I forgot how much I needed to get used to sleeping in a Chinese bed again. Spring mattresses aren’t that common here so both my pillow and mattress are made of foam, my first night sleep was a little…challenging?
I also forgot that outside the US, many showers have an electric hot water heater. I didn’t give mine sufficient time to warm up so I had a very quick extremely cold shower.
I fell asleep around 1am and now it’s 5, basically a 4 hour nap which isn’t bad I suppose. I’ll probably have to grab some coffee later in the afternoon to stay awake through dinner though.
Being in a different part of the world that I’m not used to feels so weird. Like, right now I know that it’s 3pm in Minneapolis, I know EXACTLY where everyone I know should be: co workers are at their cubes, Jonathan is most likely playing with Speedy because he got home from school half an hour ago, and Joanna is working at the dental office. It’s definitely a weird feeling and I haven’t determined if it makes the world a bigger or smaller place.
I tried all the wifi networks and everyone has a password which was frustrating. I forgot to bring my flashdrive so that might be one of the first things I purchase here so when I type my blogs on my laptop, I can just bring it to an internet café and post from there just in case they don’t have wifi.
One thing I forgot to mention is where I’m staying for the time being. My family has an extra apartment they use when they’re traveling through HK because many of them live in Panama and do a TON of business in China so it makes more sense just to have a place everyone in the family can share.
The place is in Tsim Sha Tsui, on the Kowloon side of HK. If I were walking down the street alone and were coming here for the first time, I definitely would have missed it. The entrance into the building is just a door in between the entrance to a store and a bar.
Calvin told me that part of the building is used as a Korean hotel. The fire alarm will go off on occasion at 3am because the residents don’t care and will smoke in their hotel rooms.
Walking around with him last night to get dinner was overwhelming to me with just the fact that there was so much to take in. I felt that I was in a maze because all the buildings were really tall and literally right next to each other, very unlike downtown Minneapolis. It is very easy to just walk around and stare all the colored signs, billboards, and people and not even notice you’re walking in the middle of traffic.
I couldn’t help but feel somewhat at home because I didn’t particularly stand out. Of course, the Chinese fashion scene isn’t something I’m comfortable with so I will stick with my GAP shirts and jeans.
I feel super lucky to be able to stay here for a few days without having to worry about paying for a hotel or anything. I didn’t bring that much cash on me and currency exchange is a little tricky unless you have the right connections, not to mention the fact that I don’t have a cell phone either at the moment. My mind is still blown with the fact that I booked my plane tickets only a week ago and here I am in Hong Kong. I feel super relaxed and excited to see what turns out from this no-plan vacation I seem to have gotten myself into.
For those who are reading, please give me some feedback about what you think about my posts. Let me know what you want to hear and what you find boring. I think that once you get into the working world and out of school there are not many opportunities to write and this is a good way for me to improve my ability to communicate and express what I’ve seen during my trip.
