Hong Kong Day 2

Random building works

Me trying to be arty

Trying to be arty again

There were three floors of this

Dragons

I had nothing planned for the day, so I ran a couple of errands for H&M.  Armed with my trusty “Time Out” map of the city, there was nothing to stop me.  First up was a quick trip down to the HSBC bank, in the centre of the city, to change some money.  It’s Chinese New Year in a few days (we’ll be in Australia) and the custom is to give a red envelope with some money in to to... well, seemingly to everyone you know!  However, it’s not just any old money - it should be brand new, perfectly ironed notes, hence my trip to the bank to do a bit of money laundering.

After doing a few other bits and pieces, I settled down for a coffee in Starbucks and got chatting to a Canadian woman who has lived here for the last couple of years with her husband, an Italian.  She was telling me how she found it, especially in comparison with Tokyo, which is where they lived before.  Her impression was that the two were largely the same, especially in cost of living (ie, sky-high) but that the people were nicer in Hong Kong.

I was hungry by this time and decided to have a bite to eat.  Following my nose, I ended up in a Chinese restaurant (hey, when in Rome, etc) which was absolutely rammed full.  I was seated on a table with four other people - two couples, unknown to each other - and it was only after the waiter disappeared that I realised that (a) I was the only white person in the restaurant and (b) everything was in Chinese! Fortunately, one of the couples took pity on me and explained the drill, so I ended up with some very nice shredded pork, mushrooms and noodles, washed down with lemon tea. It was good food, the restaurant was packed, noisy and chaotic and I had a great time.

Cities can be lonely places when you’re on your own - they are, after all, full of people you don’t know and who don’t know you and that can really bring home a feeling of isolation.  Fortunately, three strangers made it a much easier day.  I think that probably happens a lot.  I’ll try to post some random pictures. No shots of the food, though - I was too embarrassed!