Ed Gargan, Hong Kong bureau chief, The New York Times Age: 45. Career path: I was born in Boston and grew up in the United States, France, Italy and Europe. I went to a Catholic High School in Massachusetts and hated it so much I dropped out. Later, I did a Bachelor of Arts and then a Masters degree in Chinese History and Languages at the University of Wisconsin. After that I did a PhD in Medieval Chinese History at the University of California, Berkeley. It occurred to me that there weren't too many jobs for historians specialising in Medieval Chinese history, so I sent a letter to The New York Times in which I admitted to not knowing 'a bean' about journalism. I was hired. At The New York Times I won the prestigious Council of Foreign Relation's Edward R. Murrow Fellowship and during my fellowship wrote a book on China. I have been a correspondent since then and have lived and worked in China, New Delhi, Kabul and even Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War. I will be in Hong Kong for about three years covering the handover and the rest of Southeast Asia. Ed's day: The beauty of this job is that there is no regular day. If I'm not travelling, I get up before 7 am, listen to Southeast Asia Today on the BBC World Service to see what's tickling them, then I check my e-mail. I then do the eight-kilometre Bowen Road run, which is just down the road from me. When I come back, I have orange juice and cereal on the balcony and then settle down with newspapers from around the region and the espresso I make in an industrial-sized machine. Then I start talking to people on my mobile and getting organised. I try to never do interviews before 10 am because of all the reading I have to do. I'm out interviewing most of the morning, and at least three times a week I have a business lunch. In the afternoons, I start writing and filing my stuff. There isn't a lot of daily breaking news, but if there is I write late at night, or however long it takes. I'm out of Hong Kong at least two weeks a month - I travel all over the region. If a big story breaks in the area, I drop everything and go. I've chosen not to have live-in help and so I eat out every night, sometimes with friends and sometimes with contacts. What freaks me out is how early restaurants close in Hong Kong. If I had my way I would never go out to eat before 9 pm, but here you can't do that! I love Asian food, but I wish Hong Kong had some decent French restaurants. Salary: Commensurate with the rent paid by the company for a 3,000-square-foot Mid-Levels apartment. Ambition: To write more books, fiction and non-fiction. I don't care if they're not best-sellers as long as I think they're good. Jill Triptree, editor, Hong Kong Tatler Age: 38. Career path: I was born in Britain and went to university in Sussex where I did a degree in American Studies. After I graduated, I came to Hong Kong with a friend. That was 16 years ago. My first job was with a magazine called Style, which has since closed. I worked there as assistant editor for two and a half years and then got a job at the Hong Kong Standard as a writer and sub-editor. When I left four years later, I was the deputy features editor. In 1990, I joined Hong Kong Tatler as deputy editor and took over as editor of the magazine in 1992. I am married and have no children. Jill's day: I am responsible for the magazine from start to finish. I decide with my team what goes into the magazine, I commission and assign stories, oversee production and obviously check each story at various stages. We have a small team; myself, a social editor and two assistant editors. The magazine is a team effort and requires a lot of hard work on everyone's part. I also work with a lot of freelancers in Hong Kong who write regular columns, but also with journalists from around the world who submit features and travel stories. We have around 100 editorial pages every month, which is a lot of words to process and I need to see and be familiar with every story. There is a certain amount of socialising in this job; it's quite enjoyable after a long day at the office to get out for dinner or lunch, a fashion show, launch of a new product or whatever. Meeting people is vital as it helps me keep my finger on the pulse of what's happening here. I really gave up writing 10 years ago and I think my job now suits me better because I like being involved in management and with the overall task of putting out a good and professional magazine. As a writer, you tend not to see the bigger picture. There is some stress involved in this job, but not as much as with a weekly or a daily publication because there is so much more time to perfect stories and hopefully eliminate mistakes. The first six months of this year have been hectic because of our 20th anniversary issue in March and we have been planning our best-ever issue to commemorate the handover in June. Pre-handover, I am also being interviewed a lot by international journalists about the changing scene here. I fell into journalism by chance, but I do like it. There have been times when I may have considered a change, but I decided to stay where I am because of the handover. I guess I'm something of a perfectionist and being an editor who is responsible for detail satisfies this part of my nature. In the evenings and on weekends I play football, not as seriously as when I used to be paid for it as a member of the Hong Kong Ladies Team, but for fun. Salary: $50,000 a month. Ambition: I have no plans to return to Britain, Hong Kong is my home. I speak Cantonese and will stay here and further my career.