Sin City (Hong Kong).

Checking my luggage at the China Eastern Airlines counter, I realize that I only have 15 dollars to my name after paying the 50 dollar fee for having changed my ticket. The man at the counter tells me my luggage is 10 kilos overweight. Knowing how expensive overweight luggage fees cost, I did my start-fake-crying-but-still-look-pretty-i'm-so-helpless routine. He discreetly waived me through and I thanked him profusely. On my flight to Shanghai, I fell alseep without any need of melatonin, and woke up to a nice meal of spaghetti and beef, orange juice, strange fruity pound cake, and a shrimp salad. The layover went as expected, and at 6 PM I arrived at Hong Kong airport. I was extremely stressed, considering I thought I was to take the subway with my two big suitcases again (not after London!!). Thankfully, the airport is incredibly organized. Even though I couldn't afford a ticket to Central (my booker who picked me up from there had to pay for me when I got there), there was a beautiful bullet train that took us right into the city in less than twenty minutes. I then met Elaine, and was surprised by how everyone speaks english here. Since it was a British colony, they all have these strange Chinese/British accents. It's actually quite lovely, and something I have definitely never heard before. We got into a taxi to my apartment, where she informed me that I will be getting my very own room! She gave me my keys, my very shitty cellphone, a map book, and my sheet for the two castings tomorrow (apparently they work from monday through saturday here). We then arrived at the apartment; fourth floor. Let me tell you how happy I was to be graced with a big window. (You cannot imagine what it's like living in a basement for two months. You body clock doesn't function properly, you're always groggy, you never know what time it is and what the weather would be like outside.) My room is furnished with a big comfortable bed, a flat screen television, an extremely tiny ''kitchen'', a fridge, a microwave, my very own bathroom/shower, an open concept closet and a great a/c system. Even though fairly small, I have grown very fond of my new home. I have two girls living next to me. One is named Fernanda, who is from Brazil (most models here are either from Brazil or Canada...whou would've thought?). We spoke for a little about Hong Kong, and she told me what to expect. The other one I have just met today..she is barely home since she is living with her boyfriend in another apartment. She invited me to a private party with special guest Rihanna (!!!!!) on thursday.

I wake up Saturday morning and set out for my first two castings of the day. Carrying way too much stuff (heels, portfolio, map book, umbrella, two cell phones, water bottle..the list goes on), I bought my Octopus card charged with $150 HKD. Let me tell you, Hong Kong is the most organized city I have ever been to; subway included. Everything is in english, everything is extremely well planned out and easy to use. That being said, most of our castings are on Hong Kong Island, which is much smaller than anyone would expect. It usually takes around twenty minutes to get from one casting to another.

My first casting was hell. Not only giving me the wrong address, it took me much longer to find the damn place than I thought. Alot of the castings are in ''Industrial Buildings'', aka extremely hard to find, usually near highways/junk yards/not somewhere you would want to be hanging around. I waited at a random building for half an hour, wondering why the client would not open the door for me. I called the agency and they told me where to actually go. Thanks, Model One! This made me late for all other castings that day. There was also a problem with my cellphone at first; it wasn't receiving any text messages. You can guess how frustrating this was considering all of our castings are sent via text message. Thankfully it is now fixed. Meeting clients here is quite nice, though. Most of them speak English, therefore me working my personality and charm! Surprisingly, many clients have lived or worked in Toronto, therefore giving me some key conversation starters. Clients here also look at your hands and feet, measure very strange things (wrists, ankles, neck), and make you try on many different outfits (making you later for the other five casting you will be having that day). Everyone is also completely obsessed with my hair here. They just don't understand how it is so white. They say they have never seen this hair color before and keep stroking it like I am some kind of cat. I guess this explains why I have been put on hold for almost every casting that I have been to so far, and then some. I am on hold for four jobs this week, I had a job tuesday for a magazine, and I have a job tomorrow for a newspaper. I am also first option to shoot for Cosmo Girl!!! Keep your fingers crossed for me!!

