SITTING at the Sheraton's Great Wall Bar last night indulging in social intercourse, we spotted the illustrious American travel writer Paul Theroux, taking a respite from his incessant travels.

Mr Theroux, we discovered, is in town briefly to meet a deadline for ''a 10,000-word article on the human side of prosperity in Southern China and Hongkong'' for Harper's magazine. No doubt by now he's hammering away furiously at his laptop.