Music: Various
My first experience of Hong Kong today was one of disorientation and slight confusion... As the map I had picked up at the airport had the hotel I was staying in on the opposite side of the road from where it actually is, I made a wrong turning at the first possible moment, as I stepped outside the front doors this morning.
From here I was a little confused why the road appeared to be turning in the wrong direction, but as I had no idea of the scale I was sure I would be fine. The swathes of huge high rise buildings leave you with nothing on which to get a baring either. In the end I ended up back on the main road I was looking for and hopped on one of the old trams that was heading down towards the main area of the island. After a while I got bored of this and so hopped off when I saw an MRT (tube) station that might get me there quicker.
I headed to central station and bought myself a 3 day travel card (with 1 airport train trip) to last me until I go. I was a little hesitant about doing so, as you have to use the MRT a large number of times (short journeys cost about 35p) to make it worthwhile. In the end I thought it better as I meant I wouldn't end up with piles of shrapnel from buying a million single tickets over the period.
From here I decided to head onto Kowloon and have a look around for a tailors place that I'd seen advertised in one of the magasines left in the hotel room. After a large amount of wondering in circles I nipped into several camera shops and inquired about the price of the lens I have been looking to get for a while. In the end I bought it for about 10% less then the lowest price in the UK.
From here I allowed myself to get hijacked into one of the tailors shops I'd eyed up earlier and was measured up for another cheap suit. One of the few things I had left to do was buy a suit carrier, which would make up my second allowed item of checked luggage on the trip back to the UK. I was pointed towards the Harbour City shopping centre at the end of the road. It was here I spent the next few hours wondering around the maze like structure looking for a shop that might sell me what I was looking for. In the end I gave up and went to sit outside by the ferry terminal reading my book. For a good 15 minutes I also got to watch an eagle circling over the harbour and occasionally circling in a spiral down to the water in an attempt to catch a fish. I only wish I'd taken my camera bag out with me for the day, as then I'd have photos to show for it.
Later I went back to the tailors for the first fitting of the suit, this was just the outline pieces cut and stitched, ready for a tailor to pin down to my fitting. I have a second fitting tomorrow afternoon too. On leaving the building I went out in the other direction and virtually fell into a luggage store that had the kind of bag I'd been searching for, right in front of me. I negotiated a little discount and walked out with it in about 2 minutes, after spending several hours earlier trying to find one!
Following that I went back to the viewing platform looking out over the harbour and watched the sun set and the buildings light up. At this point I remembered that Phil (who I used to work with) has told me there was something I had to go and see in Hong Kong, but for the life of me I couldn't remember what it was. A quick call back to the UK later I now have to go and see the boat that is parked on Kowloon! I'm also thinking of trying to go to the highest bar in the world, atop the highest hotel in the world recently opened here...
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