE PREFACE. Because the stars of our personal show, our children Gwendi and Richard, also come from Hong Kong, adopted while we were residents of that city. Talk about changing your life  . . . Aieeeyah! as they say in HK.