Rain, rain go away.

I just woke up - it's about 7 am. I finally got a decent night's of rest.

Yesterday was another very busy day. I woke up at 4 am, took a shower, and tried to make a game plan for the day. Rain has been forecasted for every day that we've been here, and yesterday the percentage looked pretty high. Unfortunately almost everything we want to do involves being outdoors. We decided to check out the Chi Lin Nunnery, Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple, Kowloon Walled City Park, and Chungking Mansions.

Breakfast was not good at all. It consisted of an odd assortment of foods such as fishy tasting turnip pattys, ketchup beans, cocktail weenies, lukewarm noodles, shrimp congee, and questionable soggy pastries. At least there was toast, watermelon, and a mysterious hot pink skinned fruit.

We finally rode the MTR (public transit line) and I was quite jealous of it. The MTR was very easy to figure out, clean, modern, and efficient. A nice employee saw us trying to puzzle out how to buy a ticket and advised to buy an Octopus card, which is the HK equivalent of a Clipper or MTA card. You just swipe it on the turnstile and that's it. It can also be used at places like 7 Eleven for snacks.

When we arrived at the stop for Chi Lin Nunnery we took the wrong station exit and found ourselves in residential area. Residential areas in HK are quite different than your average city. They consist of massive concrete high rise structures that are at least 100 stories tall. It was astonishing and looked like pictures of massive mainland manufacturing cities in China that I had seen. Another remarkable thing was the pollution in the air. I could literally taste it. I had read on certain days that when the wind blows a certain direction, it carries all the mainland's pollution to HK.
The air here is definitely smoggy too. Since I've been here I have noticed there is a total disregard for the environment. I wonder if they're thinking about the future at all. What will happen when the environment is too poisoned to breathe the air and the plants and animals needed for eating no longer grow in the poisoned water and soil? Where is all the garbage going?

We were using a HK Tourist Association app for our day's excursions and it helped us find the way to the Nunnery. First we arrived and Nan Lian Gardens, a traditionally landscaped Chinese garden with piped in music, a pagoda, a red bridge, ornamental rocks, and various plant life. It looked very artificial and was really strange looking with the massive high rise concrete apartment blocks in the background. This was exactly the kind of thing I love because it's so weird. The gardens were right next to the Nunnery, which was very beautiful and peaceful. There were many people there paying respects to their various Buddhist deities. Someone was singing a beautiful hymn and for a few peaceful moments the wind stopped and the sky wasn't as threatening.

Our next stop was the Sik Sik Yuen Temple. This was a very brightly colored temple (I think it was Taoist?) and very popular with many people, so it was thronged with worshippers lighting incense, casting bamboo chim, and posing for photos with bronze statues of deities. The air was thick with incense and the energy was more fun than reverent. To the side of the temple was a building full of tiny fortune teller booths. For a fee, these men and women would read your palm and face to determine your future. We picked a lady we had a good feeling about and she gave me a reading. One of the things she said was that I worry too much and that I will continue to worry throughout my long life - no surprise there! She also said I need to grow a fat and round face in my forties because it's lucky, and sharp angular faces are unlucky. Hmmmm. Not sure how I feel about that. I think my face is too round already.

When we left the temple, the rain started to pour down. All the MTR stops have massive malls attached to them. We went into one and purchased some umbrellas. I probably should have bought some rain boots too because my legs and feet got soaking wet. Finding a size that will fit my big white American feet might be a problem though!

Kowloon Walled City Park was next. The park was rather unremarkable, and the main reason why I wanted to go there was to see the scaled model of the city they tore down. It's hard to believe such a place existed and we're both totally fascinated by it. Our next destination was Chungking Mansions, a modern day place that retains some of the flavor Kowloon Walled City had.

At this point in the day my jet lag started hitting me hard again. I was getting pretty tired of being rained upon. I drank a cup of coffee and tried to be a sport. It's not everyday that you're in Hong Kong, so I tried to make the most of it.

Our MTR stop was Tsim Sha Tsui. It was a massive terminal crammed to the gills with people. I noticed there were a lot more foreigners there. It was a surprise to see so many of them after being the only foreigners in a sea of Hong Kongers for the past few days.

When I went into a public toilet before we walked to Chungking Mansions, I noticed the walls were full of posters warning about drug use and pickpockets. I was definitely in a different part of town and I gathered my wits about me. I knew we were in front of CM when a group of sketchy looking young men followed us, whispering into our ears promises of hash and cocaine just seconds after asking us if we wanted a tailored shirt. CM is a gigantic building that houses about 4,000 people at given time. It's full of businesses, residences, and guesthouses. The first 2 floors have tiny stalls selling anything from curry to fake iPhones. There are a lot of sketchy characters milling about and we were clearly getting cased when we weren't being asked if we wanted to buy drugs. Mom... I know you don't like me going to places like this but Mike and I have a fascination with the seedy underbelly of cities. We weren't in there for long before we got too skeeved out and decided to leave. I didn't take any photos because I didn't want to whip my camera out and look even more like a wide-eyed tourist than I already do.

At this point in the day it was absolutely pouring. After smelling all that Indian food in CM, I had a desire for some curry. Both places we tried to eat at were closed, so we settled for middle eastern instead at a place called Happy Camels. It was kind of a sketchy place, but I didn't care because the falafel was delicious and it was great to be out of the rain and off my feet. I couldn't figure the place out. It seemed to be run by a mix of track suited hair gel guys who employed a sad looking HK boy who put Celine Dion on the stereo and stared dolefully at me.

After dinner we went to a bar across the street for a drink. They were playing lots of delightfully bad Western pop music and the patrons were a mix of foreigners from around the world. I ordered a margarita because I thought it would be ridiculous to drink a margarita in Hong Kong. It turned out to be pretty good, and I really enjoyed sipping it and watching the rain pour down in the neon lit night. We watched the middle eastern restaurant across the street and laughed how people are pretty much the same all around the world.

Well... time to take a shower and get some food in me. Let's hope it doesn't rain too much today!