a slice of life

Hey all, seeing as I'm in Hong Kong for the next few weeks, I thought I'd give little updates of what i've been up to.

So far it has been pretty damn busy. I've been here since Thursday and we've had little excursions everyday which have been pretty tiring! Firstly, I must say that I'd forgotten how great the transport system here is. I know London may be convenient, but Hong Kong is convenient and efficient, and surprisingly, super clean. I mean really clean. Another thing I love is the Octopus Card - essentially the same as London's Oyster Card (I don't know what it is with the transport cards and fishy-O-things!) - which you can use for transport and paying for pretty much anything. Most stores have the option to pay by Octopus Card, it makes things sooo much easier.

Being here in Asia is definately a massive culture shock, I'd forgotten how different things work over here. The people here seem to be much more relaxed (at least in my home town, Sai Kung) but simultaneously much more confrontational, almost? Trying to find places has been kinda problematic for me too. Today my brothers and I spent 3 hours looking for a bar in Mong Kok to no avail - it would appear that Google Maps can be pretty difficult to use when you can't read the language of the country. This has pushed me into the consideration of learning to read and write the language again. I went to "Chinese school" (yeah, i had to learn how to be Chinese...) up until I was 15 and did a GCSE in it, but at the time I didn't realise how helpful it would be for me to retain those skills. Now I can barely recognise most words and am pretty much iliterate in the writing of characters. In hindsight, it feels like a massive loss and waste to have completely forgotten everything I spend years learning.

Anyways, I'm pretty knackered from my hours of endless searching and walking about. It's already 3am and I really need to get some sleep for the day ahead!

Here are a few snaps I've taken from my journey so far - enjoy Smiling emoticon