The problem with being alone

Aug 2, 2008
I thought being this far from home alone I might feel a bit lonely. That is not the case at all. I guess I don't even really think about it. The biggest problem is that I can't laugh when I see funny stuff. Yesterday, for example, I was walking through the metro and disney Hong Kong had an its a small world promotion going. The little people on the wall looked just like the ones from the Orlando one except the asian to white ratio was swapped. So I'm walking through the subway and they are playing the song its a small world, these little asian cartoons were all on the wall and all these tiny asians were walking past me as I towered over them. I really did start laughing. Maybe this doesn't sound that funny but it was really funny to me at the time. If someone else was with me we could have laughed together and it would have looked normal, but I was alone laughing as I walked so I must have looked a bit strange.

Anyways, yesterday I bought a ticket for the US olympic soccer friendly match against Cameroon. I also get to see the Ivory Coast play the Netherlands. The ticket cost $280 for club level 2nd row or $36 USD. Yeah I treated myself to the best ticket they had. The first game starts at 5 pm so I am going to walk around the city and maybe go to some museums before the games.

I also went and saw the Giant Buddha on one of the other islands yesterday. It was pretty awesome. Just a huge 100 foot Buddha sitting at the top of about 400 stairs in the mountains. I stayed there for a bit then came back to Hong Kong for some dinner.

I got food at this small restaurant where I couldn't read the menu. I just pointed to pictures. I was the only white person in the room for a while, then one more came in. I just sat by myself, another downside of being alone, which was kinda weird because I had nothing to do while waiting for my food. I got some sort of fried rice and some crab rolls for about 11 dollars total including tip (I wasn't sure if I was supposed to so I did). Then I went and got ice cream. The ice cream cost almost as much as my whole dinner. Damn Hagen Daaz. I decided against sitting at a bar alone and getting a beer because I wasn't in the mood to meet people so I took the ferry back across the harbor.

I got a lemon tea and listened to music while looking at the skyline. I still can't get over the skyline at night here. New York has nothing on it. Its the coolest city I've ever seen at night. After a little while this girl started talking to me who was doing the same thing. Her name is Dani and she is from Hong Kong. She told me I looked 16. I wasn't too happy about that. I asked her about good places to eat and what its like living here. She thought it was funny that I had a book about Hong Kong and said it was crap. I tend to agree with her on that although its better than nothing. Around 11 I went back to my room and did some laundry then it was bed time.

Australia tomorrow night!

- Alex