Chengdu - Day 2

The rain continued in Hong Kong the next morning so I gave up on going to the peak. Twice I've been in Hong Kong and both times it was raining. Since they were not able to give me late checkout, I left my bags at the hotel and wandered around Hong Kong for a couple of hours. I ended up spending most of my time in a shopping "mall" called Time Square, right outside the Causeway Bay MTR station. I'm not sure why people come to Hong Kong to shop; everything seems to cost the same or more than stuff in the US, especially electronics (although there's a lot more selection). I did buy a CD and a concert DVD; I don't know where to get new C-pop stuff in LA.


I wonder if the roast duck pizza tastes better in Hong Kong


Kylie Minogue on a trolley

The flight to Chengdu was about 2.5 hours. We got in late last night and the whole city smelled like it was on fire. The air was even smoggy inside the airport terminal. Leon thought it was more than just the regular poor air quality; there was probably something special going on. It was a long taxi ride to the hotel but the fare was only RMB$50 or a little over $6. We walked around a bit even though it was already 11pm and the streets were pretty deserted. There were some street vendors selling food (no way!) and pedicabs offering to take us to see pretty girls for $3. It kind of reminds me of Bangkok where they assume every male foreigner out at night is looking for sex.


As usual, my non-smoking room smells like smoke. I'm resigned to the fact that this is the case all over Asia. There's a large window separating the bathroom from the rest of the room. Weird.


The view outside my window is pretty dreary this morning. We're >1,000 miles from the ocean so that's probably the perpetual smog.