Hong Kong International Airport's lesson in polite security

With the holiday rush for the Lunar New Year of the Snake beginning to gather steam, it is all too easy to remember the bewilderment of Antoine de Saint-Exupery's Little Prince at seeing one set of people rushing at top speed in one direction by express train while another lot hurtled in the opposite direction.

Trains, buses, cars, boats and aircraft are all clamouring for their right to despoil the environment in the annual rush to be followed shortly by the annual rush back to where they all started, an estimated 3.3 billion land trips in China alone, possibly 50 million air journeys.

"Were they not satisfied with where they were?" the Little Prince asked. It all makes sense for families that are separated most of the year by work, and for the transport companies that get to deploy their vehicles at close to maximum capacity and at high prices.

But it tests the fabric of the environment and of society, and China at least has not yet got to grips with the leading issues. If you seek a monument look around you, as was said about a much worthier contribution to the world than the fog and smog choking Beijing and blowing to disturb other parts of Asia.

At least in Hong Kong and in most of Asia the annual trek in search of new pastures is well organised and not marked by the shuffling long lines and undignified hassle called security checks that spoil any visit to the United States.

Too many people have their own personal stories of incompetence or harassment at the hands of the US Transportation Security Administration agents. Mine are just humdrum.

I had to undergo a pat-down when the supposedly all-seeing new body scanner failed to penetrate my Indian-made cotton shirt. My checked bags were searched by the TSA in Washington and again in San Francisco - they left billets-doux to say so - even though they were in transit in the care of the airline the whole time.