Okay so we set out for the train station. The public transportation in Hong Kong is amazing. Easy to use, convenient, and cheap. We went and purchased Octopus Cards. Octopus cards are like little credit cards that are used on all public transportation in HK, and even taken in restaurants and vending machines. So we got those and hopped on the train to Kowloon Tong to go to the mall to get our coffee on. So we went into Festival Walk, which is the mall just outside the train station. This mall is incredibly clean... and huge. There was an ice skating rink inside. I tell you I have never seen so much shopping in my life.
From there Chris we hopped on another train up to Yau Ma Tei... Chris wanted to show us some crazy shopping districts where the signs covered the sky and people were packed in tight. We also walked through some markets that had produce and fresh fish swimming in little styrofoam tanks of sorts. This was very intriguing until one large fish decided to take a flying leap out of his tank missing my face by inches. I'll admit it scared the crap out of me and was definitely not what I expected... therefore a few curse words were yelled and I hopped away as Kevin took a picture of the flying fish. That was enough market for me, so we kept walking. We were getting hungry so we stopped at a pizza joint to grab a bite. I think one of Chris's favorite foods is Nachos, and so we got some there. What they brought out to us was quite interesting. It was... nacho flavored Doritos, covered in cheese, beans, and all the fixings. It seemed a little redundent to me, but... they were good. After there we headed toward the water. We walked around a little bit and decided to take the Star Ferry over. You would think... man taking a boat across the water would be expensive, but it was like 25 cents American. SO we took that across the way and ventured into the heart of Hong Kong.
It was on the boat that Chris explained to us that in Hong Kong everyone had a maid. EVERYONE. And Sunday is their day off, but they aren't allowed to stay at the house with the families... so... every Sunday there are hordes and hordes of these women just lining the streets and different areas. Most of them sitting on cardboard playing cards and eating or just... sitting. When we got to downtown is was even more than I could have imagined. A lot of these women are really well educated as well, but they can make more in HK as maids than they could in their home countries being lawyers and such.
So when we get off the boat and start trekking across downtown we see tons of these ladies around. Its weird.
SO we walked around and around... through some parks, which are more like landscaped paths. At this point I am huffing and puffing because its 90 degrees out, plus humidity, plus I sit behind a desk for a living. We headed back to Chris's at about this point. We were going to meet some friends of his for dinner and so went back to take a little rest before then. We got back around 4 or 5 I think and man was I beat. I was so tired in fact that I decided I'd lay down for a little bit. Cut to 7 o'clock Chris comes in and asks Kevin and I if we wanted to go out... I don't remember responding, but I believe it was a no, then cut to the next morning when I woke up. Yeah... we slept forever. Miles of walking + heat - 15 hour time difference = JET LAG.
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