Today I left cloudy Taiwan for also cloudy Hong Kong. I flew Hong Kong Airlines, which is a subsidiary of EVA Air (Taiwan's national carrier). We were on an EVA Boeing 777-300 ER, which is a massive, beautiful, quiet plane. Little did I know I was in for the best flight ever. Seriously, I had an economy class ticket, yet I felt like I was flying business or first. The seats were large and luxurious, had foot rests, a large personal entertainment unit, and most importantly, the most legroom I've ever seen in coach in my life. Seriously, with my arm outstretched I could barely reach the tv screen, and I could extend my legs fully. Wow!
When I got to Hong Kong, I took the sleek airport express train to Kowloon station where I was picked up by a shuttle from my hotel. Hong Kong is pretty neat, they're really into high density. The whole city feels...well, smushed together. There's not a lot of room to breathe.
After checking in, I hopped on the shuttle again to get to Tsim Sha Tsui, which is the southern tip of Kowloon. I walked by all the high end luxury shops, visited the space museum (happened to be free admission day), and bought some Doritos at Sogo, a Japanese department store. I visited the Avenue of Stars, which is like a Hong Kong walk of fame for famous Chinese movie stars (ie Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan). Then, at 8pm I watched (along with hundreds of other pushy, loud chinese people) the light show put on by the skyscrapers across the harbour. Pretty neat, minus the fact that two loud, middle-aged Chinese women standing on either side of me were trying to have a yelling match through my head...
After enjoying the light show, I walked back through Kowloon, on Nathan Rd. (sort of the main drag). Apparently I must have met many people here already, because they all seemed to know me ("Hey, my friend! Come over here"). Apparently they all work in the tailoring business and have some amazing deals for me.
After Nathan Rd, I tried some Hong Kong style milk tea, which is made with sweetened condensed milk. Then, I continued on to the Temple St. Market. Disappointing. There were many stalls peddling their trinkets of "jade" and other household things no one really needs, and surprisingly, many stalls selling cheap looking latex things for adults. Repugnant. I had had enough for today.
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