Sent: Sunday, May 09, 2010 2:07 AM
Subject: China - Day 1 - Hong Kong
Unfortunately, Every time I come to Hong Kong, it is on my way to somewhere else. I would love to spend more time here, but it never seems to be more than one or two days. If I were paying for these trips, I would certainly plan things differently. Hong Kong appeals to me in the same way New York does. There are other Asian cities which are bigger and closer in size to New York, Tokyo and Shanghai for example, but neither has the mix of cultures which makes this place so unique. This city is home to people from all over Asia, and I suppose from all over the world. Most of the people I have met here over the years are from somewhere else - Mainland China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Australia, the UK and the US among others (yeah, believe it or not, I actually talk to people here – go figure).
I love being in China but I really hate getting here, and I really, really hate Delta! There were two legs to the trip; Minneapolis to Tokyo and Tokyo to Hong Kong. Mpls to Tokyo ( on a 747 – thought of Grandpa) had an American crew – I think the average age of the flight attendants must have been 55, not a problem by itself, but they all seem to have figured out long ago they did not have to be either friendly or helpful to keep their jobs. A smile would not kill them.
After nearly 24 straight hours of traveling, I was surprisingly wide awake when I got to the hotel in Kowloon around midnight local time, so after checking in I headed to a favorite spot – Delaney’s Irish Pub about a block away. The sidewalks were crowded on the way there; Indian and African men sitting around smoking cigarettes, locals on their way wherever, and of course, the hookers! In the one block walk, I was approached 3 times (“Hello baby, you cute! Where you going? You want…Whassa matta, you no like?”) . By the time I got to the pub, I was starting to feel rather attractive.
Inside Delaney’s is like inside any pub in Ireland - well sort of – it looks like a proper pub, all of the customers look like me but everyone working there is Chinese. Anyway, 2 pints of Guinness was adequate to put me in sleep mode, so I ran the hooker gauntlet back to the hotel ( Hey baby! You… Where you going? – I passed one so fast I swear I could hear the Doppler shift in her voice). By 1:00 AM and was out!
Day 2 preview – Exploring Hong Kong and the search for Cantonese-style deep fried fish lips
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