No good title

Greetings friends!

Today was very pleasurable. I again woke up at noon and proceeded with my plan to go to the HK Wetland Park. It wasn't sunny when I got out but I spent the next 40 minutes sitting on the MTR (equivalent to Helsinki's metro or more accurately Stockholm's Tunnelbana) and on the Light Rail (a cross of the tram and the cityjuna in Helsinki) so it didn't matter. On the way I read my new Klosterman as the views were horrendous. Every suburbia we passed was as awful as the one before. I guess this is what you have to do when you fit a billion people in to one country. Although the high risers are plenty and ugly the people inhabiting them seem normal. No smelly bums or poor immigrants were hanging out at the subway stations. The locals just must be more okay with living in crowded places than yours truly.

When I arrived at the Wetland park it started raining. Fortunately there was stuff to see inside the compound. After eating I headed out to the park as it had stopped raining. There wasn't much to see and I was mostly appalled by the ugly high-risers next to the park entrance. The one thing I would've like to capture on my camera was the crocodile mascot of the park. As I was going back inside to the main building I heard a bunch of kids screaming and yelping "Poi Poi!" They were enthusiastically screaming at the crocodile Pui Pui who was swimming in his little habitat. He swam towards a drain and then he turned. Straight. At. Me.

I felt the little eyes of the 1.5 m crocodile go right through me and had there not been a glass separating us I would've been a leg shorter. I knew this and he knew this too. I froze and left only after Pui Pui returned to the shore and lay still. Why the kids liked him so much I'll never understand.

On the way back I continued reading and in an essay about watching people, like neighbors, through windows Klosterman made a point that doing that is interesting because the watcher can't know what'll happen next as opposed to what's happening next in our own lives. Not knowing makes people feel good. That's how I felt today.

For my endeavors today I bought a 1-day MTR Pass and after a brief stop at the Hostel I headed to a shopping district in Eastern HK Island. I didn't even find what I was looking for but I think that's even better. I walked the length of two MTR stations, ate on the way and had no idea where I really were cause I couldn't see the sea or any familiar buildings and I hadn't bothered taking a map either. But I felt alive!

I returned to the Hostel and as I finish writing this paragraph I'm meeting my friend Baabäk at the Avenue of Stars before returning here to pack my stuff and shower. Tomorrow I fly to Brisbane where I'll spend the night and the next morning I fly to Cairns where it's almost as warm as here bit not quite. After that I don't know what happens. But that's okay cause I. Feel. Alive.

Write to you soon, bye!

No Beer No Dad

No beer, no dad indeed

Hong Kong - Day 2 / 3

I just wanted to give an upbeat update on my condition here in Hong Kong. I still miss home but having money in your wallet helps your spirits immensely.

I woke up at noon today. That's 7 AM in Finland but I don't think my jet lag is too bad. I headed to the ferries and sailed to HK Island. There I explored on foot and spent a long time at a Dymocks book store in IFC mall (just below the second tallest building in Hong Kong, IFC 2).

Next I headed to the Central to midlevel escalators, a shopping and dining area connecting Central with, surprise, supplies, Midlevel. What a name for a place. The escalator is the longest continous collection of escalators and walkways at a total of 900 meters. I went up, and then I walked back down.

After that I headed back east to visit Bank of China Tower. I heard there was a viewing platform but it was all just a big bank. I returned to IFC and the Dymocks where I finally found a book by Chuck Klosterman. After reading the first paragraph I bought it for 150HK$. I ferried back to Kowloon, bought drinks and checked my iPhone.

Symphony of Lights was at 8 PM so I headed out to see that. It was nice and all, but two of the buildings looked good while the others barely looked like anything. 15 minutes and a lot of wasted electricity later the hoards of Chinamen started to leave and so did I. Comfortably I strolled around for an hour after which I retreated back here. Now I'll shower and probably read my new book.

Tomorrow I'm going to HK Wetland park which should take a good portion of my day since it's 40 minutes away on the train.

I might write again tomorrow, take care my good readers!

It's on like Hong Kong

Or is it?

This post is long cause it's therapeutic to write. And I NEED therapy.

It's 11:25 PM and I'm at a hostel room in Kowloon just across the canal from Hong Kong island. But let's review how I got here.

