Tsim Sha Tsui

Daniel and his father had to go take care of some paperwork on Monday, so they put me on a bus so that I could explore Tsim Sha Tsui. I got off at the Ferry terminal and spent the morning wandering the Victoria Harbour waterfront. This is a very touristy area, with museums, a concert hall, a cruise ship port, great views of the Hong Kong Island skyline (when the smog isn't obscuring it), and the Avenue of Stars, Hong Kong's version of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. This long promenade has plaques and handprints of famous Hong Kong stars imbedded in it, along with statues for the tourists to pose with. The Bruce Lee statue is the only celebrity I recognized. I did stop here for a bit to watch the fun as tourists did their best karate poses for photos with Bruce.

At the end of my walk, I was happy to spot a familiar face from America - the lady in the Starbucks logo. A mocha frappuccino was just the thing to cool me off on this warm muggy day. It was just in time, too, because it gave me the energy to dodge the pushy vendors every dozen or so yards who desperately wanted me to buy their fake Rolexes or a custom-made suit.

I met up with Daniel and his father for lunch in a mall food court. That may not sound very exciting, but the food was actually very good. Many different Asian cuisines were represented - Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, it was tough deciding which to try. I finally settled on a few tasty dim sum items, Daniel had a grilled steak, and his father chose a huge noodle bowl.

We spent the afternoon shopping in the malls in Tsim Sha Tsui. My favorite stores were:
- G.O.D, sort of a Hong Kong version of Pier One. "Gee Oh Dee" phonetically sounds like the Cantonese words for "Live Better." I picked up a couple of pillow covers for my new place here.
- A supermarket/kitchen place that sold all sorts of neat gadgets, food-related and otherwise. I walked out of there with some stainless steel chopsticks that I inexplicably needed to own.

We came back to the apartment to have a light dinner with Daniel's family, and then I crashed while Daniel headed off to meet up with his brother.