Hong Kong

Hong Kong on arrival
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May 12

Hong Kong is an amazing city! There are crazy modern skyscrapers and then little market streets selling everything you can imagine - aluminum siding, tropical fruits, whole fish, dried herbs, housewares, shoes, meat being butchered in front of you. And everything is all mixed together in an overwhelming juxtaposition of sight and smell. It's fascinating and exciting and very user friendly - the public transportation is fantastic. I'm staying at the Renaissance Harbor View hotel (at the convention center) and it has the best Club Lounge I've ever been to - tuxedoed waitstaff that bring your drinks by order and really delicious food. Between free breakfast and free afternoon tea and free happy hour, I've so far eaten almost all of my meals at the hotel.

Lights at night
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May 13

Did you know that in Hong Kong they don't seem to have any laundromats? We took our laundry to a window where a woman weighed it, charged us the equivalent of about 4 US dollars and told us to come back in 2 hours. I'm a fan of this system. Yesterday I discovered the joy of shopping in a place where you can divide the price tag by 8. We also had tea at the famous Peninsula hotel which was a fabulous experience and somewhat over the top in terms of service. The ladies' restroom had an attendant that insisted on pumping the hand soap for you... presumably to keep you from getting your hands dirty?