Wednesday August 25 0928

Hong Kong was really awesome to visit, and I made sure to get around and see it for the day I was there. When I came to Shanghai, I was expecting crowded streets with dozens of big signs hanging over it, but got wide sidewalks and avenues: that's because my picture of China was Hong Kong basically. All the buildings are tall, there are hundreds of pawn shops, whole streets of fashion shops and boutiques, and thousands of money changers. There are British-style trams and taxis, bank towers left and right, and a full-blooded racial class system: Mandarin, Western, Indian, Cantonese, which makes for a really weird place. All the streets are named after western names: I stayed my night in an alley hotel off the intersection of Jordan and Nathan street (which apparantly have their own wikipedia article...)

Hong Kong is in two parts: Kowloon and Honk Kong, with the former being on the "inland island", and the latter being this pickle-shaped isle with a steep mountain range along the center. Hong Kong is centered on the strait formed by their proximity, which is called the 'Harbor'. The skyscrapers are mostly on the isle, but the biggest skyscrapers are in Kowloon. This is a recent picture: my hotel was nearish to the tallest skyscraper in the middle-right.

Hong Kong is tropical: it kept raining, then dry, then raining, then dry, the whole time I was there. I had to buy an umbrella from one of the 7-Elevens (which are EVERYWHERE). All the western chains were represented, and I'd have to say the part of Hong Kong below the third floor is entirely dedicated to shops and public businesses. It's a great place to spend all your money away, I bet.

As a sidenote... The Chinese Bureaucracy is truly Grand and Harmonious. I was really dreading my visit, imagining an even more incomprehensible DMV. The truth, though, is that getting my new visa took a total of an hour spread over two days (application, then pick up the next day). And it's not like I was the only one there that day: there were at least 100 people in front of me in line. However, the lady next to me in line was a television executive, and she answered some questions of mine about the extent of Chinese television regulation and censorship, and I think that caused my net approval of the bureaucratic efficiency to be counterbalanced.

So yea: it is one of the only times I've actually regretted forgetting my camera at home, and I think I'd do a better job relating about my visit in person. It was indeed a very interesting visit, with lots of sights and sounds: I'd be happy to go visit again for a longer duration. Shanghai is probably better to live in for my purposes, but Hong Kong is certainly more rewarding if you are wanting to visit somewhere Eastern but still have some home comforts.