Another chapter

So I am in this new hostel, which is much cleaner and nicer than the previous one. It wasn't that the other was so dirty or anything, it's just that this one is really clean and kind of fancy, amazingly so for the cost. I'm in a dorm room which is currently occupied by three other guys, all of whom are very social and we have gone out to do a bunch of things. Last night I hung out with Antony, who lives about an hour north of London, and is on a long trip which may involve him moving to Australia if he likes it. He was in the Phillipines before coming here and had some interesting stories to tell about his visit there, a land apparently largely bereft of westerners. We chatted a bit in the hostel that day and ended up going out together to walk around, aiming for a nighttime view from Victoria Peak, of which all the guidebooks and websites have advised me that without a visit my trip to Hong Kong would be incomplete. We made our way to the tram which ferries tourists up there, and is amusingly steep, such that at many points you are going up the side of the hill at a 45 degree angle or so. It's a short ride, and then what is probably a longer walk through a giant shopping mall and a few escalators to get out to the viewing area. The mall was kind of gratuitous, as is much of the consumer culture here, even moreso than the US I think. The view was alright, but the pollution here is such that much of it is obscured. Even the moon isn't all that visible. It's kind of a shame, since the view would undoubtedly be much more impressive. They most photoshop the promotional images of the skyline, because they all look to be what is apparently impossibly clear.

We made our way down from the Peak on a minibus. I was proud of myself because I discussed the logistics of getting on the minibus and getting where we wanted to go with a customer service lady in the mall in Mandarin. I cheated though since she spoke some English. Still, she made that face I like when a Chinese person hears me speak Chinese for the first time. The minibus by the way is about a 16-seater van, which has a fixed route but the drivers will make requested stops. You tell him when you board where you want to go. Only hitch is they don't speak English, and as it turns out not a whole lot of Mandarin...only Cantonese. We somehow managed to get to the general vicinity of Lan Kwai Fong, a busy district filled with bars, clubs, and restaurants. I had walked through a few days previous but wanted to get a look at it at night. It was pretty much as I expected, heavily trafficked and filled with foreigners, though by no means completely so. As it turns out, the entertainment areas here are fairly isolated. Unlike New York, you can't just walk out of the hotel and find a bar on the street. There's a few specific areas on HK Island that people go to have drinks and socialize. It's an interesting difference from NYC, but it means that in those areas there are large concentrated groups of tourists and a certain kind of bar culture that doesn't lend itself particularly to subtlety. As it turns out, there's also tons of prostitutes. I had no idea it was so prevalent here, or in fact present at all, but it is in fact very out in the open despite to my knowledge being illegal. We puttered around a few different bars and got some Indian food before deciding to call it a night. I had a few beers that night and was totally exhausted by the time we got home, though I'm becoming mildly adjusted to the time difference after what is now 5 days.

Today I was feeling somewhat tired from a whole lot of walking around and doing things the last few, so I took it easy most of the morning and early afternoon. My current roommates were around and one of them had a guitar, so we spent some time hanging out in our dorm room and trading songs and otherwise doing not a whole lot. I enjoyed a break from walking around. Without a schedule, there is still kind of an urgency to run around and see and do things. I know that may seem counter-intuitive, but so it is. I showered and made my way out for a bit to score some vegetarian food at a new place nearby, which was really interesting actually and kind of a different approach to the standard chinese-style vegetarian restaurants at which I've eaten several times here and in New York. It was a bit more gourmet, and the menu was beautifully put together with a lot of pictures. That was particularly helpful since the waitstaff didn't speak Mandarin or was not interested in speaking it with me. I headed back after eating and had a nice 20-30 minute conversation in Mandarin with the woman who runs this hostel, called the Yes Inn. She's really nice, moreso than my previous hosts who seemed more annoyed by the presence of guests in their hostel. I feel lucky to have stumbled upon this place on the internet, it was not in my guidebook or anything, it just happened to have good reviews online and have vacancies for these few nights whereas sunday night for some reason many hostels did not.

Tonight, I went out with Antony, as well as Dave, the guy with the guitar who is also from England and traveling around the world, and then Edwin who just spent two years in Mongolia in the Peace Corps, as well as a bunch of other really interesting traveling adventures around China. Quite a crowd out there. I'm starting to think about leaving HK soon, though this is a big city and there are a few more things I'd like to do before I take off. Tomorrow I think I'll be heading to the south side of HK Island, supposedly more relaxing and laid back than the heavily developed north side. The next day I'd like to see the New Territories a bit, and I have a few ideas for stops I can make to check out what I've heard is a more Chinese and non-touristy side of HK living. After that, I believe the course is set for Macau and shortly thereafter, mainland China.