What can I say? The last few days in Hong Kong I went out with the friends I had met here. Went to concerts and around town. Hong Kong felt so much like home, I somehow knew I would be going back. And so I have traveled to NYC to get my visa for China and to attend Tsinghua University, where I will take Mandarin classes there. (Posts forthcoming)

For now, here are some photos that capture the memories of the last few days in HK.

Random photos on a wall around Hung Hom, this captures everything about what is so perfect in Hong Kong culture.

A parade in Sham Shui Po

A view of Hong Kong from the bay in my neighborhood of Fortress Hill

A view of the outlying residential district of Chai Wan. (Not to be confused with Wan Chai)

Another view of Chai Wan.

Entrance to the bird market on the Kowloon side.

The bird market

Random, around Mong Kok I think.

This deity is a signal for a vegan restaurant. I am not sure of the exact history or details.

A roller coaster on the top floor of a mall in Mong Kok. The novelty had long been dispelled leaving the roller coaster vacant and closed.

An ice rink at the top of the same mall.

A look at the metro map. I look at the gray at the top left where the subway lines have not yet been connected. "That is Shenzhen" Kim says. "In 10 years they will connect the lines and the boarder between mainland China and Hong Kong will be open." I look at the map, and try to imagine what kind of world that would be like. Then I turn around, and breathe in Hong Kong once more...

Cool lanterns outside a restaurant in Wan Chai.

View inside the Hong Kong airport.

The mountains which surround the airport and photos of the planes...

A view of Kowloon Peninsula from Causeway Bay. People probably still live on those boats.

One of the 3 cultures which populated Hong Kong lived their whole life on boats.

Looking into Central from Causeway Bay

Breakdancing under the bridge on a Sunday at Causeway Bay

One Sundays all the house workers from the Philippines/Indonesia and elsewhere get the day off by work. They spend it by picnicking in Victoria park. Sitting on plastic sheets and eating packed lunches or fruit.

A photo of me at Kennedy Town, an outlying suburb of HK city, and the end of the tram line.

Paper clothes and other items to be burned at a funeral. The idea is that the material items go up in smoke with the spirits and give the dead a comfortable afterlife.

Kennedy town scene

Strange Fruit

The Bank of China tower which is the symbol of Hong Kong. It is free to go to the 43rd floor for the view.

A select view from the Bank of China tower

I love riding the trams, I am going to miss them!!!

A sunset at Causeway Bay. Just chill.

The Horse Races at Happy Valley

The race track. The whole area is full of expats. You hear thick British accents and occasional French way more than Chinese...

Rose Mansion at Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon.

Another view in the TST area of Kowloon. Kowloon is somewhat lower scale than the Hong Kong island side. It always feels good to get back to the island.

Odd steep staircase in the street where I live...

I don't remember where I got this shot at all. Possibly riding the top deck of a tram...

Free Friday arts show at the HK arts center. This whole event felt like something I would do at home. Low turnout, bad acoustics, and a general feeling of "meh'.

Tia Chi in the park. I went for two mornings. Javier, my classmate, has been going for weeks and is now adopted by the group. They gave him a fan. :)

Walking back to TST on the Kowloon side of the bay. The buildings are decked for Christmas.

Random show at a random bar below the Hopewell center. I was the only one in the audience. I requested "I will survive" and they played it quite well. Interesting accented version...though all the songs were in English...

Taking the Ferry to Kowloon. There is the HK Arts and Convention center in the far distance, and the Ferry Term directly in the near distance.

Yeah, almost the same photo...just the HK convention center there...

This is a shopping center in Kowloon as soon as you leave the Ferry. I forget the name of it. There are so so so many shopping centers in Hong Kong. It is huuuuuuuuuugeee. I can't describe it. Most people don't think HK is that big of a city, I guess it isn't, but it sure is compact. There is no way you could know where every store is. It is always changing. I see delivery people lost on the streets with maps asking for directions. Hong Kong is big. I don't care what people say!

Giant people, escalator. Sometimes art happens...

Kowloon is known for fakes. Fake Rolex's, fake Polo T-shirts, fake Prada, fake I-phones, Fake Air-walks, fake whatever... How do you know the Rolex's aren't fake? A guy with a gun guards them.

