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After you meet Bao Xishun,  you will never complain about flying economy again.
The world's tallest living man flew into town on Friday, and yes, the people who  invited him to  Hong Kong had him riding in the cheap seats.
Three of them.
And he still had to sit sideways.
But  he is not complaining. Discomfort is pretty much a way of life for the 2.36-metre,  58-year-old from Inner Mongolia, who was here to help raise funds for the Yan Oi Tong, a Hong Kong charity.
'You get used to things being the wrong size,' said Mr Bao, whose adolescent growth spurt did not end until he was 23.
'I've been this way for a long time now, so I don't really think about it. It's just a bit difficult having to get all my clothes custom-made.'
Mr Bao said  he has always been taller than everyone he  knows.
But he seems a very well-adjusted and calm  person and is an ideal position to help his young son come to terms with being gigantic - if that is how things turn out. 'Right now he is only three months old,' Mr Bao said,  flashing a  big grin, 'but he is as big as a one-year-old.'
Mr Bao  does not drive because 'I have not found a suitable car yet'. He normally has to sit sideways in the back seat. And he grew out of Mongolia's other main form of transport, the horse, when he was in his teens.
In fact,  he has grown out of most normal-sized things, including the mall where he performed yesterday alongside up-and-coming Canto-pop starlet Stephanie Cheng,  who, even in 7.6cm  stilettos, barely made it up to his waist.
Mr Bao, decked out in startling imperial robes, sang a couple of Mongolian folk songs for the crowds at Kowloon City Plaza.
And while the spectacle of a giant performing man in a fancy-dress costume  may have raised the spectre of Victorian circus sideshows, it  did not seem to  faze Mr Bao.
'I like doing these sorts of events if they can help out with making some money for charity,' he said.
It also meant he got to travel.
This was his first time to Hong Kong and he said he was enjoying it - immensely.
And the answer to the question everyone wants to ask is:
'Yes, I am normally proportioned.'
By way of illustration, he recounted how he had saved a dolphin's life back in 2006 by reaching all the way down its throat to its stomach  to remove some plastic it had mistakenly swallowed at an  aquarium on the mainland.
So he has a very long arm.



Tall tales and true as Mongolian man-mountain towers into town