H.K. Day one

Hong Kong.

Dragon Hostel.

On the three hour flight, I found my mind wandering away from Hong Kong. Doodling in bits of nothing. I was a little aghast at my lack of interest. My failure to anticipate. I didn’t even realize until we landed and found ourselves on the unfamiliar streets of this unfamiliar city, that it was because I knew absolutely nothing about Hong Kong. We had no guidebook, no plan, barely a room to sleep in. What do we do now? Was the prevailing question. Confused we roamed about debating this way or that. And found a huge mall complex where we purchased a Lonely Planet guidebook, sat down with some coffee and made a rough itenerary for the six days we’ll be here.

* * *

We looked for a man who looked like a fortune teller. Crazy eyes or long hair. Something unusual. Among the hundred beckoning tellers beneath their red light tents. In the alleys just behind the Temple street Night Market where I purchased more nicknacks than I ever thought I would want in the endless sprawl of shops and stands, tellers gather at night to unveil your life. Sucker as I am for those more unique forms of entertainment. We decided to give it a chance. We had come to the end of the long line of tents and that man with the long nails and snaky silver hair waving as over seemed as good a bet as any. David recorded the whole thing on tape.

Of course he revealed little I did not already know or expect to hear.

But that’s not really the point anyway. Is it.

* * *

Millions of people. In Kowloon, once the most densely populated area in the world. Neon lights aglow. Red yellow green. No end to the people. The faces marching endlessly by. So unlike Seoul. So many variations. Staggering. In Korea there are five or six people. Repeated ad nauseum. Student, militaryman, clubber, businessman, mother, old woman. Pretty much sums it up. Here there is no end. No two alike. So it seems.

And the walls are all peeling layers of paint. The food is delicious and cheap. The buildings loom like giants with head lights. Everything grown together with time and septic tubes. A marsh of human life.