True to “big change in life” form, my emotional state has been zig-zagging up and down like that awful ride at the fair that just won’t stop moving. Stacey and I spent the first 36 hours jumping from totally excited to mildly depressed with no real in between. Our attempts to explain have ranged from the great distance we traveled to ending something enormous (school for me, a job of more than 7 years for her) to travel pills for her and a massage for me to the heat. There is no rhyme or reason.
Fortunately, now 48 hours later, we’re both in tip-top shape and full speed ahead. The ferocious heat - nearly 100 degrees midday with 1,000% humidity - does take its toll. We had been wondering where all the people are in the middle of the day. As we strolled through Kowloon Park to take in Kung Fu corner, tapping our fourth liter or water in three hours, we figured it out - they stay inside like sensible people during the afternoon oppression of sun, moist and misery. “Only four days here,” we keep telling ourselves. “Gotta stay on the move. Lots to see. Lots to do.”
An evening nap prepares us for cheap vegetarian Indian grub and a long, relaxing stroll through the night market where brick-a-brac, food, “Goach” bags and “Lasoste” shirts line stall after stall of hawkers who have chosen to join their counterparts on the main avenues in insisting that I need a new suit and that Stacey needs a handbag.
No doubt Hong Kong is the city of markets. In just two days we explored the Flower Market, the Goldfish Market, the Western Market, the Herbal Medicine Market, the Ginseng and Bird’s Nest Market, the Jade Market, the Dried Seafood Market, the Antiques Market and the Night Market (the only one without a overly specific name and purpose - BORING).
Just two more days and the island’s seem to next on our list. So long city, hello 80% of the place that is just jungle, forest and beach.
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Kyle Taylor
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