Just noodling around here at the Hong Kong airport. I got here 5 hours early, can you believe it? The supposed (free) wi-fi connection isn’t working, of course. Jeez, such a drag that wi-fi can be so sketchy. At the last hotel, it only worked in the lobby; in the previous hotel it was like $18 per day. So I’ll send this off whenever. Having a pint of Murphy’s Irish stout and an excellent corned beef sandwich. This airport is really nice. The building is nicely designed and beautifully put together and there are a ton of restaurants.
Took the bus to the airport and was it an eye-opener. My other trips to and fro have been on the train. The “Whapoa” district was so different from anything I’ve seen of HK. Sparkling, new, trendy. We pulled up to the Harbor Grand Hotel in Kowloon. Wow! I’ve never seen anything this posh. Looks like one of the $1600 per night jobs. Like another planet, so different from the somewhat grotty but characterful and of-the-people Mongkok area where I was staying. For the super rich. Two other reasons I recommend you come into HK on a bus from airport, not the train:
1. There is mile-after-mile of like 60-story newish apartment buildings, glittery and spiffy. The extent of these is awesome. Hard to believe.
2. The HK docks are awesome. Like 1000 times as big as any ports I’ve seen. 10s of 1000s of containers stacked 10-15 high Huge cranes. This must be where practically all of China’s goods are shipped from. A number of bridges, one of them a beauty with spider-webby cables in diamond patterns supporting the 4 or so towers. Like yet another planet. The world is such a big place and it’s changing so rapidly, I feel like a hick from a small town gawking.
There’s a pretty good jazz trio playing here at the bar, they just did a great version of Five Foot Two…
…There’s a juice stand in one of the busiest parts of the city that is 24 sq. ft. The rent? $30,000 per month…The night after I stayed at the printers’ plant, I couldn’t find a hotel room on the internet to save my soul, other than ones for $400, $600 a night. Trevor, a HK native, has a group of about 100 friends that are connected by an app called Whatsapp, so he put out a message. He got about 10 replies and I found a room…Sign on a bus: “No matter how far you go, remember where you are from.” This could refer not only to geographical, but occupational…Hong Kong is vertical; they have just filled in a big section of the bay down by the convention center for more high-rises…The 3 most expensive cities in the world for real estate and rentals are London, Tokyo, and HK; a 1000 sq. ft. condo here is like $800,000…Food is actually cheap if you eat at local restaurants; just had excellent sushi meal for $15.00; dinner last night (slices of smoked duck in broth with rice noodles for breakfast, was $7…weather in summer here is hot and humid, but unlike Rome (“Dog Days”), the city stays as crowded as ever…Streets are actually pretty clean, although there are sewer smells; the city is growing too fast…There are tons of shoe stores; been wearing my Sanuk surfer shoes the entire trip…What they call “hot coffee,” or HK coffee is strong dark coffee with canned milk, v. good…Yesterday I had soup with noodles and slices of abalone…I’ve got the subway figured out; you buy a card that you swipe upon entering — when you exit, you swipe again and it knows how far you’ve gone and deducts appropriate amount; subway system is brilliant: clean, trains run frequently (every minute at rush hours), are clean, air conditioned. I got so I felt pretty clever making my way around…Had glass of iced coconut juice yesterday while roaming…
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In contrast to the two luxury hotels I’ve been in, here’s my simple room for tonight. It’s a matter of location, location. Just up the hill from the teeming Mong Kok district, where I went today with Trevor and his friend. To tell the truth, I’m happier in a simple room like this. Feels better. Can open the windows. This is my last night. I’ve got a ton of photos and experiences, maybe I can get some posts done when I’m waiting for my (1AM) flight tomorrow night. It’s 9 and am heading out to eat and be dazzled by sights, sounds, smells, and people. Going to try out my new 1.7 f-stop Panasonic Lumix (G1) lens; everything so far shot with Canon Powershot S95 pocket camera. Is this an exciting city!
Going to be skipping around in time a bit here.
Impossible to find hotel in city, so ended up way out here at this “resort hotel” last night. Man! For someone living in a house built of recycled lumber, pretty exotic, eh? Been eating in restaurants where nary a gringo (farang) in sight. That’s the way I like it. Abalone soup for breakfast this morning. Hot pot lamb and spring rolls for dinner last night, along with v. high alcoholic Chinese beer. Wandering around in shiny mall-land this morning, these two very polite, very skinny boys said, Sir, can we take picture with phone? Guess I look pretty different in this locale. Tons of stuff to report, will do so when there’s time. Adventures every minute…
This in a section of Hong Kong built over the water. Don’t know what he’d do if he got a big one. I have a lot of stuff to post from the trip, will do so soon. (Book printing is done!) Stayed last night in a big hotel way out on the outskirts of HK, going to walk out to check nearby wetlands area now.
