Saturday night, July 6, 1996
Tired of indoor hermiting, I head out around 11:30 pm, to see the sights. There's that amazingly busy streetlife again, with the streets so lit up that even after midnight you can see the clouds as clear as day. I take the MRT out to Tsim Sha Tsui, which my Lonely Planet guide has informed me is "the tourist ghetto." I'm curious to see how much higher a mix of Westerners to Chinese there is there. Also, I'm half-heartedly looking for a gay bar.

The demographics here surprise me. I expected that, since it's [still] a British colony, Hong Kong would be at least 10 percent British. It's not. My guidebook tells me that it's about 98% Chinese, and my experience here bears that out. I'm also surprised to learn that there are in fact more Americans here than British!

I emerge at Kowloon Park, which is closed. There are lots of young men just hanging around, and I could just sit on the steps for a while to see if anyone comes up to talk with me. But I'm hungry. Besides, I'm enjoying my celibacy. Nope--not since last with Jung.

I see, trickled through by tourists and locals, the big, majestic hotels I've read about in the book: the Peninsula, the New World Hotel, the Holiday Inn Golden Mile--oh yeah, they call this stretch of Nathan Road "the Golden Mile." I find a McDonald's. There are several black Africans wearing their native robes. They're trying to decide which of the many prepackaged McDonald's combo meals to purchase. I go in and order a "Meal Number 5, stay here," which is Hong Konglish for "for here" as opposed to "to go" or "takeaway." It's chicken. It's okay.

Even at this time of night the place is packed. I sit near some fat European guys speaking in some tongue I can't make out. I eat, I sit, I leave. I walk around a bit, wondering if an obvious gay bar will present itself. It doesn't. I'm tired, so I return to the MRT station.

It's closing down, so I'd better hurry. I miss the last train to Central by a few seconds. So I take the next train going the other way round the loop, hoping it will put me at least within affordable taxi distance of my hotel. According to the map, I'm okay, except that the train doesn't go around the whole loop but rather stops at a highly Chinese place in Kowloon called "Kwun Tong." Like everybody else, I leave the train.

So, fine. No problem... except that the first and second taxi drivers don't (or won't bother trying to) understand my English. I walk a bit to a gas station and find a taxi driver who's willing to take me. I am, however, a little doubtful that I have enough money to make it back. I've got something like HK$45 on me, and I remember that my taxi ride from my first hotel (in Kowloon) across the harbor to the Hong Kong side had cost me HK$120, including a HK$50 surcharge for my luggage. I show the money I have to the taxi driver. He understands, and politely, all smiles, declines. Apparently, I'm stuck.

I try calling information to find out about the buses, but the automated menu system is remarkably unhelpful; it assumes that the caller knows the number of the bus route one wants to take! Across the street I notice a building with the curious sign, "Star Internet Centre." I make a mental note to drop off one of the new name cards I've just had made if I can get to the other side.

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