Birthday in Hong Kong

The flight to Hong Kong was a good 16 hours, with only a slight delay before takeoff. I didn't get as much sleep as I had hoped, but it was enough to set me on a reasonable Hong Kong time zone schedule. My current routine is to stay up late, go to bed early, and take a nap sometime during the day. This works well since I'm usually pretty tired after our mid-day activity.

The first night was uneventful. My brother picked me up from the airport and I rented a cell phone (not as cheap as one would hope given the ubiquitous technology here). We headed back to his place where Claire, Marc's girlfriend, joined us and we watched an episode of the Office. I didn't get a glimpse of the city that night, but the subway system (MTR) is (1) very clean, (2) efficient, and (3) very handicap accessible.

As I found out the next morning, the city itself is nowhere near as scrubbed-down as the MTR. I explored Hong Kong a bit and watched Tai Chi (there are 1-hour lessons for tourists this week which I plan to do). The city is very compact and has started to be built on levels, somewhat akin to the futuristic visions of Asimov, the 5th Element writers, and some Star Wars series. For instance, one of Marc's co-workers lives in a high rise whose front door is on the ground floor and whose back door is on the 15th floor. But, instead of the levels demarcating socio-economic status (as in the sci-fi literature), pedestrians of all stripes use the second level to get away from the traffic.

On the first day, Claire and I explored Kowloon via the Star Ferry. As will be the weather for my entire stay here, there were scattered showers, but we just went inside occasionally to avoid the wetness. The good thing about the weather this time of year in HK, is that if you don't like the conditions, just wait five minutes and they will change. We ventured into the Museum of Art and the Museum of Space (the latter of which needs some serious updating). There was a nice Indian market with some good cheap eats as well.

That night, we explored the longest series of escalators in the world and found a synagogue that hopefully I will be able to get to on Friday for Shabbat. We ate some Thai food and then went out to the infamous Lan Kwai Fong for a drink and then a nearby club for some dancing. The night scene in Hong Kong is pretty rockin, though space constraints severely limit dance floor size.

Got up early yesterday to start off my birthday celebration with some jogging. This city bustles even at 8am on a Saturday. On Chu's recommendation, I tried some egg tart, which lived up to its reputation. We met up with Marc's former MIT lab partner who is from Hong Kong to shop in quaint Stanley market. Supposedly, you were supposed to bargain with the shopkeepers, but (1) the items were tagged at *very* reasonable prices, and (2) the store owners didn't show a disposition to bargaining. Several times I expressed interest in an item and walked away. In Israel that would elicit a lower price, but not here.

Saturday night we had dinner in Stanley market and watched some of the Ashes, the yearly cricket match between England and Australia. After a nap back at Marc's place, it was off to Lan Kwai Fong again, this time for some Jazz. There was no dance floor to compliment the jazz, so the night continued with bouncing to Indian beats at Club 97. I notices a few gay couples there, and as I Googled afterwards, club 97 is a "gay club" on Fridays. That would somewhat explain why I got hit on in the bathroom... Certainly a birthday unlike any other I've had.