Hong Kong

November 11

woke up and caught the subway to the train station. At this stop it's an easy walk to pass through immigration and into Hong Kong. I passed immigration relatively easy with no questions asked. In hong Kong they use this thing called an octopus card for all transportation. I was in line getting my card when I noticed a sign saying meeting spot. I thought back to the night before and how that would of been useful with David. Then I turned around and the person behind me was no other than David! Talk about a trippy feeling. Small world right? We boarded the train together for Mong Kok,  which literally means busy corner in Cantonese. We said our goodbyes shortly but I have a feeling that I will see that guy again somewhere in the world.

After checking in at mg hostel, I met up with Sarah, a girl I met in Shenzhen. We decided to take the tram up to The Peak. Spectacular view from atop. Afterwards we checked out her hostel and when I entered, I ran into this Turkish guy I met at Lazy Gaga. Man what a small world. The rest of the evening was just walking and exploring Hong kong.

November 12

met this guy from Germany named Thees and we went to get breakfast together. I have been trying to find that comfort dish called seafood baked rice with cheese on top. But unfortunately they only serve it later in the day. Afterwards we met up with Martin, another dude from the Lazy Gaga. Marty is a pretty cool guy as I mentioned before. We just walked around a bit before heading home. Quick rest and then I met Marty again for a drink. We sat by the harbor and watched the boats go by. It's pretty cool drinking beer by the water with the rain pouring down. We talked about life and the future. It's good to shoot the breeze with him. I had to leave early and meet a local couchsurfer named Angel. Real cool chick who gave me a brief tour of mong kok.  We even got my baked seafood rice!

November 13

Lately I have been waking up early and averaging around 4 hours of sleep. I think it's the combination of my open window at the hostel and the construction outside. In the morning I felt like doing nothing at all. I did hop on the computer to firm up some travel plans in the Philippines. The recent typhoon has devastated much of Tacloban and there's talks of how the relief efforts are slow. I'm headed to Manila, palawan, and boracay.

I met up with Annissa around noon for lunch. We had some coffee and satay beef noodle soup. Afterwards we walked around the city and headed to the museum area. At the space museum I tried this gravity moon walk...eh forgettable. Then we took a city tram and enjoyed some sightseeing views from above. Annissa grew up in Hong Kong but has the travel bug too. She was super informative and took time to explain sights to me in English and Cantonese. In the evening we caught a viewing of Titans of the Ice Age at the Stanley Ho Space Theater. Pretty good film on the woolly mammoth during the Ice Age. Lyuba is a mummified baby woolly found know Siberia and was prominently featured. After the show we grabbed some yummy mom and pop diner food. In cantonese we call it cha ton teng.

On the walk back to my hostel, we saw all these people getting black and white pictures taken. Annissa  told me it's a hk craze that started a couple years back. So when in Rome, get your picture taken too.

Back at the hostel I was checking email in the lobby and I always see this girl from Malaysia. We swapped info and told me to look her up when I go to KL. She's here in Global with 4 of her friends. They were quite the loud bunch last night. Around 2 am they came out and gave me a beer offering. Per global etiquette it's rude to refuse so I took it and ended up drinking with them for the next hour. Woke up in the middle of the night buzzed and with a leg cramp. I think my screaming woke up the elderly British lady in the bunk next to me. Still hurts.

November 14

I bumped into my new Malaysian friends during checkout so we all ended up having brunch together and doing some street shopping. The rest of the day was quiet until I met up with CK, another local couchsurfer. She's amazingly cool and we had loads of conversations around life and cultures. I really feel that I've learned so much from her and I'm very grateful that I had the opportunity to spend time with her.

We had snake for dinner and that was a first time for me. The texture reminds me of pork and it's OK.

Hong Kong is truly an international city that has no rivals. From the densely packed buildings to the neverending sea of people at all sorts of hours, Hong Kong Is unique. Thank you for the memories. Here's the photo link: http://www1.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=7107151015/a=9293579_9293579/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/