A bubble tea place. Bubble tea is oh sooo good. Particularly if you are shopping. Notice how overstaffed the place is. That is another thing I am going to miss. The overstaffing. Service is excellent, tips are non-existent.

Random view of Kowloon park. Largest walled park or sommat.

Display at the Health and Sanitation museum where I got a free packed which contained: alcohol hand sanitizer, baby wipes, and 5 of those face mask things people wear to defend against Swine flu..The Kowloon peninsula of HK is the most densely populated place on Earth, but if you want some alone time, just go to this museum, it is always empty.

Oh, hey, tenuous, solid, covert, duplicitous, profitable. ;)

Kowloon Park ready for the East Asia games which will launch this Saturday, the 5th.

Random furniture!

More randomness, cause that is a city...

This is how they sell aquarium fish. Though retail tends to spill out into the streets for every kind of item. Got to maximize the rent value. Ultimate business people. Please remember.

Some random game around Mong Kok.

The Temple of the "Temple Street" night market in Kowloon.

Closer view...

Christmas decor back around TST...

H1N1 prepared. Free face masks. (See museum post)

Ughhh, I should not have posted this one. Anyways, me being a cliche...

Kowloon Park, East Asia Games, etc...

Another view of Central from the Tram lines...did I mention missing the trams?

Some medicine thing... acupuncture...etc..

Some weird shop like two blocks down from where I live. Just look at those jeans!

Hanging out on the top floor terrace of Javier's plush apartment building. We drink tea, eat 99% cocoa chocolates, talk about our past and futures, soak in the view. This is the city life.

View from the terrace.

Mercedes in Wan Chai. Javier's neighborhood, and my second neighborhood/hang out.

That is it for now.

The top floor of the wet market, where there are always restaurants...this is like a food court in a mall....

View of the market

Fresh fish, their hearts were still beating.

Frogs

Cuttlefish

More seafood

Tofu and bean sprouts

und Camera parts

After parting with Kim, the next day I went to IFC in central Hong Kong, on the Hong Kong island part. Or the "Manhattan" part if you will, where I live. :p

Like a bridge over city rooaddds

Security guard?

Pabst Blue Ribbon with Chinese characters leaning against oranges. Perfect. By the way, the oranges in the wet market were from Florida! I recognized the PLU and everything!

Back on the Kowloon side, in Kowloon Tong. Here is a 4 story Christmas tree. No really, check out the escalators in the background...

Around Kowloon Town. A peaceful mountain "college" part of the city.

Pond/Park

There University of Hong Kong where I will apply to attend shortly.

Around Mong Kok in Kowloon

Near Sham Shui Po in Kowloon

They make medicinal teas here for cough and cold, constipation, acne, and other things I forget.

Victoria Park again with the city buildings watching it.

The My Little Airport Show!
The show was great. Everyone was low key, sitting around drinking green tea. Good scene. Here is a photo of the stage with Nicole and AhP singing.

Ray, who met me at the metro, guided me to the show, translated the Cantonese between songs, and was generally awesome.

My photo with AhP and Nicole of My Little Airport.

In any case, Judith had it in mind to see most of the major sites of Hong Kong within the space of a weekend, and didn't mind having company. Pushing back the hazy feeling that 13 hours of jet-lag can create I was happy to tag along with Julia for a tour that included:

1. Going to Launtau island and riding a tram up to see a giant statue of Buhdda.
2. Running to see the nightly light show along the water.
3. Catching another tram to the peak to see a birds eye view of the city.
4. Catching a ferry to Macau island to see the Portuguese ruins, try a bunch of snacks, and see the Las Vegas style casinos (plus leave $5 HKD richer)
5. Going to Lan Kwai Fong in Hong Kong to streets full of expats and bars
6. Being the only white people eating traditional dim sum on a Sunday morning
7. Going to Stanely on the opposite side of Hong Kong island to walk the tourist shops, listen to an acapella group sing Puccini, and take a coffee.

Here are the photos:

Before Buddha buy Hello Kitty Paper Towel...

View from the tram on the way to Buddha...

Ohhhhhhmmmmmmm.........

I felt 57% more enlightened:

Statues give offerings to Buddha...

Buddha's view...

Meine Freundes Alice und Judith:

Prayers at the temple:

Und das temple:

Snap shot of the light show, which is hosted by the sky scrapers in the area...

View from the peak: The "Postcard" photo...

