Hong Kong remains interesting to say the least. We still haven't made it up to see the light show at the Peak, however, plan on doing that tonight after having dinner at the top. We went back to the Tsim Sha Tsui area for lunch and I was hassled by no less than at least 50 employees for various tailors offering me suits, shirts, pants, etc. It was funny to watch them leave John alone because he is Chinese and spot me out as a tourist and make a beeline right for me, although John did get offers as well--just not as many.
Just walking through the city is an experience in itself each time we go anywhere because the scents of restaurants, street food vendors, fish markets , and even some medicine shops are all very potent and can sometimes make your nose feel like it's being ambushed. Most of the city is tourist friendly and I have been able to speak English most places and have someone be able to help me or get someone that could.
Yesterday, we took the metro over to the Tung Chung area and rode some awesome cable cars up to see "The Big Buddha) . I realize I haven't written much since the first post but haven't had too much time to do so with everything going on. John is working in NY this summer and so he actually got a suit and about 15 shirts tailored at a place in the Central district for relatively cheap (definitely cheaper than it would be in America). We leave for Beijing on Sunday which is where the Kenan-Flagler Business School program "Doing Business in China" starts which is why I'm in China in the first place. I'm not too keen on the idea of having to go to class after just finishing up exams about a week ago in Chapel Hill, but I'm excited to see Beijing and hope that I don't have too much trouble getting by with my English in an area where it is much harder to find people who speak English, according to John.
Hopefully I'll be able to visit the Water Cube where Michael Phelps a.k.a. the Baltimore Bullet won 8 gold medals for America including one in a relay against the damn french (they don't get capitalization) with a former South Meck classmate of mine--Ricky Berens.
Our trip in Hong Kong has already been ridiculous. The first night we got off the plane and arrived at our hotel around 10:00 p.m. We decided to check out some of the city and go out to bars before going to sleep. The Lan Kwai Fong area has numerous bars in the area and so we headed in that direction. After sleeping on the Cathay-Pacific flight for a little while (not sure how much time exactly due to the numerous times I woke up due to being uncomfortable) we were pretty wired and ready to see the city.
The flight itself was better than my previous flight to Hawaii and the two trips I’ve made to Europe for one reason: Cathay Pacific is legit as hell. Not only did we have personal TV’s/Screens in the headrests in front of our seats, we also had the option of playing extensive amounts of movies (including new(er) releases like ‘Up in the Air’ and ‘Invictus’ and old school classics like 25th Hour (Ed Norton is a genius)). We were also able to watch TV shows like my personal favorites like Entourage and Friends, or listen to radio stations, or pick certain songs from a CD or whole CD soundtracks to listen to by making your own playlist. Overall, those headsets and their capabilities turned a 15 hour flight into a much more manageable one. I chose to watch 25th Hour, 2 episodes of Entourage, a few episodes of Friends, play some of the 70 games offered including Solitaire, Minesweeper, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and few others to occupy the time I wasn’t eating or sleeping.
After we landed, we were able to get train tickets to the area where a taxi could take us to our hotel (The Cosmopolitan Hotel on Queens Road.John Xie and I checked into the hotel and quickly set out to explore the city and hit up a few bars as I mentioned previously. We found the hot spot Lan Kwai Fong where there are numerous bars and stopped at Di Lux, Hong Kong Brew House, Al’s Diner, and Bit Point for a few drinks. Unfortunately, John either lost, accidentally left, or got his wallet stolen at Al’s Diner which we did not discover until we were walking through the Red Light District of Hong Kong on our way back to our hotel. After being offered a ‘Happy Ending’ by a fairly old Chinese lady and the accompanying promise that there were “many young girls inside” a certain club that would “take care of me” we retraced our steps back to De’Aguilar Street where Al’s Diner was located. Unfortunately at 4:45 a.m. the bars were closed and we decided to take a taxi back to our hotel. After skyping and emailing Kimi Hendrix a.k.a. my mother, and Kendall, my beautiful girlfriend, I passed out around 5:20 a.m. Hong Kong time (which is 5:20 p.m. American time). We woke up around 9:45 a.m. HK time after only a few hours of sleep to get the day started and upon opening the hotel room door met some good news. Our hotel had left John a note saying that someone had returned his wallet to the Panorama Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui area which was a ways from our hotel.
For breakfast we got some Dim Sum in Times Square which was beyond interesting as John spoke some Mandarin to a lady at our communal table who helped us understand what we were eating, how we should eat it, and about other general aspects of the meal. We then proceeded to walk towards the Victoria Harbour and took the Star Ferry across the harbour to the Tsim Sha Tsui area where the Panorama Hotel was so John could claim his wallet. The wallet had all of his cards but was missing the cash he had in the wallet. From there we proceeded to check out local malls which were like 7 or 8 stories tall and eventually found our way back to our hotel after buying Octopus cards (which can be used for the Metro, Buses, and even for entry to the Happy Valley Race Course which we visited tonight May 12, 2010.) After a quick nap and skyping with Kendall and calling my mother with an International calling card we went to the Happy Valley Race Track (horse racing venue). This place was a million times better than Carolina Cup although 20 million times less fratty. I bet on the 6th horse in the 5th race to straight up win. Horse #6 ended up winning and I had bet 50 HK$ on the race and got paid out $127.50 HK which isn’t much but whatever. After the 7th race John and I returned to the hotel to upload pics, blog, email people, etc. It is 11:32 a.m. here which means it’s way past bedtime for Kimi Hendrix in America. We plan on going out for a little while longer in about 30 minutes but plan on going to bed relatively early since we had a late night last night.
Initial thoughts on HK: It’s kind of dirty which is expected for an area that has so many people. There is advertising everywhere and hardly any space is wasted or isn’t used for some purpose. The customer service people at the Cosmopolitan Hotel have been amazing and anyone coming to HK should stay here. And last but not least, America is and always will be the greatest country on Earth, no matter what.
I was born and raised in North Carolina and have developed a passion for beer, North Carolina barbecue, and basically anything related to The Old North State. I have aspirations of opening up a brewery after working for a few years and hope this blog will help me keep track of my experiences until then. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
, and even some medicine shops are all very potent and can sometimes make your nose feel like it's being ambushed. Most of the city is tourist friendly and I have been able to speak English most places and have someone be able to help me or get someone that could. 
. I realize I haven't written much since the first post but haven't had too much time to do so with everything going on. John is working in NY this summer and so he actually got a suit and about 15 shirts tailored at a place in the Central district for relatively cheap (definitely cheaper than it would be in America). We leave for Beijing on Sunday which is where the Kenan-Flagler Business School program "Doing Business in China" starts which is why I'm in China in the first place. I'm not too keen on the idea of having to go to class after just finishing up exams about a week ago in Chapel Hill, but I'm excited to see Beijing and hope that I don't have too much trouble getting by with my English in an area where it is much harder to find people who speak English, according to John. 
