Hong Kong II…and On

Alright, I’ve bought a skirt and braved the noodle stalls, my laundry’s done and my bag is packed, I’ve got a Chinese visa in my passport and a bus ticket to Zhaoqing, and I’m ready to get the hell out of Hong Kong. Not that it’s not a hilarious place to visit, but man, I need a bit of space. It is just so crowded here.  

On Saturday, I took a bus to Stanley, which is…well, it’s another market and another mall (markets and malls, that’s HK), but it’s also on the Southern (?) coast of HK Island, and it was a nice change of pace. There are also some shrines there, tended by bald nuns in long, gray robes who keep the deities well stocked with incense and grapefruits. I then went over to Aberdeen, which is a bustling harbor with a ton of touts trying to get you to come for a ride on their boat. I had a nice, long walk through an industrial area to get there, because I stupidly followed some clueless Brits off the bus two stops early.

On Sunday, I’d planned to go to Macau for the day, but sadly, sometime in the night my legs crossed over from “very sore” to “unusable,” and I also felt pretty burnt out, so I took it easy. I sat around in the park all morning watching all the old folk do their tai chi, and then I went to the history museum, which I probably should have done when I first got here, as I would have known a lot more about what I’ve been looking at for four days.

HK’s been a very good starter city; things are sure to get a lot hairier from here on out. I arrive in Zhaoqing at about 7 tonight, so I’m a bit nervous about finding a room. But I can’t wait to see mainland China!