The airport in Hong Kong makes JFK look like a third-world airport

Uh, JFK *is* practically a 3rd world airport.

If I made a list of "Nice" US airports...JFK would be way, way down the list.

I'll disagree with you on Greenspan/Laissez-faire but agree with you on Hong Kong.

Also the MTR makes the T(Boston) look like a steam-engine locomotive.

Also the new airport is typhoon secure.

Flying into the old airport was nerve wracking. It was a question of desending between high rise apartments. You could glance out of the windows and see the tenants' wash on the clothes lines.

marijuologist wrote:

The Chinese are killing us because they have relative economic freedom. Yes, they still have strong government controls, and those controls create a lot of problems, but they are moving toward economic freedom (Capitalism) while we are moving in the direction of a controlled economy like what they used to have.

So true, man. The Chinese are killin' it.

. I want to live in a cage too!

That's better than being homeless.

marujologist wrote:

That's better than being homeless.

The folks living in the rabbit cages are engineers and doctors. The homeless in Hong Kong are forced to live in the 7th and 8th dimensions...all curled up and nanoscopic.

Not true.

You overrate it, sir.

The Hong Kong airport is not a microcosm of China.

Most airports make JFK look like a third-world airport, Paris De Gaulle, La Guardia and LAX being exceptions.

Don't forget that JFK airport (or New York International/Idlewild Airport before 1963) has been around when HK was basically still a jungle.

Nowadays, it depends which terminal you walk into: the Worldport is a POS from the inside (beautiful from the outside though) and will rightfully be destroyed. The international terminal is quite nice.

My two favorite airports in the world are:

- Kuala Lumpur International Airport (Malaysia) - just beautiful and clean

- Detroit - Terminal A which serves most flights, is exactly 1 mile long. If you're running late and are a good runner, you WILL make your connection.

I hate to tell you this, but essentially ALL major American airports are pieces. And I've been to most of them.

Compare any of the big US hubs to other continental junctions (say, Amsterdam, Dubai or HK) and it's looking pretty sad for a wealthy nation. Hell, just across the border to Vancouver and Toronto, whose airports are majestic shrines to aviation relative to disgusting places like Newark and O'Hare. Meanwhile, millions of tourists per year fly into Vegas and think the flight must have been directed to a midwest bus station.

One of my favorite topics - airports.

Regarding the new HK airport, it is very, very nice and the train service into the city is outstanding. A friend is the station manager for United and he said they would race their cars on the runway prior to the grand opening. Kai Tak was a gem, very exciting as a previous poster mentioned, especially during heavy weather. Off the plane and into Tsim Tsa Tsui in 20 minutes.

Agree on KL airport, very nice.

I like Frankfort 9great areas to run near the airport, forested areas - miles and miles), Melbourne, Auckland, Beijing.

Low on the list - Sydney, Heathrow (great running areas nearby though), CDG - although the view in and out of Paris is pretty good.

In the US, Orlando is my favorite. I can tolerate O'Hare, Detroit is not bad as I have access to the Lufthansa Lounge and free pour drinks - bad idea when a runner is around. LAX is OK, SF has great views but the delays take away. Miami is pretty good. Neutral on DEN.

I agree with most here - that from the look of much of our infrastructure, you'd have thought we lost WWII (compare NY's Penn Station to the equivalent in Berlin or Tokyo)!

However, I moved to DC recently, and Dulles is a beautiful airport. Very modern and sleek. It's currently a pain in the arse to get there, but it's almost worth it for me!

You should have seen the old HK airport - Kai Tak. Everything about that airport was 3rd world or worse. The final approach was mind blowing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi1ysX1lnWE

The first time I landed there in '89, I thought the right wing was going to hit the building rooftops.

Do not allow yourself to be fooled by the fancy bling airports, and the hot chicks in short skirts. The place - even HK to a degree - is built on sand. There are 300mm middle class people in coastal China, with a standard of living roughly equivalent to Taiwan, and then there are 900mm people who are desperately poor, roughly like Vietnam.

In 1995, the old Shanghai airport (not Hong Qiao) was a zoo. I thought I'd been dropped off at a bus station.

All these airports and high speed rails are is lipstick on a pig.

US investment in infrastructure is dismal because we cannot have any serious discussion about securing the right amount of revenue for government because the talk radio conservatives start screaming about big government. Roads in the US are dismal. Most cities, especially newer cities in the south, have no real public transport infrastructures. Airports are in a perpetual state of falling apart and being patched back together.

Serious, my name says everything I think about you. By selectively taking the Special economic zones (SEZ) and attempting to somehow claim that this is representative of China is either a case of you being intentionally deceptive or completely ignorant. The fact of the matter is that almost 80% of Chinese live on < 10$ per day. 71% less than 5$ per day (albeit this 5$ is 5x what they define as the poverty rate).

The urban-rural divide, while pronounced in the US, is far greater there as well.

Yes, China has made large improvements. But to make any claim that they are "killing us" in relative economic freedom is absolute bullshit, outside of the "SEZ's," and even depending on the specific zone, this isn't true.

Please, try using critical thinking for once, before you post next time. And doing even cursory research is so easy these days with the internet. Something you obviously have access to, since you posted here. Something only 38% have access to in China, and those that due have limits on what can be accessed. Controlling information = controlling various portions of the economy, not so economically free there, huh?

the jet blue and international terminals at JFK are new and nice. the bigger problem with jfk is that there really is no public transportation there. theoretically you can take a local subway to a parking lot on the outskirts of the airport, exit the subway and then get on a bus that slowly will get you to your terminal. it's a joke. i have no idea how i would even begin to use public transportation to get to LGA. NYC has to be the only major city in the world where there basically is no public transportation to its airports.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Incheon.

I've been to most major airports in Asia (Narita, Shanghai, HK, KL, Bangkok) and many in Europe (including Heathrow, CDG, Amsterdam), but Incheon is definitely my favorite. The Korean Air lounges are AWESOME as well.