Hong Kong, It's the set of Blade Runner but with escalators.

I managed to sleep maybe 7 hours on the first plane although it was broken up by weird random moments of awakening. So I was somewhat fresh when I left the airport. A bullet train took me right to the edge of Honk Kong's city core.

It's an intense weird place. Like Tokyo it exists vertically, a mishmash of striking modern glass towers scattered amongst bland, aged, soot laden concrete blocks that reach just as hard for sunlight but never quiet reach the same heights.

All of this is accentuated by the fact that the city is basically in a gorge. As you look up any street from the train each street ends in a cartoonishly tall mountain wrapped in thick Asian vegetation.

I didn't have too much time so I got a walking tour pamphlet and some advice from the very useful tourist info booth at the Hong Kong Airport. When I arrived in town it wasn't even 8:30am so all the exciting shops and storefronts on the tour were still closed. None the less you could feel the days buzz of activity starting to hum. I think it's because all the buildings and streets are so tightly packed together. It starts your neurons tweaking even when nothing is happening.

I was surprised at how western a place it was, despite British rule I expected a more Asian identity. All the street names were in English. Not translated to English, but actual English names. "Hollywood Road" is a main drag. I saw more European faces walking around there than I ever had in Japan, even in Tokyo.

I followed about half the walking tour and by the time I was done with that the stores were all open. I stopped at Chinese medicine store and tried a "health booster" drink he was selling. I think it contained dried antlers. I'm serious.

After 20 hours breathing the recycled air of my fellow passengers I figured it couldn't hurt. Especially since the guy who was sitting in front of me and over one took ill in the middle of the flight and had stewardesses scurrying about like squirrels on the last day of wall-marts big nut sale. At one point he passed out and I though he was dead. Lucky for me (and I guess him too) he was fine but I didn't want to take any chances with his bad mojo.

I followed the tour with a hike up the to the high end of the city. A tram takes you from there to the ingeniously named "Peek." Its a 7 story tower and accompanying mall that overlook Hong Kong and the harbour. The view was spectacular in the mist but of course it was hell on my camera. All I got were murky pictures. None the less I enjoyed it.

From the tram I took the escalator system back to the train. Yes, Hong Kong is so steep they have built the world's longest system of escalators to get you from one side of town to the other. It's an amazing feet. It's like they all live at the mall. It was so efficient that it domino affected me all the way to the airport where I had time to really take the place in.

The Honk Kong airport is so huge it becomes abstract. It's hard to keep track of where you are. There is a shuttle train just to get people from customs to the departure area, and moving walkways everywhere.

Honk Kong was unique but so compact that if I never get back I'll feel I've seen something that really is reflective of it. I think it was the sign at the Peek Tram that encapsulates the feeling of being in Hong Kong Best. "Cash or Octopus"