What goes around, comes around

HONG KONG: 2 THUMBS UP. I am sure I could have spent another week in Hong Kong, visiting historic buildings and shopping locations. However, I will have to save them for the next visit. I definitely understand why Hong Kong is synonymous with shopping and food, although I did eat a few meals in my room at the WiFi Hotel, after a long day of sightseeing.

I was going to keep the Octopus card as a souvenir of my trip, but I found out when taking the metro that I was unable to use the card if a negative balance existed on the card, (a final breakfast at McDonald's) put me in the hole. Even though the card allows for a negative $HK 30, (there is a $HK 50 deposit), you can not use it, if you are already in the hole, and since I still had to get to the Airport I had to add more money to the card. but I was able to get a refund (less a $HK 7 service charge).

I was told that the Hong Kong Airport was a shopping mecca, and let me tell you that if you somehow managed to avoid buying a Coach Handbag, or Gucci watch (real not copy), you can blow the remainder of your Duty Free Allowance and pick up a real bargain. HOWEVER, remember I spent my duty free allowance in the guys toy store, "Exclusive" on the peak.

I wondered why my self check-in boarding pass did not give me a gate, but I guess this was because my flight was almost an hour late. Fortunately, I had fully charged my HP Netbook, and was able to upload and tag my pictures using Flickr uploadr.

Well, I realized when I walked boarded the plane, that I was not going to get an extra wide seat, but I would be stuffed in with the other passengers, and I mean stuffed. There were 8 (2 - 4 - 2) seats across, and I was in the one of the two middle seats in the set of 4 seats. While I was a little cramped, I feel sorrier for the two people who were sitting beside me, (I wonder what they were getting paid back for). I am glad that I already had lunch at Popeye's chicken, since I am sure I would have knocked my seat mates unconscious trying to eat my meal. I did have to try out the cup-holder, so I did have some orange juice and some tea.

Finally, back to Kaohsiung, and another trip through immigration, (I think I have my passport number memorized), and I have filled a page up with stamps. It has finally cooled off here, so much so that we have closed the majority of the windows in the apartment. I have also experienced my second building shaker. This time the building seemed to move in an counter-clockwise motion and for around a minute, minute and a half. Enough time that I actually thought about trying for the ground floor.

PS: I decided to figure out what "monetize" meant, so this is why I decided to drop as many brand names as possible, and maybe I can pay for my next travel adventure. r Maybe a North American road-trip, or Back pack through Europe.