We buy and expensive copy of Vanity Fair and are relieved of our camera in Hong Kong

We finally visited Hong Kong yesterday. Getting there was a snap. They’ve recently opened a new border crossing station which we found clean, organized and self explanatory. Also, it was relatively un-crowded and the whole procedure was over in approximately 15 minutes. Unfortunately, sometime during that quick and easy border crossing, someone quickly and easily took our camera from our bag, so I have no pictures to share. It was a hot and rainy day, and Eric and I both have some sort of chest cold, so we had some curry and hot lemon honey tea, wandered around a fancy shopping center, bought a copy of Vanity Fair and called it a day. We’ll try again later this month and be sure to give a thorough account.

In the meantime, I thought I’d regale you with some of the letters to the editor that Vanity Fair did publish. Graydon Carter would have you believe that reactions to the Africa issue fell into two categories: Those delightful young public health grads who were filled with joy and determination by the Africa issue, or alternatively, Those crazed anti-African isolationist racist creeps who have decided not to renew their subscriptions and who VF is better off without anyway. No room in the letters to the editor section for thoughtful criticism about the glaring lack of Malaria coverage in their Africa issue…Not that I’m bitter or anything. (Ahem!) Here are some favorites, see if you can guess which category they fall into:

“As a recent college graduate…and humanitarian junkie…I applaud Vanity Fair for helping raise awareness and for promoting peace and prosperity in our world.”

“We are citizens of the United States of America, and the vast majority of Americans couldn’t care less about Africa…What do Vanity Fair and our government concern themselves with? Africa. Get real. The continent will never improve and V.F’s issue just adds fuel to the fire…”

“If a magazine is going to take a risk like this and devote an entire issue to the topics that need to be on our minds, add me to your subscriber list. I can’t wait to see what the other issues bring.”

I rest my case.