Reality gives no quarter

So I made it to Hong Kong. The toughest bit of the flight over was watching the guy two rows in front of me trying to play Tetris. Dude sucked at it even more than Mitch sucks at chess, which is saying something. Anyway, after watching Michael Clayton, American Beauty, and episodes of Flight of the Conchords, Scrubs and Arrested Development, I landed in Hong Kong. After obtaining money and a train ticket, I boarded the ridiculously efficient Airport Express and headed to town. I found my way to Tsim Sha Tsui without any dramas, but finding my hostel proved a little more difficult. Being waylaid by a dude outside the building who told me he was the manager of the place I had booked (I knew the manager was a she, so I don't know why I followed him) didn't help, but long story short, I found where I was meant to be. After dinner and a bottle of water, I crashed.
Today was spent cruising 'round and checking stuff out - and spending money. I bought a 160gb iPod , a pair of 5.10 V10 climbing shoes (you can't even buy them in Australia, and they cost about AU$70 - score!) and a pair of "Oakley" sunglasses (given that they cost the equivalent of AU$15, I am a tad sceptical about their authenticity). I also got a tricam keyring. If anyone would like one of these bad boys, or a hex keyring, email me and I'll grab you one, if I have time.
I also spend a large amount of money that I was not intending to, after being taken for a sucker. After purchasing my ever-so-bling ipod, I went for a wander around the city, and headed to the Wan Chai ferry wharf to get a ferry back to Tsim Sha Tsui. While wandering around, a buddhist monk came up to me and thrust a shiny thingy at me and said "Peace!" I took it, thinking he was just spreading love and happiness, but he then thrust a notebook at me and told me to write my name. This was when he told me that my peace was going to cost me HK$500. This is roughly AU$80 or so. Me, being somewhat bewildered (I blame lack of caffeine), handed it over. He then handed me another little card and exclaimed "Peace for your mudda! Peace for your mudda!" Still somewhat bewildered, I tried to explain I had no more money (he'd seen my wallet when I gave him the $500), but he was having none of it. He thrust a beaded bracelet onto my wrist and repeated: "Peace for your mudda!" I'm still unsure exactly how, but he ended up extracting the remaining $200 that I had, neatly obtaining all the money that I had intended to use for the next 3 days. I had, however, obtained two shiny cards and a beaded bracelet, and peace for myself and my mother. I'm fairly certain that mum would obtain more peace if she knew that I wasn't giving all my money away to every motherfucker who pressed shiny baubles upon me, although she would probably not express it so crudely.
This story does not end here. Continuing upon my walk, I was bailed up again, this time by an Indian gentleman, who proceeded to perform a half-arsed magic trick (I see better each week at trivia, and for free), told me not to cut my hair or fingernails ( I just shaved my head - no shit) and gave me a shiny rock. He then proceeded to relieve me of the remaining HK$30, and AU$25 that represented all the cash that I had left, bar about HK$2.10 that I had in my pocket. I decided that I was being much too polite, and that having learnt a very expensive lesson, I would stick to what I knew best and be surly and rude. A decision that I put into practise when a hairing-impaired woman tried to thrust some plastic thingy into my hand.
Despite this, I'm really enjoying Hong Kong. It is super busy, but also super efficient. The amount of camera bling everywhere is ridiculous - I came this close to buying the Sigma 170-500 today. The only thing that stopped me was the fact that it is MASSIVE. If I have any money when I'm coming back through here in June I may consider it then, but it really needs a tripod. I took some ok photos today, I'll post up on flickr tomorrow.

Peace to your mudda.