Hong Kong

Well here I am. I arrived last night in their brand new airport. It still has that new car smell. It was all really easy. China Air made me sign some document saying that I was on my own if they didn't let me into Hong Kong cuz I was traveling on a one way ticket. When I got to immigration in Hong Kong they said nothing. Just the thumping sound of another stamp in my passport. The hotel recommended that I take Hotel Link, a shuttle bus that would take me to my hotel for $150. That's Hong Kong dollars, so you divide by 7.8, easy huh? Anyway I thought that would be far to easy, so I jumped on their brand new commuter train(again that new car smell). I flew in at 7:30, so I didn't get to see much on the way, but it was aquick trip to Hong Kong station where I caught a taxi to my hotel. I'm staying at the South Pacific Hotel. It's an oval shaped building, so I have a curved window wall in my room. It's kind of a small room with two twin beds(very Ozzie and Harriet). The cool part is I have a high speed connection in here, so I get to put pictures on my blog.

Hong Kong is a lot like San Francisco on streroids. It's really vertical. The buildings are all very tall. Today I went out and did a little shopping. What impressed me the most is there's a ton of people here. No joke this place is packed with people. The cool part is lots of them speak English and there's Chinese food everywhere. I like Chinese food, so I think I'm gonna be OK on the food front. Paul (my boss) gave me Steve's (some of you may remember him from the Friday night fires)mobile phone number, so I gave him a call. He was still working, so we decided to meet after work, and go out. He told me he was at the Charterhouse, so I got in a cab and asked them to take me to the Charterhouse. It was a short trip, and Steve and I went out to a bar where we met some very friendly Chinese girls. Had a few beers listened to some really cheesy music then left. Without the girls. Anyway we walked back to the Charterhouse Steve was done, so I thought I'd take a cab back to my hotel. There were cabs across the street, but I didn't want to jay walk so I walked to the end of the block. As I went I was thinking about trying to walk home. My hotel is pretty unique looking, so I was looking up at all the buildings trying to see an oval shaped one. As I got to the end of the block I looked across the street, and there is my hotel. I took a cab to a hotel that was half a block away. I have a lot to learn about Hong Kong.