IN THE COMPANY OF OLD MEN

last sunday afternoon, we walked around the "old" and "new" parts of wan chai. uncle bought a phone for me so the risk of me becoming completely lost in the maze that is hong kong is slightly less threatening. we took a ferry ride across causeway bay to tsim sha tsui, walked around YET ANOTHER MALL before seeing a play at the hk cultural center. the play was three acts, each an interpretation of what cao yu (considered father of chinese spoken drama) had written long past. the director was there and at the end of it, had asked WALTER what he thought of it. walter is a 74-year old white man who wears a fishing vest to carry his pills around. he can be kind, and occasionally interesting, but he likes talking about the WEATHER and often does so very slowly. he has lived in hong kong for 30 years but does not speak a word of cantonese and still gets stations that sound alike confused. yet the fact that he is a white male undoubtedly allows him to be respected in a way that often makes my stomach sick because it's so undeserved. but he's nice to me and pays for lots so it's ok? let it pass?

after the play we walked by the water for some time. air's been unusually clear/unpolluted these days so i'm told and we got to see a clear view of the skyline and moon. my fav is the bank of china designed by i.m. pei (it's the triangular one). many of the buildings are phallic, and there's one building, the jardine, called building of the 10,000 assholes or something like that. also. there are cocks all over the apartment because walter is the year of the rooster (the thought just slipped out). here's a photo of the skyline taken from inside the cultural center!



yesterday was my longest day here. uncle and i went to apply for a hk identity card, since i have the right to residency cuz my father was born here. i walked to central afterwards and wandered for quite some time, during which i discovered that hong kong is of many levels (from underground subway to above ground walkways), with areas that make the place feel like an encapsulated metropolis. i tried ordering lunch at this chinese fast food chain, but they didn't understand english and i had to point at what i wanted. characters in hong kong are written in traditional chinese (i know simplified), so i can't really read or speak in mandarin here. i speak cantonese but only enough to get by with everyday conversation. uncle says that it's quite popular here for people to just insert english words when they can't think of the cantonese, but i feel like i'm constantly switching among three channels. i was slightly embarrassed at the cafe because the woman who was taking orders kept staring at me when i tried to explain i wanted while frantically tugging the sleeve of the employee next to her.

central is the financial district, so it was v. v. corporate. in the photo below you can see a reflection of the jardine and its assholes!



i continued walking east and came across areas that had streets on an incline with markets. i really like the red lamps that light them. a bit of a contrast from central.



then i met my uncle's friend, frankie, who i ADORE. he is v. agreeable, and has such a sharp way of seeing things. he took me around the flower, bird, and fish markets in mong kok, which is in kowloon across hk island. he's such an angel.



in mong kok are many many markets and old apartment buildings,



but also new hotels and malls. this one had super high escalators of death.



today will come tomorrow.

kbye!

(note: i was interrupted from writing this entry by walter talking about the weather AGAIN)