Central

(posting this a little late - I toured around on Saturday, but had to leave early Sunday for Tokyo. My schedule has been nuts in Tokyo so I haven't had a chance to post!)

Saturday:
Today I decided to explore more of Central, which I guess is the closest thing to a "downtown" they have here in HK, although everywhere kind of feels downtown-y to me. I decided to brave the subway system as well. I think I've been subconsciously avoiding it because it's a little intimidating. Actually I heard it was very easy to manage, so what to worry about, right? The Wan Chai station is only a block away from my house. It's covered in an unmistakable lime green tile that's a little hard on the eyes.

So I checked my Octopus card to make sure I had enough money stored up on it (I was sure I did, but I was paranoid I would somehow get rejected with thousands of people piling up behind me). It actually works really really well! Everything is clearly marked, and there are maps everywhere. I was of course turned around a few times, but nothing I couldn't figure out.

I had been to Central before, but it must have been an off-day. Because today was insane! There were so many people out it was a little overwhelming. I then made the rookie mistake of walking in front of H&M's grand opening and was completely stuck on the sidewalk for some time. They had a full-on police detail trying to keep people moving.

Usually the city energizes me. I get a rush from all the people shuttling around - the hustle and bustle of it all. Today, it was even a bit too much for me. There were times when I could hardly move! I finally decided I'd had enough and hid inside a Starbucks. Starbucks was a nice reprieve, because if you didn't know any better, you could easily be in the US. They don't change anything. The menu is the same, the music is the same. There wasn't even any Chinese writing anywhere! I grabbed a really cool local magazine called "Taxi" and chilled out with my soy chai tea latte!

After heading back out, I realized the shopping can be overload. One huge shopping center blends into another huge shopping center. It makes it darn near impossible to decide on where you want to go or what you want to buy. After wandering around for hours and hours I purchase ... a book. That's it. And it wasn't even the book I wanted (I bought the Bourne Supremacy instead of the Bourne Identity. But it is all based in HK, so I guess I'm glad I bought the wrong book!).

The disturbing part of the day when I moved off the beaten track to the side streets. Once you get off of Queen's Road, it's like you stepped into another country. I've gotten accustomed to the "live" food here - mostly fish, eels and the occasional chicken. But today they had turtles. Live turtles in little nets like a vine of tomatoes. They were struggling to get out - it was so disturbing and heartbreaking.

I was going to go out that night, but then remembered I had to get up a 6 am to catch my flight to Tokyo.

Monday:
The past two days have been a whirlwind. Meetings, presentations all back-to-back. I seriously think I have some type of medical condition because my complexion is so bad! It's indescribably bad. I am red, scaly and zitty! I'm so glad I got to give the two biggest presentations of my life looking like a burn victim.

We went to a pretty good restaurant tonight for some good Japanese. On Sunday night, we ate with the president of our division who insisted we go to TGI Fridays. Can you imagine? I was so bummed ... This place was good. My martini came with a huge ball of ice in the middle. A perfect ball - it was so cool! We had some sashimi, roasted asparagus and then thinly sliced beef that we cooked on a hot rock. It was really neat.

I tried to extend my trip by a day, but the hotel was full so now I'm rushing off to the airport. Tomorrow I'm attending a conference all day, then attending the Happy Valley horse races that night. Trying to get in as much as possible before I leave!