Hong Kong

Well.. after an extremely tedious and sleepless flight (with a seat in front of the toilet so we were the victims of the Chinese obsession to pee every ten minutes and do Tai Chi moves in the only open space on the plane) we finally arrived in Hong Kong. Needless to say, a few things have changed since we were here last. The crazy high-speed train to the island was a bonus. Stepping out of the subway was ovewhelming. The lights... so much light. Everything is flourecsant... it burns. The streets are packed with people.. you can hardly move. The smells are the same though.. very familiar. It took us forever to find our hostel (Im not very good with maps at all) but we eventually got there, dumped our bags and took off down memory lane. Nat was quick to remember all the little streets and shops... it took longer for me to get my bearings. We treated ourselves to some delicions street waffles with condensed milk... mmmmmm.
Day two (after Nat and Amy had their Starbucks fix) we headed up to the Peak (the highest point in HK) via the famous peak tram.. it was freaky. The angle is so sharp it actually makes your neck hurt. When we got to the top it was so windy it felt like our faces we going to blow off. We almost got hit by a garbage can that blew over and started rolling down the hill. In the afternoon we headed to Kowloon side (the mainland) and ate some lunch. I had some FANTASTIC noodle soup with chicken and BBQ pork. So good. We tried shopping but were way too tired so we headed home for a "nap". That turned into sleeping our entire afternoon away. We woke up in a panic and had to run.. literally.. to make it to a bar before Happy Hour ended.
Day 3 we caught a ferry to Lamma Island. It seems to have turned into a Hippy Haven in recent years. We dined in a Vegetarian Cafe and then set off for a trek across the island. The smog was so thick you could hardly see three feet in front of you. In the evening we headed to Wan Chai for Happy Hour. Our bartender was a Canadian named Phil... he invented a fantastic blue cocktail for us that we proceeded to name "Blue Balls". We met a really nice guy who ended up footing our bill for the entire night.. and then he left in a hurry for a business emergency... score for us. That certainly helped the budget.
Today we are headed for Macau... not sure when yet but soon enough. We are off to Bangkok tomorrow evening. I will post more as things happen.