Before I start, you can find a set of photos from my Asian travels in this flickr set.

Nineteeen hours of flying is a long time. It is especially long when you're in a middle seat in row 54 next to a toddler. It wasn't quite as bad as you're imagining, but it was far from comfortable.

Despite my auspicious beginnings, I made it to Hong Kong at 6:45pm Sunday, after waking up to leave for the airport at 6am on Saturday. After grabbing my bags I found my way to the Airport Express, a train that takes you to Hong Kong Central in 23 minutes. It also plays U.S. movie trailers on the seatbacks.

Robbie, my host, picked me up at the metro station and we boarded a double-decker bus for his dorm. The room is as good as any average hotel, complete with slippers. Although the jet lag was starting to take hold, we ventured into Kennedy Town to grab some dinner. The food was fine, except for the pigeon. Yes, we decided to try pigeon. It was undoubtedly a mistake, mostly because it was served in a wine sauce that reminded me of biology class and the pigeon's head was staring right at me. Still, I'm glad I gave it a shot.

After a slow start, we found our way into Central on a hunt for Robbie's favorite dim sum spot. I was nervous, due to the previous night's incident, but it went without issue. The food was delicious, especially the steamed pork buns. More dim sum shall be consumed on this trip.

Robbie left for class soon after lunch and I meandered around Central for an hour, then took the Star Ferry across the water to Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon (Kowloon is a part of Hong Kong, but not on Hong Kong Island). TST is known for being a shopping mecca, so I spent about four and half hours pooping in and out of shops.

I was immediately facinated with all the game halls. Everytime I crossed one I ventured in. Hong Kongers love gundam, fighting games, racing games, horse-racing games and DDR-clones. The only game I really played was a shooter called Ghost Mission. It was amazing, but the sight was off, which proved infuriating.

I was terribly confused by a game called "The Typing of the Dead," that appeared to be "House of the Dead," but with a keyboard instead of a gun and the avatar also carried a keyboard. Very odd.

The views from the Star Ferry on the way back to Central were wonderful, even if it was quite hazy. I'm hoping to go again on a clear night. Since I didn't want to burn out on Chinese food, I looked up a Vietnamese place. When I walked in, I was the only one there and they were playing a Britney Spears CD. No a song, but an entire CD. Thankfully the food was tasty, albeit spicy.

We ended the day grabbing a pizza for Robbie at a place called Pizza Box. It tasted like Domino's, but I still felt obligated to take a bunch of photos for Adam.

Today (Tuesday) we're heading back to Kowloon and then we'll be taking the tram to the top of the Peak. I'll post another update in the next few days.