Day one in Hong Kong

We were checked in extra early by a lovely lady at the front desk, and were able to shower and get rid of our travel stink right away. Then we hit the streets. Heat was not as unbearable as expected....yeah it's hot but we are not drenched in nasty sweat :) Besides, there are so many shops to duck into and get cool! The breeze off the water helps too. Having so many people vying to sell you stuff however...that's new to me. Some of them can be really persistent. One tailor for example, followed us right back into the hotel trying to make a sale. Jewelers too can be a bit intimidating. But it's all part of this amazing adventure and we are loving it. Found a couple of great bakeries, a supermarket, and plenty of restaurants frequented by locals...always a good find. And marvelled at the use of thick bamboo as scaffolding...watched mesmerized as two shirtless men scrambled up lengths of the stuff tying it together (and anchoring it to road signs and whatever else the street offered) in amazing combinations. Tomorrow, a street fair, the ferry, and some cultural immersion away from the Rodeo-drive-ish-ness we saw today. Can't wait. Needed to get my swollen foot on ice after tho...so back at the hotel went hunting on our floor for an ice machine. None found. Instead we found a very sweet housekeeper eager to help ....unfortunately she did not speak English. "Ice?" she repeated, pointing hopefully to the teetering stack of towels and toiletries on her cart. We nodded in the negative. How to explain ice? How would you do it in charades? Well, you'd make stupid facial expressions and crunching mouth gestures of course. Yeah, no, that didn't work. Nor did trying to fashion a big block of ice out of air. Or, R's tactic of switching to Spanish. That just perplexed the poor woman even more and prompted her to try looking up "panol" (as in "habla esPANOL") on her cellphone. We thanked her profusely and backed away sheepishly. And went down to the front desk where i was able to arrange for some to be brought up to the room. Yay! Ok, sleep deprivation starting to hit. Off to bed!