Twice Live Only You, Mr. Bond!

Okay, I'm in Hong Kong, sitting in a Starbucks. Jet Lagged - as if Jet Li beat on me for a few days.

Over an hour to get to LAX.
4 hours of waiting at LAX.
10.5 hours flight to Tokyo.
4 hours waiting in Tokyo for my connecting flight.
5.5 hours floght to Hong Kong.
1 hour to go through customs and pick up luggage and have a bunch of Chinese military police look at my visa & passport a few times. Some had machine guns.

Add it up, my friends! I slept about 4 hours before I left and about 8 hours last night and I feel like crap.

Oh, and I lost my cell phone. I had it out to make a call at LAX, then had to put it in my laptop bag (carry on) in Tokyo when I went through security again. Now, I think I remember having it in my pocket after that... and I think I remember taking out of my pocket when we landed in HK... but I was so tired, I may just be imagining that.

My flight from Tokyo was a minor nightmare - I'm tall, and the *ssh*le in front of me reclined his seat until it crushed my kneecaps. So I moved to the empty seat next to me... and *he* moved to the empty seat in front of that one and reclined it all the way back - spilling my coke into my dinner. I attempted to say "excuse me, would you mind..." but he completely ignored me. I almost stuck my plastic fork into his little bald head, but then I'd be writting this from a Hong Kong jail. I suffered for about 4 hours of the flight... and maybe I lost my cell phone while trying to fit between the reclined seat and my seat. I don't know. I'm going to the airport to check the lost & found and talk to the airline to see if they found it.

Kind of the cool thing: I'm on my own today. FilMart starts tomorrow, and today I'd planned on just sleeping. But the lost phone was a good excuse to go out exploring.

Once again, I'm staying at Richard (HK Film Acad) 's mother's huge condo. She gave me a book of tickets for the condo's private bus and the schedule. She also have me a card with the condo's address in case I need to take a taxi, and a disposable cell phone with some minutes still on it. So I'm just wandering around HK - I'm here in an HK Starbucks checking my email and writing this, then on to the train that goes to the airport (I just have to follow the signs - plus I know what the building near the station looks like) then I probably find out my cell phone is gone forever, and come back to HK Central District and wander around. Maybe find an HK movie. Find a place to eat. Get lost and use the skyline as landmarks to find my way back. Explore.

I love exploring. I love seeing things you wouldn't see on a tour.

I paid almost $40 (HK) for a Venti Iced Coffee... and it's Grande sized. I paid $150 (HK) for a month of wifi here - I think that's around $20.

(500 yen = $4.50... not a million bucks.)

Okay, time to go to the airport and find out that I need to buy a new cell phone when I get home.

- Bill

PS: The title of this entry refers to traveling from Tokyo to HK, in the Bond film YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, Bond starts out (precredits) in HK, is assassinated, buried at sea... and then ends up in Tokyo for the rest of the adventure. I did the reverse.