Masses. Of buildings. Of people. Of malls. Of restaurants. Hong Kong is a lot to take in but amazing. It’s frustrating not knowing the language but most people know at least a little English (I’m looking into Cantonese lessons). While Danielle goes to work each day I find a coffee shop to work on my thesis project and when I’m tired of doing that I’ll run errands. It’s pretty easy to get around once you get over yourself and try. The tram is pretty cool and I think my favorite. Danielle would tell me stories of little old ladies who would elbow their way onto it during rush hour. I had a hard time understanding why they would do it and thought she might be exaggerating. Nope. I was waiting for the tram today, there was one person in front of me. All of sudden this little old woman comes rushing up, gets in front of the guy in front of him using her elbow as a shoehorn to wedge herself in front of him. She scrambles up the steps at (elderly) breakneck speed while the guy looks on with partial annoyance but acceptance of defeat. The train is a little nutty, the escalators are faster than in the US and they are deep underground and many times have to ride 3 or 4 of them to finally get to the train platform.
Walking around Hong Kong is kind of interesting. The sidewalks are narrow for the amount of people that travel on them. The people here stroll, or text, or just meander as they walk not really paying attention. That’s also due to the stores and booths that are everywhere selling things from food to electronics. And speaking of, shopping…there literally are malls everywhere tucked inside office buildings but then again, everything is here.
A few days ago we went on a junk boat trip to a beach on a nearby island. The boats are sort of a modern version of those old rickety wooden asian sail boats. It was a blast but the seas were a little rough and it was cloudy, and I forgot my camera (blame it on the jetlag!).
Danielle took me over to Kowloon which is just across the water on the mainland but still part of the Special Administrative Region that is run separately by the Chinese government. We went up to a rooftop bar which had a spectacular view of Hong Kong. Then we took a ferry back over to the Mid-levels where we rode an outdoor escalator for a few blocks (very Jetsons but uphill and really muggy out, not like in space) to a restaurant for dinner. The restaurant was great, it’s the same area where all the expats hang out so it was full of Irish bars. Needless to say, we didn’t stay in the neighborhood.