Smelly and hot!

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Well I've arrived no worse for wear. Flights were all on time and no major snafus. I did end up next to a couple from Louisiana with a toddler who decidedto kick me everyfive seconds between st. Johns aNd Newark but coulda seen worse. The 15.5 hr flight from Newark to hong kong went by way faster than I thought it would. Couple movies. And a couple of meals with an 8 hr nap in between did the trick. I was a little disappointed since we flew within 100 km of the north pole and I wanted to see the land/ice and northern lights. Well it was cloudy after we got toBaffin island and it stayed daylight the whole way so that was it!



Anyways arrived in hong kong around 8pm and found the train ticket window. Got aticket to the city plus 3 unlimited days n the metro and found the hotel without too much trouble. Except for the sweating. Wow it's hot and muggy here. 32 last night when I got in and 35 today with high humidity. I sweat the moment I step outside. I've already adopted a habit of lots of Chinese men I see - carry a hanky and use it towire off the sweat. A hotel washcloth does the trick. Glad I got the unlimited metro card gc its been out for two hrs then back to the beautiful AC in the hotel for a half hour in between. Hopefully I'll adjust a bit to this but I dunno it justs hits you like a ton of bricks when you walk outside and makes a 25 degree air conditioned room feel like st johns in February.



So I fell asleep pretty much right awalast I night when I got settled in and I thought I might have avoidedjetlag. Thought better when I was wide awakeat430 this morning. Watched a movie (i love you iPad!) and heeaded out for a walk around 6 before it got too hot. Too late already sweltering.



Walked to "central" which is downtown, what used to be Victoria the. Capital ofWong kong. Crazy busy streets, smells ofdelicious food, not so delicious food, garbage, smog... It's asmelly kinda place. Walked along the harbourfront for some pics of Kowloon recrossed the water. Smog is really bad todaycan hardly see a mile or two.

Went in to a huge mall downtown to get a bit of AC. Loand land lots of shopping here everywhere you look. Lots of restaurants as well.

So we think st johns is illy its worse here. They're pretty cute though there's aexams altar almost a km long that comes down the hill from the residential area in the morning and then goes up the rest of the day. I had a ride up (why not its free!) and a look aroundthey'd headed over to the peak tram.

Right behind central the island is steep and the peak is ingeniously called the peak. There's a 100 year old tram that goes up to the top. Normally I'm awalker and would have at least gone partway byfoot but when breathing causes heat stroke...

Beautiful views at the top. Would have been even better if you could actually seethrough the smog. Lots of shopping up there too of course. Had some mcds there for lunch (yea yea I know but I needed the free wifi so everyone would know I'm still alive). After coming down I was gonna go to the zoo/botanical gardens but ou had to walk up this huge hill to get there so I'll just figuwho how to bus it later on.

Was considering heading to Disneyland for the afternoon but I might save it for another day. The heat is exhausting I'm ready for bed and it's only 230. Not sure what else I'm gonna do wi 4 ,ore days here. It's nice but low on big sites that interest me. Disney I guess, perhaps a beach, a ride on the harbour ferry, couple museums. If I run out of things to do I'm gonna day trip to Macau which is the ex-Portuguese colony across the bay.

Got my ticket to kuala lumpur, Malaysia for Monday so that's exciting. Should probably plan something to do there.

Initial thoughts on hong kong: they'll bowl you over to get one second ahead. 80%of the population has an iPhone/android and 80% of them are on it at anygiven time walking slowly head down in the middle of a narrow sidewalk with fifty thousand people piled up behind them. One street has high class boutiques while around the corner in a narrow alleyvarious animals and their various organs are hanging for sale. Men like to spit. Everywhere. Women hate the sun and carry an umbrella but do not care if you lose an eye so long as Not one ray of sun candarken their skin. It's hot, smelly, smoggy, confusing, frantically busy, multicultural, higher than it iswide and I love it!

Smell ya later.

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Comments

[Nan]

Hello Hang Kong
Enjoying your initial impressions of famous Hong Kong--the most densely populated city in the world, so they say. The humidity is a real problem all right, how much better to get a whiff of the St. John's fog, so invigorating (lol) Got to hand it to you --you make your way around very efficiently. Enjoy every minute of your new experience. Bye, keep safe, Nan