8/19: Only one full day in Hong Kong

It is hard to believe that we have had only one full day in Hong Kong. It feels like so much more. Hong Kong has changes so much in the 25 years since Christy and I were here. Kowloon is no longer the dirty (but with personality) place I remember. Promenade on the water with "no smoking" signs and art sculptures everywhere, including a sculpture of Bruce Lee. There is now Gucci and Starbucks and the largest mall I have ever seen. Noah and I spent the day at outdoor markets. First the flea market, full of tech stuff, then the flower market, the bird market, and finally the fish and animal market. We had delicious dim sum for lunch, though I didn't order any seafood, so that Noah would eat also (the compromises we make for our loved ones). Oh yes, and I found mangosteens at the fruit market!

Noah is loving Hong Kong. He says he could live here. He loves the energy, the late nights, and the pace (though slower than NY, he says). He has been out late both nights, experiencing HK as only a 19 year old can.

Our room is like a jail cell ("Smaller than a jail cell," says Noah). It is only big enough for a bunk bed and the opening of a door, though we do have a bathroom. Noah first said we have to find a new place, but now, after the air conditioning has kicked in, he says he likes the place, or at least, that it has grown on him.

On my walk this morning I found Portuguese egg tarts! yea! I am so much not in the "travel mode." While eating egg tarts my mind was else where and "else when" - thinking of other places and other times. While sitting on the board walk looking at Hong Kong island, my thoughts roamed. Right now the present is doing battle with past and future events, anxieties and imaginings. I am forever learning how to hold my "issues" gently. Byron Katie wrote, "If you are living your life, and I am living your life, then who is living mine?" Which is to say, If I am reliving my past, and projecting my future, then who is living my present?