Gale winds, nut flushes, and lasagna.

I'm going to have to say that Hong Kong was a wonderful experience. With a loose schedule, on-the-spot itinerary, and great weather, I could not have been more relaxed. I ate some great food, met some entertaining characters, and sight saw my touristy little ass off. I explored the city so much that I knew more about Oscar's neighbourhood than he did. I even won money at an 'underground' poker house in the midst of a level 9 typhoon warning last night. What a way to cap it!

Oscar was the consummate host. He treated me to dinners, took me to the hot night spot, and met me at the airport! His brother also made sure that all the finer details of my stay were taken care of. As well, his parents were very pleasant and his father gave me advice on where to buy my plane ticket.

In the obvious ways, Hong Kong differed greatly from Tokyo. Things were less tidy here, building signs jutted out instead of shot up, public garbage cans were plentiful, and English was abundant. Cab drivers were rude, clueless, and dangerous, but that's the Chinese way! Food was cheap but so was generally everything else like public transport and discount furniture. And unlike Tokyo, trains were full of cell phone chatter (though, as too were the museum theatres. Man I wanted to smack that kid.).

I don't want to overgeneralize but my jaw rarely dropped from after seeing an attractive Hong Kong girl. They just don't do style here like they do in Japan. Hong Kong is not a place for creative fashion among the populace. I don't know how to describe it but they do 'rural' pretty well here. Only at night in Lai Kwai Fong (the bar district) do the models (mostly white) come out and strut their stuff. Unfortunately, the sheer number of Western male expats (sporting their untucked dress shirts with collars so wide they could go hang-gliding) in the same vicinity just makes the overall style points of Hong Kong plummet to the ground.

But I came here for one reason and one reason only: to expose myself to the Chinese culture. Much like the hork exiting from the old man's throat, the Chinese are obtrusive, loud, and yellow, but managed to divert my path for the last time. I say this because when I was younger, I could not have cared less about Hong Kong. I didn't really take any pride in my heritage.

But this whole trip, which started in Japan, was a medium for me to learn more about myself by removing myself from Western society and placing myself in a whole other context. That went well. And after that ran its course I sought Hong Kong on my own terms, away from my mother's usual influence, and I'm glad I came to see it for myself, by myself (remember FUBU, Pat?).

No itinerary. No time limit. No sweat.

Actually, lots of sweat.

Roll call!!

ULTRA MAGNUS

HSBC Headquarters, Standard Chartered

The hood

Oscar lives here:



Which is next to here:


here:

and here:

Sorry but the pics don't capture all the grit and grime.

Time is Love

Move over Big Daddy Kane, we have a new goosebumper

(L-R) Jack Swagger, gitty-azzed wrestling fan, Evan Bourne

Actually, I had more sweaty palms than goosebumps during this wrestling show. Jericho vs. Mysterio = worth every motherf*cuking penny. Live wrestling shows are FUN and I'll easily go to the next one in a heartbeat.

19.9kg!

Ho's before Bro's in HK
The Tokyo adventure's over. I am now in Hong Kong staying at my friend Oscar's place in Kowloon. He lives in a luxury condo in an industrial centre. Next door grimey shirtless dudes with cigarettes dangling from their lower lip are carting tropical fruits off of trucks into warehouses. Same situation across the street, but another kind of fruit.

But I can't wait for the condo people to fill Oscar's swimming pool with water. Until then, I'll have to settle for his maid doing my laundry. Or maybe there's something good on on the TV in the bathroom.

First morning observations:

Chinese people are kinda ugly
Jay walking is the shit here
The sights (ugly people), the sounds (loud-talking ugly people), and the smells (not of B.O. like Tokyo, but of the streets like Chinatown).