The dogs are barkin!

I am totally exhausted.

I got up this morning and decided to go check out Central, which is really the center of Hong Kong Island. Before that, I went to the convention center (which sort of looks like the Opera House in Sydney, only somewhat squashed). They were having a huge wedding trade show, so there were cute couples running everywhere. Central is was a neat combination of major shopping with these crazy side streets that went straight up the mountainside. There were Chanel and Prada stores right next to little shops that you'd swear you could buy a gremlin from. They also had a huge carnival; you could hear people screaming for miles down the road. When I couldn't hardly walk any further, I turned around and picked up some groceries at The Great. While lugging my groceries home, I ended up in the middle of a huge protest against communist China down the middle of Queensway. Full on marching bands, with people handing out flyers of mangled bodies. Nice.

After a quick nap (I passed out with my shoes on and everything), I was ready for more. This time, I went to opposite direction toward Causeway Bay. Holy cow - it had the most amazing shopping I have ever seen in my life. I cannot believe how much awesome shopping is here. I don't know how anyone could ever make a dent in it. Thousands and thousands of stores. In skyscrapers, underground, in tiny shacks down scary little alleys. I was completely overwhelmed. And the people. This is definitely a night crowd. It was 11:00 and I couldn't believe how many people were out and about. Entire families with little kids. All the stores were still open, with hundreds of people milling around. They have their own version of Time Square, which is not quite as grand as NYC, but clearly along the same lines.

Hong Kong is really gearing up for Chinese New Year (thus a lot of the decorations you'll see in the pictures). It's the year of the pig, so they had all these models running around wearing pig noses. Weird. By the end of the night, I was glad to be home in the old ho 'stro. They were aggressive tonight, and two ladies literally tried to pull me into the bar by the arm. I told them I was headed for Cockeye's (which ironically is right next to "The San Francisco"), both of which aren't quite what you'd think. I don't think understood the joke. So I just pushed her down on the sidewalk instead. Just kidding ... but I wanted to.

I can't believe how differently I feel now that I've been here a little longer. This is honestly one of the coolest places I've ever been, and I feel like I've hardly made a dent. I can't wait to go back out again tomorrow.

Click on the picture above to see some photos from today's adventure.