An adventerous day in Hong Kong

The first thing I did was head to the Chinese Consulate. The subway system here is amazingly fast and really easy to use. I managed to make it there without any major issues. I went up to the skywalk and this really kind guard gave me directions. I almost passed where I wanted to go, and then saw this really long line with a bunch of foreigners… it turns out that was the line I needed to be in.

At the end of the line was security, a 2 hour wait, and a South African whom I had a lovely chat with about the town, and what to see. I managed to finish this affair about 11:15am, which worked real swell, because I needed to check out of the dormitories and into a actual room at noon. I made it back to the hotel about 11:50am went and grabbed my stuff, and went to the front counter to check out. I successfully changed rooms and then they wanted me to pay. Well I had to explain to them that I simply didn’t have enough HK$ and that I need to change money. They were surprisingly fine with this, and I was off.

It was about 2pm when I found a bank to change money at. After successfully changing money, I went to lunch at KFC (Western food is the same price as local food here) and then went shopping. I managed to leave my camera charger in China, and so I needed to find a way to charge it here. I managed after two hours of walking and shopping to find one. Unfortunately it was more than I wanted to pay but oh well.

After that I went to the “Ladies Market”. This was the first time that I’ve gone shopping and really felt successful in my Chinese. It was amazing to see how when I spoke to them in Chinese, told them I was a teacher, and made what little small talk I could they would drop the prices for me. It also allowed me to bargain prices down in front of other foreigners that didn’t speak mandarin.

When that was all done I returned to the YMCA paid for my room, and then decided that I would take the ferry to see the place. I took the ferry twice (I loved it!) and then saw this landing that everyone was going to. So like a good tourist I followed everyone else. What I soon learned is that every night at 8pm, they do the largest light show in the world. (Check Guinness it’s there). I met a fellow from Sweden there and we spent the rest of the night together.

After the show we walked and talked for a while, and went to the temple street night market. While we walked around and looked for things we saw a place to eat. Being 8:30pm and I not having dinner, we stopped and ate. We sat down next to a table of 6 people visiting for a light expo, whom we shared food with (they kept trying to feed us), shared a toast (I indulged only water) and had a wonderful conversation.

We walked for a bit more after that, parted ways and I returned to my room. All in all, a good day, and spent more than I was planning on.