Tuesday April 25 2006

A note to the UPT. The part on the wet market is okay, also on Pottinger St.

I'm sorry I missed chat this morning (okay, okay, last night for the

rest of you) but it probably was cosmic anyway (heehee). I really

needed to get out that door and do some stuff and I know that if I

had started chatting I wouldn't have gotten as much stuff

accomplished as I did.

I have a real Hong Kong ID card! You have to have one if you are

living in Hong Kong. They only advantage I can see if that it makes

the line through customs much, MUCH shorter, but it was just

something I needed to take care of.

The biggest deal is, I now, FINALLY, have a Hong Kong credit card!

Remember they told us Lee had to show proof of 3 months salary IN

Hong Kong? Well he screamed and yelled and fussed, but we didn't

think it had done any good. But when we got back from Japan, the

authorization was in the mail! We actually have to go to the BANK to

pick up the credit card, and the cards were at the bank branch

closest to 3M, so that was a bit of an adventure for me. I walked

through a small wet market on the way there and WOW, I guess I won't

be taking Jill there! A bunch of BONES, then some strange veggies,

then a PIG hanging from a hook (dead and looking smoked I think),

then some flip-flops, then some purses, then some dried fish...what

a trip!

Then I had to rush to the other side of downtown Hong Kong so that I

wouldn't be late for my very first Hong Kong haircut. The salon was

recommended on the expat website and it definitely met my

expectations. So funny, because the outside was so very much typical

HK. It was on a street called Pottinger (you can look it up on a map

if you want), but its not a street you'll be driving on - it was all

steps, with little markets here and there. In fact there was one for

house plants that I'm going to go back and check out again some

time. Man, I wish I knew how to haggle here! But, once inside the

salon, AHhhhhh! The guy that owns it cut my hair. He's British, been

here 13 years, very nice and he did a great job. They have these

guys that shampoo you first, and holy cow, it was a full head

massage, with nice shampoo. You tip the shampoo guys but that's all.

It wasn't cheap, but that's okay, my hair is such a pain; I'm glad I

can afford to get decent haircuts now in my old age.

In around 45 minutes its down to Central again to meet Lee at the

ferry and go out to dinner. What a life!

So I missed you guys but don't feel sorry for me...I had a very good

day. I'm finding that its good to stay home one day and then go out

the next. Going out is such an expedition, so its good to take the

next day and stay home and recover. I should probably try to make

Tuesday mornings the day I stay home; that way I will be able to

chat.

Oh, and if I had had time to work on it I probably could have either

rebooted my pc or downloaded AIM again and then it would have been

okay.