Hong Kong

I got to Hong Kong several days ago, so there's a lot I've got to catch you up on.

I hopped on a plane on June 28th in Vegas (after a bittersweet weekend that didn't really help my enforced loneliness during the 15 hour flight over) and stepped off on June 30th considerably rumpled in spirit. My mood was not improved when I got my checked suitcase and one of the wheels was broken off. I hate checking bags. I do it once or twice a year and something bad always happens. In this case, the trusty hard-side I bought in London last summer to cart back all the crap I bought met its ignoble end on the other side of the world. I just bought its replacement today. I was happily able to peel off all the stickers I've covered the thing with over the past year, though (strangely) I felt like I was cheating in some way. The old bag earned those stickers, the new one didn't. Oh well. The old guy will hopefully end up in a good home after I leave it here in the hotel room Friday.

Anyway, about Hong Kong.... Not sure why, but I had this picture in my head of one huge cityscape when i thought of HK. It's kind of like when I thought of Norway before I went there I pictured Eskimos in igloos. Turns out they're actually 6-plus-foot tall viking descendants. HK actually is a handful of mountainous islands with thousands of huge high-rises crammed into the habitable areas of the islands. I cannot get over the high-rises. The millions of people piled on top of each other is mind-boggling!

Lugging my wounded - and very heavy - suitcase, I decided to give the subway system here a try. They use the Octopus card here to get around their MTR network. (London uses the Oyster card - who comes up with these names?) A taxi would've been a better alternative, but I have an aversion to taxis. The subway just seems more logical and predicable. As it turns out, I've gotten quite used to riding in taxis around here. This place probably has more cabs than New York City and they're cheap.

Which brings me to another interesting item - bring lots of cash!! Just about everything here - including the mass transit system and the taxi's - does not take credit cards. I'd say maybe 10-20% of the restaurants and shops take a credit card.

Alrighty, I know I'm just getting started, but my body's timer is telling me it's time for sleep, so I'll continue this later. Thanks for reading up on me!