Opulence

Day 426

I was up extremely early for my flight. I changed what rupees I could after checking in. I had to leave enough for breakfast. I ended up with Subway, it was really the only thing open.

The plane was old, perhaps the oldest I have ever been on. It was also very uncomfortable. I slept a bit, but mostly chatted with the American who was traveling for work and sitting next to me.

At the Hong Kong airport I had to fill out a form declaring that I had not been in the States for one week and that I didn't have any swine flu. It seemed a bit funny because some of the places I had been to in India had yearly outbreaks of the plague, but I wasn't asked about that.

I then jumped on the train to Hong Kong Island. It was much like the Heathrow Express in London. After that it was a short cab ride. Way back in Zurich I had met a friend of Stu's named Pamela for a few minutes. She was just a few days away from moving here and was kind enough to let me crash at her place for a few nights. She was especially kind when you consider that she was going to be away on business for the first two nights I was there. At her building I was given the key by Pamela's doorman and then took the elevator up. For a moment I thought that I might have ended up at the Ritz. Pamela's place was beautiful. She had also left out a bunch of mini soaps and even slippers for me. Next to the TV remote were directions (I still didn't get how to use the TV though). Pamela had left me a phone and told me to call her when I arrived.

This was slightly problematic. I have really become incompetent with these things. I think it took me 15 minutes to figure out how to turn it on. Luckily dialing was a lot easier. After chatting for a bit I headed out for some food. It was dinner time.

The supermarket was amazing. They had all sorts of things that I hadn't seen in ages. The most important being beef! I ended up with a couple different kinds as well as some bread and some cheese. I also picked up some wine, it's been ages since I had had anything but the Indian stuff I tried a few days ago.

At this point it was dark so I headed back and decided to spend the evening watching movies, Pamela had a really nice DVD collection.