On Friday night, Fernanda and her Brazillian friend invited me out for my first model dinner/night on the town. She informed me that here, there are model dinners and events planned monday/wednesday/friday/saturday. The partying never stops in Hong Kong, apparently. We then took a taxi to an Italian restaurant hosted by a promoter. At first, it was extremely awkward for me; there were two huge tables of models I didn't know, and the brazillians immediately met up with all of the other brazillians and started chatting away in, you guessed it, brazillian. I just kind of sat there feeling embarrassingly lonely until I saw a girl from Next Toronto that I had done a show with for Toronto Fashion Week. THANK THE LORD! We immediately took a liking to each other, and she introduced me to a bunch of other amazingly sweet models. One was an almost retired red headed model from London, another a half-asian vegan from California, a set of twins from Brazil. We sipped on red wine and I watched as they feasted on everything I told myself I would never touch knowing that I have to be stick thin for Tokyo in November - calamari, six different kinds of pasta dishes, pizza, garlic bread (so cruel...). At around twelve, we all set out to the club district. This, my friends, is where I start lacking in words. Think of the biggest club you have ever seen. Multiply it by a hundred. All packed in the same district. Mostly foreigners, people pouring out on the street still drinking. Model clubs are even more intense. We got to ''Roxbury'' and we were met by around two hundred models wearing feathered boas, mixed with business men clad in expensive suits and cigars. We went to the area where there were free drinks everywhere you looked. It was jammed packed and as crazy as a club could ever be. It makes my head spin to think how there are dozens of clubs just like this one, with just as many models and just as many free ordeals as the one I just so happened to be in. We laughed and danced and drank, and then ventured to another club called Volvic. Another club where models hang out and get the ultimate treatment of hand stamps and body guards and champagne in crystal glasses. This club had mirror walls, which made me extremely confused when I tried to find the bathroom. There was also marble white merry-go-round horses and cotton candy. Finally, after meeting many models and having a lovely, lovely time, Krysten and Ingrid walked me to the taxi stand at around 5 in the morning and I went home and slept like a baby.

Now, this is the part where I try to explain the extraordinary Hong Kong. It is very hard to understand the charm of the city, since most of it is found the small details. What's amazing about Hong Kong is how harmoniously the old and the new come together. It is so seamless that you're fooled into thinking this is the way things have always been. It really does offer you small moments of perfection. You encounter the traditional Chinese ways; incense smell from a far away temple. The old ladies selling dragon fruit and leeks. The content look in people's faces chowing down on a bowl of congee. The organic ''world peace'' cafe's with buddhist volunteer waiters. And then, without warning; the Chanel boutiques, the five star hotels, the modern architecture, the five-star Japanese restaurants, world class airports and gigantic international supermarkets selling everything from prosciutto to shwarma. At first, it was extremely overwhelming. Honk Kong is the most crowded city I have ever been to. Thankfully, people are amazingly well coordinated and self-aware when it comes to walking around. It's as if they are on auto-pilot. I have never gotten bumped into, nor have I ever gotten frustrated. There is complete walking etiquette; people stand on the right side of the escalator (this was unheard of in Seoul), and when people are actually in your way, they apologize profusely in English for minutes on end. As for friendliness, I find it very strange. You could ask one person for directions, and they will stare at you and mumble something and walk off angrily. Then you ask the people who will make it their goal to see you to your destination, no matter how far (this lady walked me half an hour to a casting and bought be a green tea afterwards). I think every asian country is split into two types of people; people who are jealous of foreigners and do not approve of their culture (this is mostly older people), and the people who are absolutely fascinated by you and want to know every single thing that you did that day and more. However, Hong Kong is the place where I get stared at the most of any country I have visited. I don't just mean half assed stares. I mean full on, mouth open, unshakable staring. It gets a little bit awkward on the subway, as you can surely guess.

As much as I am a little bit lonely here, I really do love it. At first it was so overwhelming I didn't know what to do with myself, but I'm getting the hang of thing. I wish I had more time to hang out with people I've gotten to know here, but I am bombarded with castings and jobs. I am the only model that I know of that is constantly going to castings and working so intensely. I'm not complaining..I do need the money come Christmas shopping and Tokyo. And I did come here to work. But sometimes I wish I had company.