Mas Para Sol: Arriving in Hong Kong

I left from Raleigh to Chicago for a 1 hour lay-over. I wondered the halls of the terminal, as you might do knowing you are soon going to be confined to a seated space for 16 hours. Right by the gate for the flight to Hong Kong was a foreign exchange terminals. I know they are a bad deal, and that there would be on-lookers who would look down on me in pity, but thought it would be good to have some HK dollars for the bus just in case.

Sure enough, a man (mid 50s / Asian) comes over and starts shaking his head as I am exchanging travelers cheques. He is wearing one of those fly-tackle fishing jackets with 20 pockets on the front. He comes over to talk to me and tell me what a bad deal I got exchanging my 40 U.S. dollars and how much better the rate will be at Hong Kong banks.

It is a good thing though because the advice starts:

"Don't go to ATM, OK? ---- Service fees"
"If you go into a shop and the person is wearing better clothes than you, don't buy there. OK? It is for tourists. Bum around see this watch?"

He shows me a flashy watch with a silver band and 3 clock counters on it.

"How much? How much you think?"
"I don't know, $15 dollars maybe"
"2 dollars, 2 dollars U.S., have fun, find deals"
I make an impressed face, but I am not really blown away or anything.

I guess I could buy hot property in HK, why not? Someone is going to do it...or then again, maybe not...

As the conversation progresses to things to do in HK in general I take out my guidebook and point out how it is from the library. We are having a frugal off. He brushes it off as mere common sense. In my experience there are two kinds of people when it comes to money. Those who find pleasure in spending it, and those who find pleasure in accumulating it. The extreme people in this latter group take frugality to another level, it is a passtime, a sport. I am probably one of them.
Anyway, my new friend introduces himself and promises to guide me through the airport in Hong Kong and so he does. He introduces himself, his name is Kim.

In between we fly over Alaska and the North of Russia to go south to Hong Kong. We do this because with globes a straight line isn't the shortest distance between two points, and it is better to go to the north pole where there is a much shorter distance to go around the world. And so we fly over ice. It is crystal clear and I take many photos. The sun sets and an hour later rises again. People close the shutters in the aeroplane. Below is ice, below is the border between America and Russia, but there are no people down there, no signs of life, or politics, and therefore no war or struggle or conflict. Just ice, lots and lots of it, and snow, and how the wind had combed it, and the sun hits it in patches.

Landing in Hong Kong is great. The climate is humid and warm and pleasant. The people are pleasant, trim, fashionable, and internationals. A French girl sees my backpack and comes to give me a day pass on the underground that she couldn't use, she is on her way out. Kim leaves me at the buses with his email, and I have a friend in Hong Kong. Things are off to a great start. I ride a double decker bus on the top and take videos going in to the city. I miss my stop, and have to walk to find my hostel. On the way I buy a tooth brush, and tooth paste, and ice-green tea, and a persimmon. I find the hostel, but they are overbooked, and so we go to the dorm room and clear out backpacks and laundry from the floor, and lay down a mattress, and put sheets on it, and soon, I will go pass out there. The clock is 13 hours ahead here and if I wake up early from jet lag I will try find some people practicing Tai Chi in the park that Kim told me about...

Photos:
The Chicago Airport, which doubles as a disco from 1-5 a.m. weeknights..