I live in a shopping mall

I woke up at the crack of 9 am this morning, which, considering that my body still thinks that its 12 hours behind, was a feat of perfection.  I was able to go out and feel slightly normal and alive.  Thats not to say that I'm not still having issues with jet-lag; but it could be worse.  Last night after arriving and unpacking, Nicholas and I took the ferry to Kowloon. My camera battery was dead so I was unable to snap any photos of the light show... yet.  We walked around a little, at dinner at a Mexican style joint and stopped in at the Queen Victoria, an ex-pat pub in the heart of the "red-light" district, and one of only a few places in Hong Kong with a Westerner (specifically and Englishman) behind the bar.

This morning was drizzly and wet. Our apartment is on the 17th floor of a 19 story building and the streets surrounding are open stall markets.  Having jet-lag and suffering from slight nausea, walking through the fish market with the days live catch was not a pleasant task.  Umbrellas, or the people who carry them, are enemies.  I am by no means tall by American standards, but here I'm taller than at least half of the people I encounter.  Long story short, my eyes were almost poked out on several occasions by Hong Kong-ers in a rush to the next part of their day.  I did forget to mention that Nicholas and I got stuck in the elevator on the way down this morning. That was about 15 minutes of fun.  Coffee was first on our agenda, followed by one of like 4 malls within blocks of our building.  And when I say "mall" I mean that it is 9 stories of endless shopping.

There is just so much to look at that theres not much time for me to register everything that my eyes see.  Its going to take a while to get used to this and the way pedestrians move and barge right through anything between them and their 'point b.'   Dinner tonight with Nicholas and hopefully some more pictures.

xox

Roof Garden View from the staircase after we escaped the elevator!