I moved from the guesthouse that I was in to a hostel across the harbor this afternoon. It didn’t take that much time but it did happen in such a way as to make it difficult to do anything big today. That’s okay though because the only big thing that I need to do is go to Macau and I think I’ll do that tomorrow, that freed me to wander the business part of Hong Kong.

My idea was I was going to wander myself back to the other place I was staying. The reasoning was that I couldn’t get lost because I was familiar with the one part. So for about four hours I just walked along getting a feel for Hong Kong in general. I know I’ve made comments about the amount of people, and I stand by them, there are too many people here. What I haven’t said though is I’m starting to understand their culture, the way they interact with each other, and how they deal with the lack of space. To give you an example of what I mean about “space,” I don’t think that I’ve been anywhere to eat since I’ve been here that I’ve had a full table to myself. The thing is, is it’s like being in an elevator, you don’t talk to them, they don’t talk to you, it almost seems normal to me. There are other examples but I think that one give an idea of how they have adapted to the huge number of people here.

One other thing that I told my self that I wanted to remember was that I think this is the first time I’ve ever been somewhere where I wasn’t the fastest walker around. Seriously, if there is one thing that everybody I know makes fun of me for is how fast I walk. This evening though I noticed a little girl (as in short girl) staying up with me, and at the same time a guy passed me. Now you have to understand that just doesn’t happen to me, but since I’ve been here it happens quite a bit. I have occasionally been passed when I’m tired or carrying a heavy backpack, but in all the situations that I’m thinking since I’ve been here I have been walking my normal speed. That may also explain why I see very few obese Chinese here.

I don’t remember the last entry I made but I think it was yesterday morning. I guess, if I wasn’t so lazy I could go look, no it doesn’t really matter. Anyway it’s been at least a day since my last entry and I don’t really have much to talk about. I decided yesterday to head to the far side of the harbor to maybe take a tour, but that fell kind of flat. I ended up back in my hotel at about 9 and watched movies until about 2 in the morning…

The idea was to get the day photos of the buildings that I saw during the evening the night before. Good plan. Afterwards I would cross over and take photos on the other side, maybe go up the tram to get some photos from point overlooking the city. I also decided that it was too hot and humid for me to walk like I usually do so I had planned on taking one of the double-decker bus tours around the city. Unfortunately the one that I wanted was extremely expensive to me, and I took a tour with one of their competitors. The price on the side of the bus said, $50 so I had my money ready as I boarded, the driver told me that he didn’t have change and waved me to move on. I went to the top deck wondering what just happened, but kind of feeling like I just scored “the golden ring.” The total tour took about 20 minutes as it went 10 minutes into the city and 10 minutes back to the boat terminal. What a waste of money… umm, wait.

There was a though that I’d just pay the money and go with the other bus tour but at the last minute I decided to go back to the hotel. It was about a two-hour walk back and with the heat I was starting to get tired and a little bit irritable.  Have I mentioned that there are a lot of people in Hong Kong? I mean seriously, there are more people here than I think I’ve seen in any other place, even more than in Beijing. There are so many people walking around that I figure for every ten steps I take going forward, I take ten steps trying to avoid or get around someone else.

Last night I mustered up all the strength I had and headed out to see Hong Kong harbor at night. I don’t know if that’s what it is called, in fact I don’t think it is because I was corrected by some locals when I asked for directions. Nevertheless I found the “harbor” and it was very impressive, just like in the movies. There is a light show that is called, “Symphony of Light” that is put on every night. During the show all the major building’s lights sync up with music being played. It wasn’t that impressive, but it was interesting.

Today I’m going back to the harbor to get some day shots and maybe take a boat tour. I don’t know though and about all I can say is that I’ll be walking around.

I had written a somewhat long entry about getting food poisoning on Monday night, and not only being physically sick I had a night-long nightmare that really messed up my mind. It was a very bad night but I don’t think it’s that important to add to the blog. I did when I woke up mainly because I think I was still in shock on how stressful the incident was to me. The illness is gone and except for yesterday being very tired and unable to eat solid food I think I’m one hundred percent today.

I headed out from the hotel about 7 this morning thinking I’d find a Starbucks and for the next 3 and half hours I wandered around with no luck. I did eventually find one and it is in fact where I’m writing this entry from, but I’m tired now and I think I’m going to head back to my hotel room and take a nap.

I can’t seem to find the words and I’m not sure that photos I took will describe the “shock and awe” that I had when I showed up this afternoon. I will say that Hong Kong is what I think my “touristy” side needed after the Philippines. It’s just the first day, but I’ve been pretty much just stunned by the area that my guesthouse is in. It’s a shopping district and it appears to be a tourist area if the number of westerners I’ve seen walking around is any indication.

Hmm, I think the amount of people is what first stunned me when I got off the airport bus. There were people everywhere I looked, they were shopping, walking, waiting, and doing nearly anything else you can think of. Then I think I was amazed by the “organized chaos” all around me. It seemed chaotic to me, but everyone else had no problems doing whatever they wanted to do or go wherever they wanted to go. I’ve noticed that the people here seem to take crowds in stride something that I would have a hard time with. It’s like Christmas shopping in a mall 365 days a year, shoulder to shoulder wherever you go.

Everything from leaving Manila this morning to arriving at my hotel/guesthouse here in Hong Kong went very smoothly. So smoothly that I don’t even have anything to say about it. I guess I could say that it was raining again in Manila so I’m glad that I was getting out. The experience of getting from the airport in Hong Kong to the city was pretty cool as well. I’d seen the buildings that we passed so many times that I felt that I had been here before. The same thing kind of happened at night when all the neon lights came on. There was something about it that seemed familiar to me.

On a sadder note, I’ve lost the “celebrity” status that I had in the Philippines. Where it seemed the Filippino’s just liked me for being an American/Westerner the residents of Hong Kong I don’t think even see me. I guess I should just be happy that I got to experience the feeling of being so welcomed as the Filippino people welcomed me.