HK-Day 5-Wednesday
Ok, after the VERY long day yesterday, we still had a full day planned. The list of things to accomplish were long.
- Laundry
- See if we could alter our flights to stay a few days longer
- Get Hotel reservations if we do
- Buy essential clothes
- Buy more power converters
- Buy a wired headset so Skype is possible
- See some culture, people, places (i.e. red light district)
Mission Accomplished
On the way to drop of our laundry at a Chinese Laundry – always wanted to say that – we came across an unexpected temple. However, the laundry wasn’t open until 8am, so we had to wait or go back to the hotel and do other things. FYI, we’ve been living on 4 hours of sleep a night since Sunday. There is simply too much to do here and we haven’t been the most efficient travelers.
Back in the hotel, we notice another cruise ship coming in to Kowloon and snap a few pictures. There seems to be less haze this morning too.
The main entrance to our hotel – seems we should have taken that on Saturday evening. Sorry. I’ve been taking more digital pictures on this trip with my new camera than I have in the last 10 years with my 35mm one.
Dry Cleaners agree to have the laundry ready "after 7pm today." They did. Everything will be closed on Chinese New Years day – Thursday.
Ok, so we are off to find the computer mall and end up in a mall, just not the right mall. It does have a Krispy Kreme, so it isn’t all bad. Neither Jim nor I partake. I haven’t been worrying about following my diet since we’ve been walking, standing, going 12 hours a day at least. The mall has 9 levels, three are just for food with a food court elsewhere. We shop for electronics, power, underwear, socks, shirts, pants since I packed very lightly. The right mall is named WANCHAI COMPUTER CENTRE, if you find yourself looking for it. It is half a block from the Wan Chai MTR station – clearly hidden from us.
Jim finds a watch store AND a watch that has a unique capability. What do don’t see is the sales girl running out to stop Jim from taking a picture of the watch. Seems they don’t like pictures of merchandise. I guess they didn’t see me snap that other pict. We never asked, but I suppose duplication of merchandise is a REAL problem here of all places?
Lunch – mummmm good (see Jim’s picts). We hope you enjoy the pre-post pictures. Sadly, we usually forget to take the untouched first image until after a few bites for some reason. The meal today was from a mall food court – US$7 or so. If you ask for Diet Coke, you aren’t likely to get what you want. Coke Lite is the proper term.
Next we seem to have found ourselves in the red light district. On the train ride here, Jim was groped by a woman as she left the train. He felt violated. Ok, we’re down a fed blocks and there are more interesting buildings. I need a rest, so we stop into a park for a sit and try to figure were we need to head next – coffee/internet cafe.
Recharged and knowing where we went wrong earlier, we find the computer mall with a McDonald’s next to it (see Jim’s picts). It is 2 floors of every desktop, laptop, ultra-portable, smart phone, PDA, Audio/Visual or related tiny shops. HK$80 later and I have a new USB media reader and Jim has lens cleaner, power converters, and is considering lots of other purchases. Fry’s is impressive. This place is more impressive and the shop keepers are extremely knowledgeable about everything they have, unlike Fry’s.
Back home where Jim lines up Hotels for the extra days (they are all full this weekend due to the new year celebration) and a small siesta for me. We pick up the laundry (yawn) and head to a "surprise" according to Jim. It is a huge mall in the HK suburbs – Tai Koo. As you may know, getting out of the subway station nearest where you need to be can be difficult when there are 6 different exits.
