Hong Kong Day Three

The third day started with fast food but not for McDonalds coffee Jeanne needed on our first day. This was Hong Kong fast food and a favorite for locals who quickly filled the restaurant wearing their assorted work uniforms. Think Dennys but with many Asian themes. I enjoyed among other things a buttered toasted bun covered in sweetened condensed milk while Jeanne's take on a British breakfast guaranteed her a serving of baked beans.  the menu advised "for health, only non-poluted eggs are used". 

With just enough time before checking out of our hotel we hopped on the subway bound for the Ten Thousand Buddhas monastery.  After donating all of our coinage to some adrant young girls for their elementary school we started our climb along a very steep path lined with life sized gold painted statues of various monks - hundreds of them sitting side by side all the way to the temple grounds.  Winded and sweaty we reached the main grounds and entered the main temple. Thousands of tiny images of the Buddha stamped in tin and painted gold lined the walls and surrounded larger statues. Every single one glowed with its own individual lamp for a very haunting experience. Outside artisans busily worked on repairs and new additions to the grounds. In the center a pagoda offered the rare experince of being open to ascend its lighthouse reminiscent stairwell to the top and look out through all the porticos housing sitting Buddhas.

Imagine every store at every mall you've ever walked past in your life. That's just the first floor of just one of the malls along the Kowloon harbor. Plus there's a few floors above and beneath you. Plus the next building is just the same.  Note that these are all high end stores and not the Gap. At one point Jeanne noticed a wool coat that caught her eye. Normally she doesn't go for these kind of fashions, but she thought to herself, "I'm a professional; I can treat myself from time to time." Converting the price on the sales tag back to US dollars was easy, but did nothing to remove the fourth digit.  needless to say, we passed on the coat. 

For a more budget shopping experience we visited the Cheungking Mansions as made famous by the film Cheungking Express. Getting there is an adventure in itself since you can hardly walk five feet without being offered "copy watches, custom tailors, and copy lady's handbags." The entire area is a knockoff paradise run mostly by Indians whose curries seem to brand all the fake brands they sell. Fifteen years ago when the film came out the Mansions sold more illicit things than fake iPhones, but I didn't see how much else had changed.   

After retrieving our luggage from the hotel we rode the subway to Shenzhen to cross the border into mainland China.