What the...?!@$*)%

I was really expecting more from my HongKong trip. It wasn't HK itself, just everything concerning the trip. The bright idea was to go the Shenzhen (great city, gorgeous hotel, nice bars, best food I've had yet) and then cross the LouHo border into HK. &$)*^$@ brilliant. I packed light (so light I had to buy a top to wear on the last day and wear flip flops instead of sneakers and socks because I had NO clean clothes. It was such a royal pain in the tuckus to lug my little rollie up and down staircase after staircase, through two sets of gates where they took one look at my passport and looked me up (do I really look like I'm going to do anything to anyone? Steups). If you plan on doing this, DON'T. Fly into HK. The hotel was the worst roach ridden piece of crap I ever had the displeasure to set foot in (but somehow managed marble floors in the lobby to fool you and lure you into it's roach and fungi infested trap).

But, anyway, I had loads of fun. I took pictures of the coolest Chinese medicine I've ever seen until some guy saw me, yelled, slammed his chair against the wall and ran at me as if he was going to show me how it really goes down in HK. lol. I ran. Fast.

The shopping was disappointing. I expected to see really good stuff really cheap. I saw really good stuff really expensive and really cheap stuff really cheap. lol. But I got a great deal on tea and perfume. Apparently I was in the wrong district.

The malls are amazing, and the subways are spotless, relatively quiet and very modern (looks more like an airport). Basically, Hong Kong, much like what I've seen of urban mainland China, makes New York look like the third world. But let's not forget that the air is so thick you can cut it with a knife.... Our first tour guide in Beijing spoke of global warming as a fact, not speculation.