Midlevels, night view, and markets

1 - Escalators that go through mid-levels
2 - The view from my brother's flat
3 - Market street
4 - Lantern and incense shop
5 - Chop market worker
6 - Example of a chop

Last night we met my brother at his office to have a quick look, then
went to eat in an ex-pat area of town and then rode the escalator up
to his flat. The mid-levels escalator is the longest outdoor escalator in the world (about a half mile). He has a great view of the city and one of the best buildings around that continuously changes color (it's the green
building in the 2nd picture).

Today started rough - Jason was up by 3am and I was up around 5am. It
seems as when your schedule gets totally out of whack the first day is
easier than the next two or three. So today we were officially jet
lagged. It's 7:30pm where we are and Jason's already in bed. I have a
book I want to finish but I won't be far behind.

This afternoon I met up with my brother and a friend (B#2) to have
lunch at a new Japanese restaurant called Roka. His friend is in the
know so she got us reservations and everything was free because the
restaurant is not officially open yet. They had great mixed fruit
non-alcoholic drinks and the food was good but apparently fancy
Japanese restaurants don't like to cook fish all the way through. And
forks weren't even an option so I had to fudge my way through eating
with chopsticks.

After lunch she and I took a quick trip to a smaller market to find a
chop for Jason's #1 employee. There are markets everywhere here, and I love them. Some of them are full of stuff the locals probably don't
even buy but there are many that the locals shop at for clothes,
incense and other things they bring to the temples, and food. Pictures
3 and 4 are of a typical market side street and a place that sells
lanterns. There's talk of trying to tear down some of the markets but
that would be a shame. It gives Hong Kong it's charm. The 5th picture
is of the guy who gave me a "special deal" and made the chop in about
30 minutes. We were in a rush to make it up to Kowloon so the timing
worked out perfectly.

The plan for tomorrow is to visit Big Buddha on Lantau Island, eat a
vegetarian feast at the monastery, and ride the sky train thingy. The
sky train is like one of the rides at Disney World where you sit in a
car that travels on a wire and hangs far above the ground. Apparently
it just reopened not long ago after one of the cars fell and killed
the passengers. Hmmm....