Here I am, first time in Asia. And while I want to do some real storytelling in follow up chapters, this post is more about simple gut reactions from the first 5 hours. Nothing to do with the flight or anything, but just a free flow of thoughts that went through my mind as I took my first lap around the city.
Some Preludes:
1) Airport: Longer story here about my missing bag, but I spent about 90 minutes in the airport, and hoenstly, it didn’t feel like Asia. There were no lines, no crowds and no mess. And all the signs are in English. It could have been LAX, except it was more organized.
2) I step right out from the airport to the train that takes you straight downtown. $12 from airport to cit center in 25 minutes. Most disappointing thing – the trains have these neat tv screens and speakers in each head rest, so you can choose to listen or not to the program. Initially, very cool, but they had about 2 minutes of content, then kept re-running the same ad and opening promo overand over and over. What a waste of space.
3) But as soon as that train leaves the station, man, the 80 story apartment towers are in full sight. I expected this from pictures, but I think I expected them to be nicer. Goeroge and Wheezy wouldn’t live in most of these, even on the top floor. It much just be because we are out of the island and in a poorer area.
4) Land in the Central District and I can tell from the inside that it’s chaos on the outside. My plan was to hop on the subway to get to my hotel, but the prospect of lugging this thing through people is too intimidating. An $8 cab ride has my name all over it. In a rare moment of genius, I have already printed out a map with where my hotel is, which I can show the cabbie. It’s a eerie quiet cab ride as I gawk at the chaos around me as we zip down the road toward my hotel. I have lots to ask, but I can’t flip through my Mandarin phrasebook fast enough to get say anything. And even if I did, how would I know what he was saying back? Only when I get out of the cab does he give any indication that he actually knows English. Jerk.
5) Ok, I’m checked in to the smallest room that isn’t on a train. Plus – we have a awesome view of the harbor, so no compaints. Vittorio doesn’t get in until later, so I have some time to kill.
6) The subway basicall runs underneath my hotel – very convenient. I hop on and head back to the Central District,the place I had earlier decided was too busy to be roaming around with a suitcase. I think I have a goo didea and bring my laptop with me, sure that I’ll find an Internet cafe. Instead this ends up feeling liek a 65 pound weight around my shoulders. Must rethink these "bright" ideas…
Actual Hong Kong reactions:
1) Holy shiiiite. As a guy I met in the Taipei airport described it, "Hong Kong is like New York on a couple of lines."
2) I keep switiching back and forth between being mezmerized and disgusted. Down one road is a gorgeous office building, and you round the corner and it’s a 80 ear old selling cat claws and god knows what else.
3) My map is proving to be useless. I think the lonely Planet gus just made it up. When I think something is a long way awa, it’s around the corner. And when I think it’s close, suddenly 16 streets that aren’t listed in my guidebook show up. I can’t find anything.
4) I may have figured out a source of frustration. Apparently, I apparently came out of the Metro station in a different place thanmy map says I should have. This would explain why I have been turning my book upside down wondering, "But wait, I know I took a left on Queen’s Way? How could I possibly be near the ferries?"
5) Yes, that realization solved one problem, but no, I am not getting any closer to being able to follow the directions I am actually writing down for myself.
6) Coolest thing ever – An outdoor escalator, covered of course, that takes you up the hill for 5 blocks. Imagine one of these going from the Waterfront to the Convention Center.
7) I cannot figure out the pace of the people. Everyone is hurring, and then you have 4 ladies lazily strolling down the street, window shopping arm in arm and making sure no one can ever get by. It’s like a mad sprint, and then you run into a human roadblock.
8) Lots of cool little places to grab a bite on Wyndham / Hollywood. If I had waited about 30 seconds, I would have chosen one of these places rather than the crappy English place I felt spectacularly lucky to find at the time. Doesn’t that always happen? ou give up on finding something cool, have a bite and a beer, walk out the door, and fall into culinary nirvana. Lesson learned – if no one is in the restaurant, there’s a better one close by…
9) I still can’t get over how I walk by a wine bar that I probably I can’t afford, and then trip into a street vendor selling trinkets and garbage for a quarter 25 feet later. Then there’s a brand new hotel sitting right next to a apartment building that makes Cabrini Green look luxurious. There’s no consistency. It’s decadence amongst the squalor, or squalor embedded in decadence depending on how ou wish to look at it.
10) I see a few random American tourists running around, but I don’t see many Engilish folks at all. I guess it makes sense that they’ve left by now, but I figured a few would stick around.
11) It’s 4:00pm or so now and traffic is reeeeeeeeeeeediculous.
11b) Ok, side note here. Literally, I knew nothing about Hong Kong 36 hours ago. I bought a guidebook yesterday (or whatever day was the day before I left). I read probably 3-4 hours on the plane. And after 3-4 hours of walking around, all the maps made sense, kind of. It’s amazing the steep learning curve there is for a foreign land, where all it takes is a little exploration and you start figuring it out.
12) Stumbled into someplace called Pacific Place, which appears to be about the most grandiose shopping mall ever assembled. Since my messenger bag with the laptop now weighs approximately 452 pounds, this will have to be explored later.
13) Compared to Seattle, I haven’t seen a lot of homeless folks, but those you do see…….well……they are noticeable and you want to avoid them. I’m not saying you want to hug a Seattle homeless guy, but these Hong Kong homeless look like they would infect you with a whole variety of interesting diseases just by handing them a coin. Really sad and scary.
14) Well I’ve been back in the hotel room / broom closet for a little while now, and the brain dump is complete. I know there was no story there (and no spellcheck) but those were the "off the top of my head" thoughts, unfiltered and unedited. Follow up stories will have some sort of plot and storyline.
