Cisco Hong Kong

Exactly two months ago, I went back home to Milpitas. Obviously, life back in the bay area is a lot more tranquil and easy, though life is borderline monotonous and repetitive. But it's home and nothing is better than having the opportunity to waste time playing cards with close friends, spending quality time with the family, watching the NCAA basketball tournament, and above all, joining the rat race at "normal" hours in the morning.

Now that I'm back in Hong Kong, I really appreciate everything back home has to offer. With that said, there are many advantages to living in Hong Kong. For one thing, working in the Hong Kong office is much more refreshing than working in San Jose . Back home, my view out of our 2-story building on Tasman Drive is Tasman Drive and the parking lot! Sometimes, on a lucky day, I get a glimpse of the Lightrail train.

In Hong Kong, my view out of our 50-story building on Harbour Road is a panorama Hong Kong harbor with all of its docked vacation cruise ships and cross-harbor ferries transporting visitors and locals alike between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island.


Cisco has 3 floors in the Great Eagle center. It's the building with the Allianz sign on the top, right behind the Hong Kong Exhibition Center (the short dome sports arena looking building in the middle of the picture). See those two similar buildings, left of center? It's the one on the right. I work on the 28th floor, in an open work space.


This is the entrance to the main office. I think it's on the 30th floor.


This is the dining area. Notice the basket of fruits (In San Jose, this basket would be empty by 12pm!). There are lots of cookies, candies, even seaweed packages in the cabinets. There's an espresso machine (not pictured). The maids start cleaning at 7am in the morning (I know because I'm there 2-3 hours before they get there). The maids go around to every cube/office and collect the tea mugs for cleaning. That's pretty cool.


The first time I saw the vending machine, I thought I had to put in coins to get a drink. The only thing I get from here is Coke Light (aka...Diet Coke). Sometimes, I get Activ Water, which is water with electrolytes.


These are assigned cubicles for the local work force.


This is a typical HK breakfast. It's called Chan Dan Tone, Nai Cha, which is short for spam, egg, and macaroni soup with milk tea. All of that for a few cents over $2 USD. That milk tea is scrumptous...hmm mmm hmm. Not sure if the spam is healthy on a daily basis so I try to get it once a week at the most.


This is the view from the open work space. The building on the left will be HK's tallest building called the ICC.


Similar view but from a conference room. It's pretty peaceful sitting in the office alone at 7am in the morning, enjoying what's outside the window. Hard to beat this in San Jose don't you think?