It has been a delightful experience but only after I had managed to get past the immigration officers at the Guangzhou railway station. That bad experience has already been erased by the smiles of the people of Guangzhou.

The 10 million residents of this verdant city have been told to smile and be 'civilised' to the visitors who will be with them for the next fortnight or so. Were they uncivilised before, running around dragging women by the hair and beating others with clubs? I wonder. But the City Civilisation office of the Guangzhou Municipality has for the past year carried out an education campaign to promote good manners among its people.

Books titled Asian Games Etiquette Manual for Guangzhou Citizens and Guidebook of how to be a Civilised Spectator during Asian Games have been handed out. Perhaps they might be useful for some soccer fans who turn into barbarians once they cross the gates in stadiums around the world.

The 'civilised' idea is to foster manners and to welcome friends from different parts of the world with hospitality and great manners. Tens of thousands of these guidebooks, four million etiquette bookmarks and 70,000 posters have been posted all over the city.

The Guangzhou education bureau overseeing the hundreds of schools in the city has issued guidelines to students on how to interact with the foreign masses. And there are plenty of us, more than 9,000 athletes - China has another 900 or so - and a 5,000-strong foreign media contingent covering these Games.

Everywhere I go, I see a smile. I'm not used to this, especially women smiling at me. On the first couple of occasions, I was left bemused before responding with a smile. Those Guangzhou people who I first met must have thought I was indeed uncivilised.

Living half my life in Hong Kong has taken the smile off my face. You don't smile at strangers in the MTR. If you did, they might think you are crazy or you could be in line for a harassment complaint. You don't smile at strangers you bump into in the lift. That's begging for trouble.

Yes, it is refreshing to see a smile. And the people of Guangzhou will be reminded to keep smiling. For the duration of the Games, they will receive SMS alerts on etiquette. It is a massive campaign orchestrated by the municipal government which is keen to show this city in all its newfound splendour.

In the run-up to the Games, there was a Smile Day, a city-wide campaign to encourage more bright smiles in the city. The intention behind the Smile Day was to inspire the local residents to perform an act of kindness and pass the message of friendship and harmony among the communities.

The lesson is simple - smile, and the world smiles with you. Perhaps it is time we Hongkongers take a hint. For us, the commonest reason to smile is if we are successful at making money.

There were plenty of smiles for track cyclist Lee Wai-sze after she won Hong Kong's first gold medal at these Games. Lee, who had not been sleeping well before the opening event yesterday, cast aside her mental burdens and blitzed the field to win the women's 500-metre time trial. She did it in style by setting a new Asian Games record.

Nervous before the race, she was all smiles afterwards. She has plenty of reasons to be happy - she will receive HK$400,000 as reward from the incentive scheme for her hard work. It is a great start to these 'civilised' Games for Hong Kong.

Unless I land the lottery, there is no hope of a windfall for me. It is too late in life to take up cycling. But still, I smile, thinking of the massage I will have later tonight. I hope the other media haven't discovered this haven.