Moving Pictures

Hong Kong, China

My time in Hong Kong hasn't been exactly as expected. I was quite excited to get here after watching so many films set in this city.
A friend, a guy from Beijing who I met in London and who works here now generously offered me his couch in his apartment.
The first day was gorgeous: my friend and me went on a boat trip with some of his colleagues and work contacts. "No stay in Hong Kong is complete without a boat trip", he said. So, there was sun and beach and fresh sea food on one of the outlying islands. It almost felt like Malaysia already.
A day later the typhoon hit. We were lucky that only the edge of the storm grazed Hong Kong but the sun was gone. Every day ridiculous amounts of rain would pour down turning bridges to waterfalls and the park next to my friend's apartment block into a swamp. On the way to the MTR we literally had to wade through puddles on some days (flip-flops are useful not only in the sun). Only in the afternoon the weather would clear up a bit. I guess, a stay in Hong Kong is not complete without one of the famous typhoons either.
Now, my friend leaves for work very early in the morning - as early as 7:45! He also has no spare key, so I have to leave with him and can't come back in until he gets back fairly late at night. The only place you can reach by roofed walkways without getting soaked is the nearby shopping mall. And since this is Hong Kong and people have Internet at home there wasn't even any friendly neighbourhood net bar. Imagine my frustration!
The first rainy day I paced myself into a fatigue up and down escalators across the various levels of the mall waiting for shops to open and something to happen, checking the weather at intervals. Then I spent the rest of most of the morning at a little restaurant along with a number of elderly men, who also seemed to have nothing to do, sipping 粥 (rice porridge), nibbling on 油条 (fried dough) and watching the news in Cantonese.
Only on the second day did I find the multi-screen cinema. They had cheap matinees. And suddenly the rainy mornings didn't seem quite as bleak anymore. So I managed to catch M. Night Shyamalan's new one, The Happening, and a very sexy and cool Angelina Jolie in Wanted. I could have become a regular. Besides, the girl at the ticket office was quite cute. They should have Hong Kong cinema classics with Chow Yun Fat or Leslie Cheung in the morning to get me in the mood of heading out. I still want to find the building they used for the roof-top scene in Infernal Affairs. Come to think of it I spent a lot of time in that cinema and only ever ventured out after lunch. Then again, faced with the choice of getting soaked and I haven't been to the cinema for such a long time.