Em.'s In & Outs

Here is a brief account of my first days in Hong Kong Beach, written as I am stuck inside on this day because of a typhoon! The flight, although 16h long, didn't feel like so long. Flying over Hong Kong was great; there are over 200 islands with nice hills, and many different kinds of boats (like in Battleship lol).

One thing that surprised me is the variety of transportation options! There are I think, 6 or 7 MTR (subway) lines, a fast train going to the New Territories (suburbs), minibuses, tramways, double-deckers buses, three colors of taxis, alouette! And most of the system works with a smart card, the Octopus Card, which charges you on transportation depending on the distance you travel. This is great! The subway is super clean (interdiction of eating and drinking in it!) and the platform has double doors to prevent people from jumping before the train - high suicide rates here I heard!

We spent most of my first day going around the city, on Hong Kong Island next to Causeway Bay, a very vibrant shopping district (one thing : there are as may shopping malls as residential buildings here, I swear!). We went to Holly's favorite shop, GOD, which is the coolest shop ever, it has tons of furniture with really cool designs. After that we took the minibus to Stanley Market, a touristy place with plenty of nice clothing and jewelry which falls out of my budget unfortunately... Oh well, then we spent most of the afternoon sun bathing and swimming in the ocean at Repulse Bay. It was very nice! Then even a yummy curry-coconut dish (my favorite) could not spare me from my jet lag, so it was it! A little bit of Cantonese soap opera and I was fast asleep.

I was very surprised at how efficient everything is here. The service in restaurants is very fast, and the roads are a human masterpiece; it takes plently engineering skills to design a road system for a 7 million people community surrounded by water and mountains! Everything is built vertically; there are layers and layers of stuff to look at (especially advertising, a thing at which Hong Kongers ace!). I have never seen so many air conditioning devices at once in my entire life. Although living in relatively small flats, people really know how to make the most out of the space they have, a lesson from which many of us could learn...

The second day was a bit different, as both Steph and her mom were off to work. From my part, I roamed around the Asian's New York (did you know Hong Kong had a ''Time Square'' and a ''World Trade Centre''?), mostly in Tsim Sha Tsui (TST), a neighbourhood located next to the main harbor. I feel in love with the Kowloon Park, with it's huge, colorful birds, fish and trees. It is very relaxing, and there is always a noise or a smell to stimulate one' senses! I walked around next to the sea where the most famous ferry is (the Star Ferry), and along the Star Avenue, a place where you can see the hand prints of such people as Jet Li and Jackie Chan! It was pretty enjoyable! I got some nice shots on the camera, and I was wanting to visit some museums but they were closed (on a Thursday! hummm).

At dinner time I met up with Chris, my friend's Holly's friend, with which I will be living starting tomorrow. He's super nice, and he has the nicest British accent (although we can't really understand each other too well lol) and he has the coolest job ever; teaching English to little babies! Anyways, he showed me around Wan Chai, a downtown area were lots of the foreigners live and hang out at night (it's closed to Central, the renowned club / pub place). After dinner we went to meet up two of his friends, Shaun and ?Raymond? for one of the most bizarre evenings I had in a long time. We were in this Italian bar with all male expats gathered to prepare the World Cup first day by, I swear, taking 10 rounds of a... Football Quiz! In a pub! If that's not culture shock, then I wonder what it is lol But is was fun.

All in all, things are good, I have yet to be enrolled in the Triads (local criminalized group) ah ah. :)