At Helsinki-Vantaa I bought a Premiere magazine which I read for the whole flight to Amsterdam. I did take a last foggy look at Helsinki when we ascended and saw the Pasila TV tower as the closest thing to home.

The first flight was easy. At Amsterdam I had a lot of time to burn, so I scoured the bookstores for new magazines and books but ended up buying nothing. I ate a slice of Pepperoni pizza and finished the mag before heading to my gate.

I flew to Hong Kong on a 747 Jumbo Jet for Cathay Pacific Airways. I had an okay seat cause next to me were a an Asian family of three and next to me was the bigger of the two boys. They were so polite that I didn't have to get up once to make room for his bathroom breaks.

Cathay had an excellent on flight entertainment selection and I'm glad my next flight is without them too. I ended up watching familiar stuff like Kick-Ass, Hot Tub Time Machine and episodes of Modern Family.

Sleeping on an airplane sucks. The seats on this flight didn't go back as much as they slid forward. My ass was really sore no matter what the position but I did sleep for about three hours before being woken up for breakfast. We arrived to Hong Kong at about 7:30 am.

At the airport I got my stuff, changed into my shorts and headed out to the express train. I checked from a map that the station closest to my hotel was Kowloon. I decided to walk from there. Somewhere I lost my map so I tried to rely on my navigation skills. That backfired, badly. I actually walked in a huge circle at one point before finding the right street.

Sweating like a pig, I found the right address but there were no hostels to be seen as I made my way around the block. I checked the address and headed in to the corridor. The next step was finding the right floor. Which was one floor above check in. Check in didn't begin until 2 PM and it was only 10 AM. But I did get to leave my stuff at the "reception"  (a foldable table next to an elevator) of the hostel.

Quickly I headed out to see the closest sights. I checked out the Avenue of Stars on the waterfront before heading for a ferry to HK Island. It cost $2 which is about 18 cents so that was nice.

I was feeling really crappy but then I decided to take a bus tour around the city to kill time and to understand the city a little better. It made me feel a lot better.

I even took a tram up the hill and looked down at the city from about 5-600 meters. The rest of the bus trip seemed to last forever and I was really tired in need of a nap. After 3 PM I got back to the hostel and checked in. I'd already paid 90€ but they asked me for $200 extra, $100 of which I'd get back when I leave.

My room was small as hell. I do have my own shower, but it's almost above the toilet.

Fortunately there's a good air conditioner. I was almost out of cash, hungry, sunburned and my iPhone's battery was running low. So I headed out to correct that stuff. I ate McDonald's, haggled to pay 10€ for a charger I can only use for three days and I bought some aloe vera. But withdrawing cash was harder than I thought and after giving the wrong personal number twice I gave up and retreated to my room almost penniless. I enjoyed the Wi-Fi for a second and napped until 9 pm. After showering I finally was able to withdraw some money and to my surprise the problem was the wrong personal number I'd given.

I felt so stupid. Cash got my spirits up a little. But while I was having dinner at an actual Asian restaurant I started to think about my friends and girlfriend, which bought a tear to my eye as it does now. I really miss everybody and I really don't want to spend two more days in this humid and hot hellhole where every peddler on the street is trying to sell me a suit because I'm the whitest dude they've seen all day. This place sucks and the culture shock is something I didn't anticipate. Instead of enjoying myself this summer I should've been preparing myself mentally but there wasn't enough time.

The worst part about this all is the fact that I'm all alone. Sure it's fun to be alone when you're surrounded by 300 DVDs and everybody you care about is a phone call away. Or even when you've just spent a week with your parents and you're sleeping in the back of a car in New Zealand for a week. Yeah, but this time it's at least four months before I meet anyone I know.

I know it'll be a lot easier in Australia where I can understand what's going on around me. Here, the only English I hear is either someone selling me suits (how unstylish am I?), selling me something else or a recording on a tour bus. I actually hope I meet someone Finnish in Australia, soon.

Tomorrow I'll do something mega-touristy to make thd time go faster and check out the Symphony of Lights which were cancelled today because of the hostage in Manila.

I'm not counting the days but I can't say see you soon either. Any encouragement and donations are appreciated. My e-mail is pelksaka@gmail.com.

I miss you, I'll write again soon.