a routine has slowly formed in my everyday life here in hong kong. it involves waking up late, walking down to the shop beneath josh's building, buying a cold coffee and walking into victoria park and sitting on a secluded bench where i can sip my coffee in relative peace, meditate or simply people watch. sometimes both. i then walk down to wan chai, get a sandwich from WELCOME and find another spot to sit. further west, in soho, i found a cheap store selling kodak elitechrome for only 19HKD. therefore my finger has been eager on the trigger while my conscience whispers "ben, you still have to pay for developing...".
i ended up sitting alone tonight under the escalators to the mid-levels, my only company was a cigarette and a can of beer as hundreds of people walked up and down smiling, hugging, crying, rushing, enamoured, bothered, bored... the bars were full... some people in original costumes, some people in outrageous attire and others just plain slutty. i watched them all. i watched football through a small window beneath an irish pub, i walked over to lang kwai fong only to be assaulted by a throng of people heading up the hill.. the police had cut off the entire area and were only letting people walk one way. i walked up to club 64 and stood outside for an hour or so watching the westerners be pestered for pictures and the locals drinking bottled beer and cheap chinese whisky.. the streets were alive... alive....i just stood and tried to soak some of the energy in, to tired bones, tired from walking, tired from thinking...
josh called and i met him at a chinese restaurant with 4 norwegian girls and one guy. we walked back to LKF and stood a while watching the parade, then up to the fringe club where we found a balcony table and sat our weary selves down. out came maier and some pints. a few french girls were sitting at the table and the conversation grew and grew...
the time to leave came, taxis were summoned and another wonderful day in hong kong came to a close at the arms of sleep
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