Elsien's Traveblogue

You know how, when you go to a restaurant and the Head Waiter doesn't like the look of you, he gives you a table next to the toilets? Well, that's where bed no 9 is, in the 12-bed mixed dorm, floor 13, Mirador Mansions, Hong Kong. They are quite clean though and I have now trained most of the backpackers to flush and close the door when they have finished. The Chinese are a little harder to train. Only my sick sense of humour and lack of HK$ keeps me here. The dorm also has three computers in almost constant use to the left of bed no 9, so it's a bit like sleeping in an Internet Cafe. To the right is a huge fridge which isn't connected, but the Chinese keep stuff in it, so every time they open the door a pungent smell wafts in my direction. Next to the fridge is a Cantonnese woman dresed in absurd thermal underwear who is sleep learning Mandarin with a tape recorder - well, she was, I've recommended head set and earphones or else .... The backpackers go to sleep around 2am and the Chinese start their morning routine at 6 of hawking, spitting, gagging, snorting, rustling plastic bags and slurping morning tea. The staff starts laundry around 7.30am, for which they have to walk through the dorm, dragging huge sacks of dirty sheets and towels to the balcony where the washing machines, washing lines, ironing board and dustbins are kept - never a dull moment in this dorm.
Fortunately, the backpackers are quite sweet, I can sleep anywhere and I laugh a lot.
On the good side, I went to a really interesting exhibition of a HK painter yesterday, who has been trying to marry his admiration for his Chinese ancestors and their art with his love of Turner and Rembrandt. He also lived in USA during the Pop Art period - the result is thoughtprovoking and the sort of thing I have looked for in vain in modern Chinese art on the Mainland, where they basically still copy their Ancidnt Masters. I also stumbled upon a lunchtime concert of some of Edo de Waart's lot: a mixture of Chinese and Western musicians. The music was moving and emotional, another thing I have missed on the Mainland where it's technically virtuoso but totally lacking in creativity or personal interpretation.
The weather has also been lovely: sunny, about 22 - 25C, not too hazy and polluted, so the skyline has been quite visible and walking around HK the usual joy: I do like this place, the most seductive face of Capitalism and a perfect mixture of China and the West.
I have got my Visa for China and will move on to Guangzhou on Monday, then on to Kunming on Wednesday or Thursday, which may not be easy as it's almost Chinese New Year.