Well, I made it to Hong Kong yesterday. It required four flights, two days, and one long bus ride into the city, but I made it. Apparently, nothing in this town really opens before 11am, so that left me looking kinda silly walking around with a backpack for several hours. What? Me a tourist? No, no, I'm just...moving across town....AND I forgot my deodorant. I smelled like a funky airplane. Not a pretty sight. Strangely enough, I never had the "I'm on an airplane" feeling, but the "I've been on a boat for a few days" one instead. Hmmmm....

Funny story: I was in the Anchorage Alaska Airline Board Room Wednesday morning during my THREE HOUR LAYOVER and I was in a corner trying to catch some sleep. Soon this other lady came over and pulled up another chair then someone else came over and we were having ourselves a right slumber party. A bit later, this chode and his son come over, rattling bags and drinks and whatnot, throw their crap down among us and turn on the tv! One of my slumber party buddies lifts her head and says "Do you mind?" They obviously didn't and ignored her. She puts her head back down for a few minutes then, grumbling, gets up marches over to the TV and turns it off. The chode begins to protest, but she cuts him off, saying, "You want to watch TV while I'm trying to sleep; I want to sleep while you're trying to watch TV", then marches triumphantly back to her armchair. They left soon after. My hero.

Anyway, after a quick visit to a three story pharmacy (I love big city space restraints) and a shower in my9x5 room (oh yeah. Even I am too big for the bed) I was off. Everyone and their brother here wears canvas shoes and I kept getting street gunk stuck in my Crocs, so I did as the romans did and bought a pair. I think the lady was mocking me a bit for not bargaining and accepting her first price, but really? I paid 3 bucks for the things. I think I am ok AND I look good.

Me and my new kicks then hit the city. My all important quest for dim sum has unfortunately ended in failure as there are almost no menus in english here (which I shouldn't be surprised by but dammit, this place was run by the british for more than a century!) I have however discovered curb side eateries where they yell at you to come in, you oblige, you try to scoot your chair out of honking traffic and sit down to giant bowls of unnamed chinese food. Awesome AWESOME! My mother will be happy to know I have not touched a drop of alcohol as any impairment on my part would render me unable to find my way home.

On that subject: I don't know what the chinese word for clusterfuck is, but I think that about describes this place. I don't know if all of China is like this, but if the british have left their orderly mark on this city, I would be very afraid of the rest of the mainland. To truly blend in, you only need a cell phone and a disregard for anyone around you. It's like Rome, but everyone is shorter. Don't get me wrong: I love this place. As long as you stay out of the Gucci, Burberry and Vuiton shops, your money goes a long way here. My feast last night cost me about $4US and I stuffed myself stupid.

So far, I've trundled myself across the bay several times on the ferry($.25US! brilliant!), including a few times at night with the light up skyline, hauled through more malls than I can count, visited Lantau Island with the worlds largest outdoor buddah (until I get my photos uploaded: http://www.traveljournals.net/pictures/l/0/2782-buddah-at-lantau-island-lantau-island-hong-kong.jpg) , visited a working temple in the heart of the city (http://lh3.google.com/kclamac/Rfd-WZz-piI/AAAAAAAAAEY/w4WmBJ2Iikk/DSC5091.jpg?imgmax=720) eaten several sticky buns looking for my dim sum, and generally walked all over lower Kowloon and Hong Kong Island.

I'm off again tomorrow for the last leg of my trip to Thailand where I'll hang in Bangkok for a few hours than hop an overnight train to Chumpon and a ferry to Koh Tao (I love boats.) I'm leaving now to go find more street food. I hear some duck and shrimp noodles calling my name....