Travellers' Checks | Why was Einstein in Hong Kong the day he won the Nobel Prize?

Albert Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics on the same day that he first set foot in Hong Kong – November 9, 1922. “It is the prettiest landscape I’ve seen up to now on the entire voyage,” he wrote, after driving around Hong Kong Island and riding on the Peak Tram, oblivious to the honour. The following morning, he and his wife, Elsa, departed aboard the Kitano Maru, the cruise ship that was carrying them from France to Japan.

Einstein received the Nobel news by telegram, on his arrival in Shanghai three days later, and was sightseeing in Kyoto when the awards ceremony was held in Stockholm, Sweden, on December 10. After spending almost six weeks travelling around Japan, the Einsteins returned home along much the same route, briefly revisiting Shanghai, Hong Kong (“In hope of being left in peace for once, we secretly go ashore …”), Singapore and Colombo. They then toured the Holy Land and Spain.