Kowloon

Alright I'm catching up a little bit tonight. I decided to stay in and get up early tomorrow for sightseeing that Justin is going to sleep through. On Wednesday we went shopping in Mong Kok, which was my first trip to mainland Hong Kong. What I was going to do was get a visa for China that morning so that we could go to Shenzhen, but we didn't wake up! It takes 3 days to get a visa and you have to go really early, so we missed that boat. Doesn't matter, we were going to do cheap shopping there, but Mong Kok is the same. Oh by the way, I totally should've brought my Russian passport, real China probably would've been happy to see me. Although getting back would've been interesting...
Anyway, we took the Star Ferry across Victoria Harbor and looked at the awesome skyline from the water. I tried to take pics, but it was kind of smoggy and bright so we'll see. First I dragged Justin to the art museum because my exposure to Chinese art mostly includes tattooed people in Venice beach. Justin spent his time looking at the labels for the oldest possible thing, and I thought that some of those drawings could make a good color by number. Honestly, I still think that those scrolls of Chinese characters are really cool looking, and that's art to me too even though it's just words. Chinese streets are full of artwork!
After this we went on a search for food, which took a really long time because JC never goes to Kowloon. Going to Kowloon is like Manhattanites going to Brooklyn. It's just not done unless absolutely necessary. Although we bitched about work the whole time, which was actually very therapeutic.
The shopping began after food, but since we had to get back by dinner and it took forever to find where to go again, we only had an hour or so. This was good though since we ran out of money! The experience was very similar to Chinatown, except much more fun, and I finally learned how to bargain. Justin did most of the bargaining though and got me some really good deals. (Buying brand-name jeans for $20 gives me some ideas for how to offset my expenses here.) It is really funny watching him too because he gets such a kick out of winning. I mean, it's a fight to the death. In fact, it reminds me of some office discussions I've seen between him and Rongching.
Even after only an hour we were both exhausted, so it was good that we had to leave anyway. We trudged back to the Star Ferry and took in the night-time views of the amazing skyline on the way home. We saw the view again from the other side that evening, eating on top of Victoria Peak with Veronica. You would think I would've become desensitized to views by now, but no, every time it's breathtaking.
After dinner we went to Causeway Bay again. We went to the arcade Justin said he used to hang out in all the time as a kid and took sticker pictures! It was very exciting. Sticker pictures, which I've never heard of before, are a souped up photo booth. There's enough space to take upper body shots, after which the pics go up on a screen outside of the booth. Then you use the touch screen to decorate the pictures. It was really fun! Which is why they have about 20 machines in this arcade and they're all packed. Then we had dessert with bird's nest, which is another thing that sounds gross when you find out what it is. Also now that I've read about it I feel guilty for eating it. Apparently the harvesting is pretty sketchy. Poor swiftlets. We did not order the shark's fin soup earlier that night though.
I have no idea what time we came home. Days are blending in now because I feel like I'm in Vegas. Especially because Causeway Bay is so bright, so the feeling is similar to Vegas anyway. Everything is open until morning and it's packed all through the night. What the hell people, don't you need to sleep on a Wednesday night??!? Speaking of which, this getting up early is getting later and later the longer I write this, so I think that will be it for Wednesday.