Well, my bag was only 16 lbs overweight. I guess that is not too bad for how much I had in it.
My first vision of Hong Kong was its smog. The hills on the islands would be beautiful, if you could see them.
I checked my suitcase at the airport. The airline broke the handle on my suitcase (well after Beijing the handle woudn't stay down and Dragon Air broke it off) so I was more then happy to check it at the HK aiport. This way I only have to lug it around two more times. After I checked my suitcase I proceeded to get Hong Kong dollars and then hop on the airport exress train to Kowloon where I grabbed a cab to my hotel.
Cantonese and English are the languages of choice here, so I had a bit of a problem with the cab driver. His English wasn't very good and my Cantonese is non-existent. So eventually he called someone on the phone and had them translate for us.
I am staying at the YMCA. I know that sounds wierd. They have hotel rooms for a very reasonable price (about 1/3 of what I would pay across the street at the Intercontinental or next door at the Pennisula). It is clean and functional. Much nicer then the places I stayed in Beijing or Shanghai. I checked in and dropped off my stuff with no issue. After I was all settled in I went out for a walk down Nathan Rd. The walk ended up being quite a tour (several hours long). Once back at the hotel I read a little and then called Kevin.
Not a really exciting day, but a good start.
Hong Kong is much more like Tokyo then it is Beijing or Shanghai. I can't really think of a US City like any of the 4 cities I have been in on this trip. They are all so different. Hong Kong has a huge amount of traffic (both auto and foot) and bikes are practically non existent. Cabs are everywhere and cheap, although I was kind of thrown around the back seat of my first one like a ping pong ball.
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