I changed to another room. It is 2/3 the cost of the last one, but still no window, no bathroom, no working TV, but does have a wireless signal (have to pay a little). Today I went to a different area of the city (Lok Fu) and I found I was the only white person there the entire time. Went to a supermarket, which seemed really crowded, but no lines! Just afterwards I had some food (some kind of fried rice) in a kind of cafeteria area around the supermarket.
Then I went to a big shopping area (Mong Kok) and they have electronic store after store, so I bought a MP3 Audio Player finally. I bought a Sony NW-E013F, which is a model not available in North America for some reason, for $76. They gave me a pair of free socks with the purchase, which is kind of different, but I think I could use them. Only bad thing about the Sony player is it requires Sony’s SonicStage software to transfer audio. But good enough for now, I suppose. Continuing on my shopping spree, I purchased a new UV Filter to protect the end of my camera lens. I got one for $14. Next I walked to the train station and purchased a Hong Kong -> Shanghai night train ticket for $59. I will leave on July 3rd, given I get my passport back with the correct visa.
By now the fireworks would start in four hours, so I started to walk along the harbor to find a good spot. I found a pretty good place and sat down. I waited for three and a half hours or so, but I had my computer there, my new music player and everything. I was expecting chaos as a hundred thousand people try to get up close to the water, but everyone was very orderly and there were no problems. Walkways were kept clear and people were able to move around, maybe due to the big police presence.
The lightshow started at 8:00PM (gets dark early here). Synchronized to music (my player has a FM radio so I could hear clearly), there are spot lights, lasers, neon lights running up tons of skyscrapers flashing and moving. I think the most impressive part of the show there are things happening 360 degrees around you. Even a skyscraper under construction had a laser on the side and even the street lights I was standing next to were dimming once in a while. Not to mention the fireworks coming off buildings. Then the main display started when the barges started firing shells. Some interesting things there like some of the fireworks were attempting to draw Chinese characters. And as expected, everything was big. At the very end maybe 50-100 of those flash shells. I tried to get some photos as best as I could handheld.
After the show, the cleaning crews started working right away. They are proud to say things like they were able to clean up after 300,000 people in like 31 minutes or something. Many roads were blocked off to traffic, so I was able to walk in the middle of the streets back to my room.