Afternoon Walk

I decided to head on down by the harbor. I took a similar path to the one this morning, except this time I continued to the end of the escalator (or, "people mover" as I think of it). It terminates in the Central Train Station / ifc mall (they use lower case), which is enormous. So, seeking shelter from the heat, I wandered the mall. Is that creepy? Anyway, that's what I did and don't you judge me.

I stopped for lunch, which was pretty good. Not great, though, which is kind of disappointing. Mainly, I didn't want western, so I wandered through some small streets. Of course, some places don't have English menu's, so that limits me a bit. But I found a kind of generic place, said "hi" and sat down. I ordered braised pork ribs and rice. This is what it looked like. From the table, you can tell it was a cheesy place, but in my limited experience, there are a lot of cheesy places in the parts of Asia that I've been to (limited experience, I know). Then again, there are a lot of cheesy places everywhere, so whatever. Back to the food

From What I did on my summer vacation

The ifc mall has multiple wings, with several levels to each. Plenty of air-conditioned wandering for me. The thing that stood out for me was that every store was upscale and expensive. I kind of expected that, but I also expected some less expensive places mixed in, but I didn't see any. Here's a sample view. It kind of reminds me of the Smithsonian for some reason

From What I did on my summer vacation

And my journey continues on level 2

From What I did on my summer vacation

Near the mall (and connected by a cool covered walkway) is the harbor. I wandered that a bit, too.

Here are some people fishing off of the public peer. They simply hold the line and toss it in. No poles for the folks!

From What I did on my summer vacation

Ok, can someone explain this to me? On the covered walkways of the mall, and surrounding environs, women (tons and tons of asian women. Hey Sam!) lay down flattened cardboard boxes or sheets or blankets and sit and talk, eat, listen to music. Just hanging out. It was wall to wall women lying on cardboard. Not as sexy as you'd think. Someone please explain what's going on with this, because I don't get it. I kind of love the expression on the girl's face. I'm not sure if she can't believe I'm actually taking this picture, or if she's offended, or what.

From What I did on my summer vacation

Actually, another weird thing involving tons of ladies congregating around here. There was an area, near the previous picture, which was kind of a low rent version of the Garage, in Harvard Square. Many small shops, often food stalls. This place, a square, with a walkway around the edge, was packed with so many people. It was a huge mistake going in there, but once I made the decision, I had to just power through. Luckily this is Asia, the one place in the world where I actually have a size advantage. Of course, as all of you know, my 150-ish lbs of bone crushing power is accompanied by an equally massive, if not more massive, kind-heartedness. Sure, I could have gone all "excuse me, coming through. Pardon me, my fault", as I carelessly pushed people out of my way. But instead I smiled, politely asked pardons, stepped aside for oncoming pedestrians, and generally displaed my normal consideration. Of course, when my headphones became caught on a woman's purse as I stepped past, she failed to return my pleasantness. As I apologized and untangled the wire, she gave me a kind of confused, cold stare. Which was odd, because frankly, I considered it her fault. But there was only one party apologizing for America's mistakes, and it wasn't Obama this time. But I rise above it.

After these ordeals, I made my way back up the escalator (people mover!), and back towards home. On the way, I stopped for some more provisions for the room. As I've already sweated through several t-shirts and underwear, I believe I will be doing laundry quite frequently. So I bought detergent. Look at me, mom! I'm all grown up!

I think I'm gonna take a short nap, and head out to dinner later. I hope to get some pics of the city at night. From what I've seen elsewhere, it's a beautiful skyline. We'll see what we see.