I wrote something about this back in August, when I was in Beijing.

If anything, my infrastructure envy has gotten even keener.

Why do we have to come to Asia to find new, clean, big, efficient, attractive, innovative public works?

Talking about airports, ports, mass transit, bridges, tunnels, escalators, people-movers, underground parking, public buildings.

In the States, we think we have the best of all this.

But every visit I have made to Asia, and this is my fifth (two to China, two to Korea,  one to Japan) … reminds me that our “stuff” is old, crumbling and ugly, and getting moreso by the day.

When are we going to do something about this?

Maybe we need to get some big chunk of the American electorate to travel to, say, Hong Kong. Or Beijing or Singapore or Shanghai, Seoul or Tokyo. To see what new, modern and efficient looks like.

It looks like anything but L.A. International Airport. It looks nothing like the SoCal freeway grid. It absolutely is not the creaky and dangerous and not particularly useful MetroRail.

The stuff we use every day is embarrassingly old and out of date.

I believe most Americans go abroad figuring the rest of the world is “behind” us.

Well, that is true, here and there. In Africa, maybe. Perhaps Central America.

But not elsewhere. Not in huge swaths of the Far East,  or Middle East or Europe.

I am embarrassed, no question, at the thought of Hongkongers getting off a plane at LAX and seeing that mess that is our immigration and customs system. Buildings falling down, torn up, remodeling forever.

And then some ugly trip onto the 405 freeway, crawling along. Or perhaps riding in a dirty and expensive taxi. Or a bus that probably is creepy and takes you not much of anywhere.

I just came back from the Hong Kong airport which (I am convinced) is the inspiration for Beijing’s new,  marvelous airport.

We got there by taking a $5 cab ride to the Hong Kong station, where Leah could check her bags for a Cathay Pacific flight — and it took five minutes. Total.

Then there was a 50-yard walk to the Airport Express, a wide, big, clean, gleaming train that goes from Central to the airport in 25 minutes (at a cost of about $13), and that includes three stops. A train with big, comfortable seats, well-lit, climate-controlled and boasting an in-train television system with a combination of advertising and entertainment.

And then you walk out into an airport that is as big and cutting edge as Dallas-Fort Worth was — 30 years ago. With all sorts of stores and restaurants and amenities. Clearly labeled and marked, easy to navigate. All in one spot. Not in 6-7 segmented terminals, like at LAX.

Just so much better than LAX or 90 percent of any other U.S. airport that it’s just laughable.

We need to improve all our infrastructure if we want to keep competing — let alone get people to come visit our overpriced and rundown “attractions” — Hollywood, Disneyland, Venice Beach, whatever else we might possibly have that any of the major and modern Asian cities do not.

We need an offshore airport. (Hong Kong’s is built on reclaimed land on Lantau Island, a few miles from HK Island.) Reachable by rail. With remote bag-checking areas. Well, any of that … it’s just not anywhere close to happening.

It’s not just Los Angeles, of course, that is behind. It’s every big city in the United States, really. On the West Coast, our infrastructure is mostly mid-20th century. In the east, it’s even older.

What have we been spending our money on? Wars. Military expenditures.  Gasoline. Jobs for life for government workers. Lawyers,  bankers, hedge-fund managers. Consumer goods. While the basics of living crumbled around us.

We need to invest in the country, the state, the city. Coming to Asia has made this oh, so clear to me. We are behind the times,  and falling further behind every day.