Witchboy Goes to Honk Kong
Day Three
After breakfast, I met up with Bernie and we rode the train over to the En-tranz office where
he and Doug are consulting. Rather than individual cars that are self-contained,
this train was one long stretch -- I could see all the way to the back of the
train, more than a hundred yards, down through numerous individual cars. As
a result, looking forward or back, hundreds of commuters were visible. When
the train was in motion, I could watch the bends it made. In other words, looking
toward the back end of the train as it moves down an incline, the people toward
the rear suddenly rise up a few feet... the end of the train disappears out of
view above.
I sat around in the office checking email and chatting with Bernie and Doug. We were trying
to decide what to do when Doug blew out the power by plugging in a power adapter.
(I had borrowed his primary adapter the night before, for my laptop.) Everything
went dark. The adapter was badly scorched. Doug's hand, only minorly so. When
game industry nerds are sitting around, half paying attention to their monitors
and half attempting to decide what to do, nothing helps expedite the process
like a good blackout. Way to go, Doug. We left shortly thereafter.
Video Shop |
The three of us had lunch in a noodle shop, then parted ways. Being the power player that
he is, Bernie went back to the office to work on a press release regarding the
Asian rights to Shadowbane, while the two of us headed to Doug's apartment to
grab his laundry. It was a tiny, tiny apartment,
but apparently roomy by HK standards. It was in a tall,
ratty building, packed tightly with other tall, ratty
buildings. Outside the window, I could see all sorts of crammed, mundane
shops on the narrow road below.
Escalators |
Since HK is set into a mountain range, leading down to the harbor, the people need a
means of pedestrian travel that will take them up and down the mountain. Cars,
trains and busses are, of course, everywhere,
but the city also features a long, interconnected series of escalators
that stretch for miles. Outdoor escalators, worming up the side of the mountain
through crowded terraces where shops are squeezed together with an amazing density -- it
was very odd, but cool. We rode up to "Mid-level," which is as far
as the escalators go, then walked back down. (The escalators
run up during the first half of the day, and down during the later hours.)
7-11 |
Doug and I hit a 7-11 for another disposable camera and some
snacks, then we returned to his apartment for a while. Later, we headed back to the
convention center on foot, which was quite a long walk. We checked in with the
conference, but nothing was going on. We went back to my room to hang out for
a while, talking and watching people play tennis on the roof of a building far
below, then he took off and I went to bed.
Next: Day Four...
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