Hong Kong to Vietnam and back

Today I woke up and the first thing I thought was - where is my cat - which is what I'm usually thinking these days when I wake up because he's generally a trouble maker.  I realized I was in Hong Kong and it was still quite early given that I hadn't gotten in to go to bed til late last night.  Allan's friend Kenny picked me up at the airport - hour ride into the heart of Hong Kong.  At midnight the street still had plenty of people and noise.  We found our way into my bizarre hostel - the middle of the Mirador mansions - ricketty old building with lots of character - clothes hanging everywhere out windows  on the box like inside corridors.  He took me for wontoon noodles at about 1am - place was packed even on a Monday night.

Anyway, I found I couldn't fall back asleep on my rock hard mattress this morning and rolled out of bed to go seek a Chinese visa.  After passing the first offer I found a cheaper one for half of the first offer- good move.   Went for lunch at a place I stumbled upon - nice atmosphere, singapore food.  Soon the place was packed with Hongkongese lunch folk and I was pleased I hadn't ended up at a tourist trap- though the chunks of chicken in my singapore curry were huge and full of bones, kind of hard to eat but I managed. 

I got an adapter from my hostel staff and went to charge my phone for a bit and headed over here to Kowloon bay.  The boats floating by with a nice breeze coming of the water and the setting sun was just what I was looking for this evening.  I'm all alone and it would surely be nicer to have someone walking along with me on the Avenue of the stars as I gazed at the view and snapped a few shots of Bruce Lee's statue and Jackie Chan's star  - but I'm content.  Here at Pacific coffee company I'm able to use their internet for free - just my cup of tea - or coffee as it would be.

I'll go stroll by the bay a bit longer perhaps find myself some dinner and plan out my day tomorrow - planning on heading to Lantau to see the Big Buddha statue.

I didn't learn goodbye yet - I'll have to ask Kenny, though I can say hello - Lei ho

So Lei ho from Hong Kong - it's just lovely - wish you were here!

update

I had a bit of a scare last night.  I started back up the Kowloon peninsula from the bay and walked on and on for what seemed like forever given that it was getting late and I couldn't seem to find a good place that I was satisfied with to stop at for dinner.  I ended up finding myself at the Temple night market... found myself some new DVDs which always makes me happy!  I still hadn't found a place to eat though.  Finally I sat myself down at an outdoor table next to the market and got myself my favorite tofu dish - mabo doufu (that 's how we spell it in Japan, I don't know what it is in Chinese).   I was soon accompanied at my table by Matt, an American man from CA and a bit later Andrew, a man from Australia invited himself over to our table.  We talked for a long while about travelling in the area, the world, jobs, teaching English, etc.  It was a very enjoyable conversation.  I wasn't clear what Andrew was doing- just a short vacation... but Matt had quit his job back home, sold his car, etc. and decided he had missed out on travelling for a good part of his life and decided to travel the world for a year or more - man, that must be nice!  He had just come from Vietnam and was headed to China then Russia then Europe from here.  Well eventually it was getting late and I bid them farewell, started on my way back and couldn't find my cellphone.  Man- I KNEW I was going to lose my new cellphone before I left.  I went back and saw Matt again and he helped me to try to find it but no where to be found.  I gave up and just headed to my hotel - he walked with me and was surprised I didn't get more upset.... I hadn't even noticed but I guess he was right - perhaps living around the world has done that to me.... having lost a number of things and number of times and not having been able to do anything about it I don't seem to flip out much anymore.  I know it doesn't help me anyway.  I got to my hotel and started trying to figure out how I'd contact Allan to try to cancel my service plan.  I met some chinese women on the elevator and could tell they were speaking Mandarin and not Cantonese (don't know many words but I know the word for pretty which is what they were saying.) I spoke with one of them for a bit.  I must say - it's fantastic to go around the world and start to discover that you're about to tell a lot about people just from different experiences.  It's so fun.   In my lobby so many people were so helpful and kind to me.  I don't mind travelling alone at all, except for a few lonely moment - still, you meet SO many kind, helpful travelers on your way.  I suppose we're all kind of in the same boat so you just befriend whoever's around.  A guy gave me his phone card and I went to my room, re-checked my bag and oops - my phone was hiding in the bottom!  Silly me!  Perhaps that was a bit retarded of me - but better to have found it than not!  :-)  I met a girl in my hallway - she teaches English in Gifu just north of me - small world.