Hong Kong (2)

It occured to me today that Sunday is not a good day to really see the consumerism capital of Asia. The British influence is still here in a couple ways, including 70% of shops being closed on Sundays. That being said, they still was a lot of frenized shoppers around. Early on in the day I ducked into a store and bought a shirt that was on sale just so that I could have a shopping bag to walk around with and feel a bit more in place. Being a backpacker in one of the nicest dressed cities in the world makes one feel a tad out of their element.

I also love subways, I realized today. They're wonderfully efficient. I found out today that I can get practically from the doorstep of Chungking Mansion to the Airport terminal althrough the subway. It made me very happy.

Also, Chungking Mansion is just the hellhole I was lead to believe it was. When telling people in Hanoi that I was going to stay in Chungking they all laughed and smiled and would say no more. It's packed with touts and little stalls trying to sell you something, and the rooms are arranged in the same manner that I imagine bees step up their hives. Every little corner has it's own hostel. My first room last night was an old converted bathroom, turned into a four bed dormitory. All the electrical wiring fixtures had been accomplished by masking type. The mattress was paper thin and the bathroom was absurdly tiny. I ran into a Quebecois there and he remarked what a nice place it was. I can only assume one of three things:

1. He's nuts.
2. The owner pays him to walk into crap rooms and make clearly ridiculous statements like this.
3. He's had a very sad and very poor quality life so far.

Today I switched into a different room. Equally tiny, but much nicer.

They picnic in Hong Kong. I'm not sure if people are aware of this. But they don't picnic in the park or in the wilderness, like normal people. They picnic in shopping malls and across from Cartier and Burberry stores. They lay down a blanket, get out their lunch, play cards, just all the normal things people do on picnics, but beside a parking meter and breathing in car fumes.

The guy beside me really needs to blow his nose.

Hong Kong really is kind of like Vancouver, just with more Asians.

Okay, the same number of Asians.

They have McDonalds here! It's one of those awful things from home you start to miss after a while. At least I do. I went today for a little bit of lunch. They don't really understand the tray system here. You finish your meal, you do to the garbage, dump it in, put the tray on top. As I watched everyone just left their tray on the table or put the fully loaded try right on top of the garbage. When I was done eating I very slowly and very deliberately went through the proper steps for the benefit of everyone watching. I like to think I've bettered Hong Kong a tiny bit.

I may never say this again, but thank God for British colonialism. After a month of trying to navigate streets named Hong Trang, Bang Lo, Sveet Chariot finding streets named things like "Pender", "Nathan" and "Hollywood" is a big relief.

I leave Hong Kong tomorrow. Right now I am off to a bar recommended by this guy Jimmy I met in Finnigans in Hanoi. I've been there before, and sure enough, random bar dudes really now the good places to drink.