Hong Kong Phooey

After 19 days of mainland China, today was the day I packed up my suitcase and haul it through the Hong Kong double border again. I was excited to get a chance to really see Hong Kong. At noon, with 2 hours delay we finally set off and taxied to the Huang Gang border, the same one I fell asleep upon first entering the city. Taking a bus from there we got to see the Hong Kong harbor, a enormous and impressive industrial complex among the skyscrapers and green mountains. Hong Kong is a western city. It reminds me a lot of a combination of NYC's Chinatown and the glitzy glamorous stores of 5th avenue. Our accommodations were even sparse for NYC. In a busy Indian/African shopping mall we booked rooms the size of my closet in Brooklyn. Before arriving at the hotel, our elevator broke down and we had to wait 30 minutes for them to fix it. Interesting enough, during that time we saw a lot of people carrying out bricks and other demolished stuff from the other elevator. Dan was set on spending the night drinking at an Irish pub near the hotel. With one more night I china I had other plans. Hong Kong is dense and walk-able like NYC.

Desi and I took a tram to an observation point above HK which was disappointingly overly touristy although was fun to watch the Chinese tourists push people from other countries while trying to secure a seat. HK also has a wax museum which I despise. I hate wax museums. Walking around temple street during the night market was the most enjoyable part of the night. That and the intermittent luxury mall pit stops we occasionally made for air conditioning. I've never sweat so much in my life. Killing time in the cool, conditioned air we began to compile this list, it's a work in progress, So, things Chinese people like: spitting, surgical masks, paying for sex, squatting, sparkly lights, taking pictures, tissues, shrink wrap, splashing, saying nigga which means uh, staring at westerners, long male fingernails, standing on lines, racket sports, K TV, pushing, sliding doors, western culture, glasses without lenses, being polite, dogs, the term 3g which they put on everything, yelling on microphones at customers to buy things. Things Chinese people dislike: swimming, dancing, dairy products, temperature change, bird flu, speaking their mind, acting their age, copy writes and trademarks, hard alcohol, drying machines, refrigerating food.