Internet is a strange ordeal. The keyboard is covered in strange Nepali symbols and it confuses my hunt and peck typing. The period(.) key is where it usually is on the keyboard, but isn't marked. Kathmandu is hot, but not as hot as Hong Kong was. We arrived late last night in the dark and sleept very well. I'm going to type out my written journals from the last few days right now and will post more on Kathmandu this evening after I've had a chance to explore. Pictures will be added as soon as I figure out how to upload them.
May 1st - Hong Kong
So after the 20 minutes flight to Vancouver from Victoria,the 6 hours waiting for our connecting flight to Hong Kong,the 13 hours flight to Hong Kong (in uncomfertable economy class seating!) and 12 hours exploring/window shopping the streets of the Hong Kong fashion district we are finally off on the final leg of the trip to Nepal!
The 13hour flight was a bit much. I was very jealous of the business class seats which were recliners that fell back into beds. It was nice of the airline to start pumping perfumed air into the ripening economy cabin halfway through the night though. The food was excellent,all three meals were some sort of rice with some sort of meat poured over top with creamed spinach. Honestly, I have no idea what I ate, but it was tasty. I didn't sleep well, just doozed a few times and mostly watched an entire season of Nikita. When I hit Hong Kong I wasd running on about 4 hours of sleep.
First impressions of Hong Kong is that it seems very sterile and organized. It was very clean and everything was built to look big an imposeing. The airport had domed glass ceilings high above the crowds below. On the fast rail trip to the city from the airport I saw very little personal vehicle traffic. There weren't many cars, and those that were on the roads were electric. There was a big sign advertising a place to plug and charge your car just as we entered the city. The buses run for free and there are a lot of them! Moving people aroung seems to be a big priority there. The airport itself is located on the end of a big spit of land away from the city and the only way to reach the airport is by taking a rapid transit train. They run every 2 minutes and can pack a lot of people. Outside of the train the area was well groomed and manicured. The grass was green and mowed and many of the bushes and trees are carfully shaped. Outside of the city, there weren't many people to be seen. Those that were around were waiting at train stops or working on construction sites. The sidewalks were empty. Hong Kong is not built for single families. I only saw one house which was a fishermans hut. Honk Kong is mostly sky scrapers built in tight and uniform blocks. Some of these communities were larger than the mountains they were next too.
Once we got downtown we left the bus next to the Chanel fashion show room. Through out the day we wouldwander past and there was always a line up of at least 20 people all wearing really expensive clothes and waiting to get inside. Through the window, the place was packed with beautiful people wearing beautiful clothes. I actually didn't see anyone in Hong Kong wearing sweat pants or baggy clothes or looking down on thier luck. There was no visable homelessness, no addictions or illnesses. Definately some shady characters hanging out aroung the mouths of most alleys though. The alleys are apparently an adventure as it's where the best deals are, but by the time you leave the alley most of your stuff can be stolen. We avoided going there.
We spent most of the day exploring downtown Hong Kong and the waterfront area. The temperature was 28 degrees when we left the airport at 8 am, it got really hot and humid from there but we never saw the sun. Inthe afternoon we spent $10 HK to visit the nice, air conditioned art museum and saw some ancient and contemperary pieces from Chinese history. Very cool, yes the pun can be taken both ways.
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