The sleepy Scottish backwater of Auchterarder is a world away from Hong Kong. Nestled in the Perthshire countryside, air pollution is unheard of, the tallest building in town is a modest church and even the local Chinese takeaway owes more to Scotland than Sheung Wan, with fish and chips high up on the menu.
But like Hong Kong, it is about to be thrust into the limelight by a gathering of world leaders.
The G8 circus coming to town next month promised a little excitement for the locals and a lot of cash for businesses lining the main street, thanks to Auchterarder's proximity to the summit venue, the Gleneagles Hotel.
All that changed last week when aid activist Sir Bob Geldof sent out his call to protesters from around the globe to converge on Scotland and pressure the leaders of the eight richest nations to do more to alleviate suffering among the world's poor.
Sir Bob, hard on the heels of announcing a series of 'Live 8' concerts to be held around the world on July 2, urged a million anti-poverty demonstrators to join a 'long walk to justice' to Edinburgh, the nearest major city to Gleneagles, in time for the July 6 start of the summit.
'If we can turn up the heat on Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Canada, the US, Britain and Russia, just possibly we can reach down the ladder and say [to the poorer nations], 'Come on, we'll give you a hand up',' Sir Bob said.
