Hong Kong - Day 2

I'm exhausted. My feet are throbbing. I'm tired. I just want to go to my room and eat my pocky while reading a book, listening to some of my music and sipping on my orange Fanta.

Yep. That's about as social as I'm feeling right now.

Today was insane. I didn't realize exactly what I had done until I started writing it down on a piece of paper.

It all started at about 5am when I woke up after sleeping 10 hours straight. When's the last time that happened?! Anyway, it was 5am and there was no way I was going back to sleep. I looked out the window and there was no sign of light so I just started reading my guidebook trying to decide on what I'd do today. (I fell asleep at about 7pm last night reading it and slept through the night so didn't have much of a chance to plan anything.)

I decided to hit up Victoria Peak first thing this morning - they open the tram at 7am. I made my way over, the streets were eerily quiet and the MTR was deserted (I have a picture of the empty train I was in - unfortunately I can't quite deal with pictures yet - I need to find an internet cafe and have only seen two so far - both in Kowloon). The Peak tram was pretty ... um... lame to be honest but the views would be quite impressive if it were clear - it's been pretty hazy since I first got here. I walked around up top for a bit and then decided to walk back down. There's a really nice path down the side of the mountain so off I went. At this point it was just before 8am, there were still very few people out - mostly just women walking their dogs and doing their morning exercises.

Honestly, I started writing this thinking I would write about everything I did but it's going to take me forever! I don't have the energy for it right now! So let's go for point form:
- took the mid-level escalator down part of the hill
- stumbled upon Graham Street which was very interesting
- Went to Man Mo temple
- Took the MTR over to Victoria Park to see people doing their morning Tai Chi (this is still before 9am!)
- Visited Tin Hau Temple (near Victoria park - not to be confused with the one in Kowloon)
- Went up to the observation deck in the Bank of China Tower - again, it was hazy so the view wasn't very impressive but at least it was interesting and gave me an idea of what Kowloon looks like from Hong Kong Island.
- Made my way to SOHO for lunch and ate at this little organic place called Life (it made me think of Fresh in Toronto).
- I was so intrigued by Graham street that I just had to go back! So I went back before heading to the hotel to drop off some stuff.
- Took the Star Ferry over to Kowloon and walked up Nathan Road to Mong Kok for some shopping.
- Came back to the hotel to change and sit back and relax for an hour or so and then went out to dinner.
- Had dumplings at this weird little place where the owner served me and was really excited about having me try this dish of his. It was pretty good but now I have severe garlic breath and can't help but think that I ate a whole lot of some sort of oil... so much for eating a healthy lunch! The dumplings were good though. And it was nice to get personal attention from the owner.
- Came back to my hotel room unsure of what to do next... do I go out or do I stay in or do I go somewhere else? I started thinking about the next 2 days and decided that tonight would be the best night to hit the Temple Night market.
- The temple night market wasn't what I expected so I walked back down Nathan road to the Star Ferry and though it's more hazy than ever took it back across (it's super cheap and more interesting than the MTR.)


*deep breath* wow. I'm glad I didn't go into the details of it all...
I'm back at the hotel now.

So far... I've realized that 1) if you speak English you're set! 2) People are really friendly here 3) My concerns about the clothing thing (coats / jackets / sweaters / etc in hot muggy weather) is starting to seem normal to me and when someone isn't wearing something 'appropriate' I notice it... (it's strange to explain this). 4) I've figured out my hair dilemmas can be temporarily solved by a hair dryer and lots of water. 5) when it's busy it's busy. This afternoon was pretty intense and by about 4:30, after fighting my way through street markets and people shopping in Mong Kok I was done - and I still had to deal with the MTR.

Anyway... It seemed like I had so much more to tell when I was thinking about posting this earlier... I'm going to have to start writing things down as I go because I can remember things quite clearly in terms of where I went and what I saw but there's just so much more happening that I've been experiencing but I just can't seem to put it all into words right now. I'm also realizing that there's no point in running all over the place like I am right now. It's very tiring... and now I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do tomorrow. I still want to go out to the New Territories and have been thinking about going over to Macau... We'll see.

I've been shopping around for some deals and haven't bought anything yet. I'm actually starting to think that I won't buy anything here other than maybe memory for my camera. Which is good. I shouldn't be spending money on things I don't really need.

The box of Pocky upstairs is calling my name. I'm going to sign off for now and hope that my next post is less of a play-by-play of my day and something a little more... meaningful...