Getting as much ultraviolet light as possible

It is sunny and 21 degrees (69.8 Eastern Orthodox) here in Kowloon Park, multiple birds are making funny sounds with their throats, and leaves are gently waving around in the air.

Yesterday I boated to Lantau Island, and then took an exhilarating bus ride to the giant Buddha statue. The name does not lie; the size of the thing is a little startling. It reminds me of a Harvey Birdman episode (Harvey Birdman is a former superhero who became a lawyer but still retains his super powers [which he only uses occasionally], his costume [which is now worn underneath a business suit], and his big blue wings [which he also usually doesn't use]). The episode starts with Harvey sitting at his desk, writing something or doodling. He sits there for a minute or two, and then he rotates a little bit in his swivel chair, and his wings move out of the way to reveal that his "sidekick", Peanut, is standing right behind him. Harvey jumps out of his chair. Glancing up and seeing this giant Buddha statue sitting above me was kind of like that.

I also visited the Po Lin Monastery, which has a few vegetarian restaurants, a lot of large incense pots, a few temples, and many areas under construction. Around that are the obligatory expensive tourist shops, cafes, and restaurants with "Gourmet Oriental" cuisine. I didn't stay very long.

Last night after dinner I met up with my friend Annie for tea. Afterward on the way home I stopped at the 7-11 near Mirador Mansions to get some water, but to get to the water aisle I first had to get past the huddles of people who were standing around drinking beer and wine out of little paper cups. "7-11 party?" I asked the cashier. She told me it was for their regular customers, but I was welcome to join anyway.

Hong Kong is warm.

Sleeping in a room with no windows can be very disorienting. But when I opened the door to the inner courtyard walkway and was greeted by the bright sunlight bouncing off the white walls across the way, and the sounds of people and animals and cars down below, I immediately felt grounded. This is the first really sunny day--and the first day when it's been warm enough to wear only a jacket and a shirt--that I've seen in a while.

I walked up Nathan Road, away from the harbor. A short way up, big, snaking banyan trees line the road, the concrete sidewalk turns to brick, and the seedy tailors, money changers, and gift shops are replaced by expensive yuppie fashion stores, jewelers, and cafes. For a minute I actually imagined I was on State Street in Santa Barbara.

For breakfast I wandered onto a narrow street lined with little Chinese restaurants and got a table at a place that was so jammed I ended up sharing a tiny, two-seat table with a middle-aged civil engineer. In addition to Cantonese he spoke some English and Mandarin, so he helped me order a bowl of hot soy milk and a big green onion pancake, which I will henceforth refer to as a "Chinese Latke". A bowl of dòu jiāng in Chengdu costs exactly one yuan (15 cents). At this place it was more like a dollar. The Chinese Latke was also a dollar. After breakfast (and some hassle having to do with adaptors not working, etc.) I went to a big chain cafe (where I am now) to use the internet, and a cup of regular black coffee cost me three dollars. That is approximately twenty-two bowls of soy milk.

Back in HK

I'm about to run out of batteries so I'll make a really quick post. This evening I arrived back in Hong Kong. Originally I was planning to take the train again, but then I realized that would entail spending more time on the train than in Hong Kong proper (if you consider the train out of and into Hong Kong an extension of Hong Kong's essence). So I flew. The flight was only a little over two hours (compared to 30 hours!) but it still felt like a long journey after the cab, the delay at the gate, the long bus ride from the Shenzhen airport to the train station, and then the long train ride from the border to Hong Kong. For old time's sake I had dinner at that "tea house" in Shenzhen where I whiled away the night a couple months ago. This time ordering was a lot easier.

In the bathroom at the train station while I was relieving myself I looked down and saw two small pink things on the floor next to me. On closer inspection I realized that they were fingers. It made me think of all the other scandalous and/or horrific things that may have happened in places where I have been, before I arrived.

When I got to Hong Kong the things that struck me most were the narrowness of the streets and the abundance of bright signs sticking out from the buildings. Next to Chengdu's wide, perpetually-under-construction boulevards and relative drabness, Hong Kong feels both venerable and vibrant. But then after you've been offered your 15th hand-tailored shirt this vibrancy can start to get a little bit annoying (though this only seems to happen in Kowloon). The first thing I did after checking into the guest house (the same one as last time in Mirador Mansions, although I got a different room; the last one was 160 HKD a night for what I thought of at the time as "four walls and a bed" and a bathroom the size of a closet. This new room is 120 HKD and is literally four walls and a bed, and the bathroom is shared this time. But that's OK.), and after stocking up on bottled water and tea and having a second dinner at the vegetarian Indian restaurant nearby, was try to log onto Facebook for the first time in two months. Unfortunately, the internet wasn't working in my room. Fortunately, there is an internet cafe two floors down that has good internet (which is where I am now). Unfortunately, my battery has run out so this is the end of this post.