Another Day in Hong Kong-Stuck in 2nd Gear

Yesterday wasn't a particularly exciting day here in Hong Kong. I did change hostels. The original hostel was very small-as I mentioned, I was in a room with 4 others. And I was stuffed in there. There was no common area-except for three stools and a small desk-and a bench which was covered with stuff most of the time. So if you wanted a place to hang out-no such place was available. The elevator was really really slow (the hostel was on the 14th floor-so it was a long time getting there). But the real reason for checking out was that rates we're increasing sharply at the hostel for the holiday weekend, and I didn't want to pay that much (from approximately $22 per night to $65 per night).

Yesterday, my room mate was in the common area taking up space with his tablet-pretty much all of the space in the common area. so I ended up going to McDonalds about a block and a half away to do some work. At McDonalds in Hong Kong, a lot of people are sleeping (with their heads down on the tables).

After work, I checked out of the hostel. I took the elevator with two of my room mates-a 50ish person from Atlanta who was visiting his daughter studying there, and a 20ish South Korean (I believe) who was taking an international business class in Hong Kong. I walked over to a place called Sim City-which sold used camera gear, and i bought a used lens.

After that, I retrieved my bag at the hostel i just checked out of, took the Metro, or MTR as it is called 2 stops, and went to the new hostel. The new hostel was different immediately-it was in a decent part of town-actually closer to the tourist attractions. While the room was somewhat crowded as well-a larger space-but with 12 beds (4 3-level bunk beds), there was a nice common area with millennials sitting around chatting. There was even a dumpling course going on at the hostel, with an instructor teaching folks how to make dumplings. It was nice to see life.

So I left the hostel feeling ok that I checked out of that first hostel. I went to a bookstore nearby, and took a walk to the waterfront. There, I met some Indonesian woman-one who gave me a snack of some delicious banana treats she baked. She is starting a business on baking these treats. We spoke for a while, as I visited Indonesia before, and we discussed my trip. I also learned that like Filipinos, many Indonesians work in Hong Kong.

Then I took the MTR back to the hostel (my shirt was still there-drying), and i went back to Sim City-the used camera mart to look around again. There was a lot going on in this part of town-lots of open area markets, people performing, and lots of folks in streets. I walked around, looking at the different stores, and walked the blocks downtown to the new hostel (which probably took an hour or two).

It was late when I got back to the new hostel, and I found folks watching a tv show in the common area. Not just any tv show, but that show which is shown all over the world, particularly in hostels. The show that has transcended decades, and everyone seems to love. I have had quite a few non-English speakers mention they learned English from that show.

Yes you guessed it-Friends. And episode upon episode of Friends was on. Even I am starting to like that show-(I didn't think much of it when it came out).