day 11: shang-bye

Wake up, pack up, go downstairs for a late breakfast. Auntie Wendy has friends over playing mahjong and they join us for the meal too. One couple is there to look into buying property. Seems like the place to buy. I wonder… We call a taxi, and take it to the airport. No bullet train back this time. Oh well. Loooooong line to get out of the country at the immigration checkpoint. No worries though, we’re not in any rush. Get on our plane to Hong Kong. This time, no layover there, we actually stay one day. We have a late flight out, so we arrive fairly late. Getting through immigration there isn’t that bad though. I feel the airport there is well advanced, and we came in at a fairly random day so there aren’t too many people traveling. We take a shuttle to Kowloon, a northern part of the Hong Kong islands. That’s where I booked the hotel at the Salisbury YMCA Hotel. The architecture of the city is quite intriguing, as most seem to be built in unison, built in close proximity like dominoes ready to fall. We arrive at the hotel, with a light sprinkle falling on us. Seems the rain has followed us here too. We check in, settle in, and head back out to check out the city a little. We walk quite a ways up some main roads, neon lights beckoning us on every corner and alleyway. It’s quite the spectacle to see the signs hanging high over the road, just above the double decker buses. We walk through markets, stores, an crazy arcade with video games that seem way more advanced than anything we have in the states. We walk back through an open air mall, where there are several food stands. I buy some bacon-wrapped mini-hotdogs on a stick. SOOO tasty. Gotta have more. Find another stand as we keep walking. Shumai on a stick, dim sum dumplings that I love. Two sticks of snacks, plenty to eat. I could live here forever too! Cheap and tasty, who could ask for more? Head back to the hotel. Bed.