Dui Bu Xi

This was my first trip to China, and even by the third day I was still a little bit in shock that I was actually in Asia. I had already discovered that a 6' 2" white guy in a suit and tie kind of stood out in certain neighborhoods. I had always thought Hong Kong to something of a cosmopolitan city, but in some places I got stared at as if I had been stark naked. The nighttime was the worst: I may as well have had a bulls-eye printed on my forehead. Every fourth person wanted to sell me a suit or a shirt "hello sir custom tailor, custom tailor ", every third person wanted to sell me a watch, and sadly, a lot of women wanted to sell themselves. On one corner, a prostitute said something to me as I passed by. I couldn't understand it, so I stopped and said "excuse me?". Mistake. She followed me for three blocks, trying to make the love connection for what she assured me was a rock bottom price.

One morning I woke up at the ungodly hour of 6 AM, probably mostly due to jetlag, so I grabbed my walkman and decided to walk up Nathan Road, which is a major artery in Kowloon. I didn't have meetings until 9, so I was able to make a few miles into the hinterlands. I've never been a big proponent of morning activity, but at 6 AM, people are too busy preparing for the coming day to pester you. At any rate, I had Catch-22's Keasbey Nights blasting through the headphones. My hotel was right on the water of Victoria Harbor, so this little jaunt took me into the real guts of the city, so to speak -- the places that aren't on the bus tour. The city became dirtier, more crowded, and more aggressive. Just like home.