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Sep. 25th, 2013 02:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jianantonicI'm really glad we got the extra time in Hong Kong. I wish we had more time, in fact, but I won't miss the weather. It'll be nice to return to autumn in Oregon. I accidentally turned the fabric headboard of our hotel bed purple (my hair still rubs off on everything, even though the dye is permanent), so we're getting charged for that. Hopefully the fee will be something reasonable and not the cost of a whole bed. If they insist on charging us for the whole bed, fine, but I'll insist on having them send the "damaged" bed to us. It was by far the most comfortable bed I've ever snored in.
We're at the airport now, hanging out in the United lounge. We're pretty well beat from five days of intense tourism, and didn't feel up to doing much more with all our luggage in tow, so we're just taking advantage of the free food and drinks and wifi and electricity to charge our devices as much as possible before we take off on our 24 hours of flight. McKenzie got upgraded to Guam, but I'm still in coach, then we're both coach to Honolulu and then first class the rest of the way (HNL-SFO, SFO-PDX). I think I'm tired enough that I'll be able to snooze most of the way to Guam anyway, so no big deal.
Michele is mercifully working for me on Thursday so that I don't have to rush from the airport to the office. We land at 8am, so I have the whole day to recover before working on Friday. Then Hanson on Saturday, drop Z off in Seaside on Sunday (maybe a hike on the coast if I have any energy?), work Monday-Wednesday, play in Seaside with Dee through the following Sunday. Maybe sleep again one day, but probably not soon :)
We spent our last night here on the peak with Adam. "The peak" is the high point on Hong Kong island -- at least the highest public point. Property in this area is the most expensive in the world. There's a mall up there -- like all the malls we went to, it was nothing but super high end stores, and, inexplicably, a Bubba Gump restaurant at the very top, basically the most prime commercial real estate in the world. Anyway we went out on the viewing deck about an hour before sunset, took pictures, then went back out at dark. Here's the view from each -- amazing what a change takes place in about 30 minutes' time:
The architecture here is amazing. All the buildings are super tall and super skinny, unlike NYC where they're super tall and wide. Our hotel was 32 stories (one of the shorter buildings in the city), and there were only 9 rooms on each floor. That's how all these buildings are. Adam pointed out a house on the peak that was 10 stories tall, but just one room per story. The cost of building and living here is astronomical, but everyday purchases were totally reasonable. The exchange rate is fixed to the dollar, and prices were by and large comparable or better than you'd get in the states. Most of our meals were way cheaper than American restaurants would be, and public transit was just a few cents each trip. Taxis were only a few bucks, too.
We spent a couple of hours yesterday shopping the street markets. The malls are all luxury goods, but the street markets are where you can get super cheap (and yeah, cheaply made) souvenirs. McKenzie got a bunch of silk ties for $2 each, and I got a silk dress, and then a few random items that I could just as easily get in the US but not as cheaply. (I added three new wigs to my collection from a costume shop -- $10 apiece for purple, green, and red bobs.) I got a pair of fake Chucks for $12. They look exactly like the real thing, but they have a different label. And I got lots of ridiculous Engrish shirts. I'll model them in the coming weeks and post photos when I do. The street vendors had all kinds of fun stuff for sale, but for some reason, about half of the vendors sold underwear. Just piles and piles of underwear on tables, not in packaging of any kind. I found that interesting.
More photos are on Facebook for now.
We're at the airport now, hanging out in the United lounge. We're pretty well beat from five days of intense tourism, and didn't feel up to doing much more with all our luggage in tow, so we're just taking advantage of the free food and drinks and wifi and electricity to charge our devices as much as possible before we take off on our 24 hours of flight. McKenzie got upgraded to Guam, but I'm still in coach, then we're both coach to Honolulu and then first class the rest of the way (HNL-SFO, SFO-PDX). I think I'm tired enough that I'll be able to snooze most of the way to Guam anyway, so no big deal.
Michele is mercifully working for me on Thursday so that I don't have to rush from the airport to the office. We land at 8am, so I have the whole day to recover before working on Friday. Then Hanson on Saturday, drop Z off in Seaside on Sunday (maybe a hike on the coast if I have any energy?), work Monday-Wednesday, play in Seaside with Dee through the following Sunday. Maybe sleep again one day, but probably not soon :)
We spent our last night here on the peak with Adam. "The peak" is the high point on Hong Kong island -- at least the highest public point. Property in this area is the most expensive in the world. There's a mall up there -- like all the malls we went to, it was nothing but super high end stores, and, inexplicably, a Bubba Gump restaurant at the very top, basically the most prime commercial real estate in the world. Anyway we went out on the viewing deck about an hour before sunset, took pictures, then went back out at dark. Here's the view from each -- amazing what a change takes place in about 30 minutes' time:
The architecture here is amazing. All the buildings are super tall and super skinny, unlike NYC where they're super tall and wide. Our hotel was 32 stories (one of the shorter buildings in the city), and there were only 9 rooms on each floor. That's how all these buildings are. Adam pointed out a house on the peak that was 10 stories tall, but just one room per story. The cost of building and living here is astronomical, but everyday purchases were totally reasonable. The exchange rate is fixed to the dollar, and prices were by and large comparable or better than you'd get in the states. Most of our meals were way cheaper than American restaurants would be, and public transit was just a few cents each trip. Taxis were only a few bucks, too.
We spent a couple of hours yesterday shopping the street markets. The malls are all luxury goods, but the street markets are where you can get super cheap (and yeah, cheaply made) souvenirs. McKenzie got a bunch of silk ties for $2 each, and I got a silk dress, and then a few random items that I could just as easily get in the US but not as cheaply. (I added three new wigs to my collection from a costume shop -- $10 apiece for purple, green, and red bobs.) I got a pair of fake Chucks for $12. They look exactly like the real thing, but they have a different label. And I got lots of ridiculous Engrish shirts. I'll model them in the coming weeks and post photos when I do. The street vendors had all kinds of fun stuff for sale, but for some reason, about half of the vendors sold underwear. Just piles and piles of underwear on tables, not in packaging of any kind. I found that interesting.
More photos are on Facebook for now.
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Date: 2013-09-25 10:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-25 03:31 pm (UTC)I love engrish :3
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Date: 2013-09-25 05:08 pm (UTC)