Walked around; made huge expanding loop; ended up in Wan Chai, took the MTR home; walked some more around Times Square; Sogo dept. store, etc... bought myself a bag to carry around, so I don't have to keep so many things in my pockets anymore.
Had lunch at a McDonalds, because (I figured) I'm going to be here a looong time, and if I don't find nourishment, I'm going to die. So I figured I'd better establish my "fallback" foods first, and then gradually branch out to the offal that passes for food around here. The burger was remarkably non-unusual. The french fries had a slightly different taste... probably from being boiled in pig livers... and the meat might even have been cow. The whole experience was (I'm embarrassed to admit) too comforting.
But man, it was hot out there... Back at home, changed into cooler clothes & relaxed for a few hours; dreading the arrival of dinnertime...
Eventually, I needed to go back out to find me some food; found myself wandering in circles looking for something remotely edible that wasn't an American chain (I'm going to try to limit myself to one cop-out meal per day). Ended up finding a "deli" in the supermarket; got a ham & cheese on tortilla sandwich wrap. It came with jam on it, for some reason... but hey, that doesn't qualify as a weird food choice to me anymore.
Stopped in the Communist bookstore & coffee shop, and found a couple of good books; one on Cantonese and one on Chinese writing. The proprieter was very friendly; he suggested I come back for some coffee and relax and read. What does it mean that the most comfortable hangout I've found yet is a Communist joint? I guess it's only a matter of time before I'm marching to oust the bourgeois pigs.
Walked around some more, bought some nice sunglasses, some snacks, etc... then came home.
It's amazing how many people are out on the streets at any given moment. Whether or not it will start to grate on me in time, I don't know. For the time being, I find it exciting. That'll probably all change when I get mugged, though.
At this point, I'd like to point out a "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" kind of thing about all these buildings in Hong Kong. They're all built with no metal scaffolding at all... the workers build them while standing on scaffolding
made of nothing but bamboo... tied together! It's hard to believe, but when tied using their methods, the bamboo goes up quickly, supports everybody's weight, and disassembles quickly. Apparently, there's a special group that knows how to do this, and creates the scaffolding for all the projects in the entire city. And it's only occasionally that one of them accidentally drops some bamboo and skewers a pedestrian below.