Macau Island from the Ferry:

Street of Macau, packed with people and with vendors giving samples:

The ruins of Sao Paolo, an artifact of Macau's Portuguese past...

Taking a photo from the floor...whaaaat???

The butter crumble cookies they make there...

Sample?

Happy cakes...

Macau is "little Vegas"?

Not so grand actually...

Judith pointing out the holiday decorations of the snowy weather Macau will never see...

On the way to Stanley:

View of Stanley Plaza...

A mangrove tree...yes...

vaser es schoone.

After all this I say bye to Judith and wonder how she managed to create the job she did in Beijing at the age of 22, and I also wonder how she had the gusto and the togetherness to plan such a weekend...Maybe it is because she is living in Beijing, a place renowned to be bustling and active and accomplishing things at an unprecedented rate? Your environment affects you deeply, make no mistake. Or maybe Judith is a driven person who wants to get the most out of life, and travel surely does it.

Now I feel like I have covered most of the sites of Hong Kong, and I am willing to let any more of them come as they may, while I try to get to know the little neighborhood where I find myself and all the people in it, and if they will laugh a little less as I learn to speak Chinese. :)

Sure enough, a man (mid 50s / Asian) comes over and starts shaking his head as I am exchanging travelers cheques. He is wearing one of those fly-tackle fishing jackets with 20 pockets on the front. He comes over to talk to me and tell me what a bad deal I got exchanging my 40 U.S. dollars and how much better the rate will be at Hong Kong banks.

It is a good thing though because the advice starts:

"Don't go to ATM, OK? ---- Service fees"
"If you go into a shop and the person is wearing better clothes than you, don't buy there. OK? It is for tourists. Bum around see this watch?"

He shows me a flashy watch with a silver band and 3 clock counters on it.

"How much? How much you think?"
"I don't know, $15 dollars maybe"
"2 dollars, 2 dollars U.S., have fun, find deals"
I make an impressed face, but I am not really blown away or anything.

I guess I could buy hot property in HK, why not? Someone is going to do it...or then again, maybe not...

As the conversation progresses to things to do in HK in general I take out my guidebook and point out how it is from the library. We are having a frugal off. He brushes it off as mere common sense. In my experience there are two kinds of people when it comes to money. Those who find pleasure in spending it, and those who find pleasure in accumulating it. The extreme people in this latter group take frugality to another level, it is a passtime, a sport. I am probably one of them.
Anyway, my new friend introduces himself and promises to guide me through the airport in Hong Kong and so he does. He introduces himself, his name is Kim.

In between we fly over Alaska and the North of Russia to go south to Hong Kong. We do this because with globes a straight line isn't the shortest distance between two points, and it is better to go to the north pole where there is a much shorter distance to go around the world. And so we fly over ice. It is crystal clear and I take many photos. The sun sets and an hour later rises again. People close the shutters in the aeroplane. Below is ice, below is the border between America and Russia, but there are no people down there, no signs of life, or politics, and therefore no war or struggle or conflict. Just ice, lots and lots of it, and snow, and how the wind had combed it, and the sun hits it in patches.

Landing in Hong Kong is great. The climate is humid and warm and pleasant. The people are pleasant, trim, fashionable, and internationals. A French girl sees my backpack and comes to give me a day pass on the underground that she couldn't use, she is on her way out. Kim leaves me at the buses with his email, and I have a friend in Hong Kong. Things are off to a great start. I ride a double decker bus on the top and take videos going in to the city. I miss my stop, and have to walk to find my hostel. On the way I buy a tooth brush, and tooth paste, and ice-green tea, and a persimmon. I find the hostel, but they are overbooked, and so we go to the dorm room and clear out backpacks and laundry from the floor, and lay down a mattress, and put sheets on it, and soon, I will go pass out there. The clock is 13 hours ahead here and if I wake up early from jet lag I will try find some people practicing Tai Chi in the park that Kim told me about...

Photos:
The Chicago Airport, which doubles as a disco from 1-5 a.m. weeknights..

A photo of a plane for my nephews...

A circle rainbow type thing? I think, anyone know? (It is under the wing...)

Ice over Alaska / Canada (This was sunset)

Snow covered mountains on the Russian side...(This was the sunrise an hour later)

Hong Kong Airport and a photo of Cathay Pacific official airline of HK...