Well, I’ve been here a couple of days now, the rigours of jetlag are fading and I am starting to feel almost human again. I still find it strange to not be able to understand anyone on the tube, and still spend too long working out what time it is in England, but on the whole I am feeling happy and settled.
Yesterday we ended up in some contrasting places – the market at Mong Kok was long and narrow, dirty and busy. Traders stood at the entrance to every stall, calling, “Missy, missy, copy watch or bag? Hello?”. Sometimes they would grab your sleeve, often it was hard to keep walking (even though there was no way I was going to buy a copy anything!). Perusing the goods was challenging, with the same incessant attempts to get us to stop, to look, to buy things. I learnt how to barter, haggling the price of a bag down to four pounds, and a purse to three. I also learnt that I am bad at just ignoring people, at walking away from the people trying to thrust stuff into our hands. I couldn’t not reply when they said hello… hmm.
There were very few tourists there, but it was packed, and there was a very definite sense that the people were making money to survive, that it was hard going, with little reward.
After Mong Kok, we travelled to Tsim Sha Tsui, in Kowloon. Here we went to Harbor City, which is a massive shopping centre with three floors, overlooking the harbour and the famous HK skyline. It was an incredibly salubrious place, with expensive designer stores, jewellers glittering with riches, gleaming polished floors and an atmosphere of privilege and money. It was absolutely and utterly different than Mong Kok. We wandered round a bit, couldn’t really afford to buy anything and I was a bit awed by the place. We sat in Starbucks for a while though, then took a walk down to the harbour front, where I marvelled at all the different buildings.
Today we went to Ocean Park, which is like a theme park/zoo place. The rides were great – rollercoasters and the like. It reminded me of the importance of having times of pure fun in my life, and also reminded me that I hadn’t been to a theme park in almost five years! I was a little terrified on some of the rides, but they were very good. We also saw some wonderful creatures – Pandas (beautiful, cute and curious), Jellyfish (lit up in in colours, intricate and intriguing), Dolphins (comedic and intelligent), All kinds of fish (breathtaking – especially the stingrays), and sea turtles (which I especially loved).
So it’s been a lovely couple of days. Coupled with the exploring, there have been many moments of just kicking back and relaxing, which I really needed. Last night we just chilled out with a dvd, tonight we are just hanging out and writing. So that’s been great too.
I guess there are a lot of things to be learned in new places, lots of insights that I can pull out of this time already, but for now it is enough to say that I am having a lovely time, that I am very grateful for this opportunity, and that I am looking forward to the days ahead. 
