Well this just sucks.

I guess sometime the other day when I was tromping around those temples I pissed off one of the gods, or Buddha or somebody because I'm having a bit of an issue. It turns out the soreness in my ankle did not just go away after sleeping on it, it is, in fact, worse. There isn't any swelling, but after heading over to central (again) it began to hurt (again). And no, apparently I can't just walk it off. Sucks, right? But wait there's more! I'm convinced the HSBC lions are cursed because after taking a few pictures on my newly re-charged battery the camera dies! Yay! Apparently whatever I did to my battery it decided the only reasonable reaction was to commit suicide, so now I'm out a battery. Just go to a camera store you say? Its Asia, the electronic capital of the world, you say? Surely they have your battery, you say?

Ha! My guidebook had it own little section on camera stores, serious places 'the locals' use to get their stuff. NONE of them had my battery, even those that had my camera! (apparently you have to buy the entire camera to get the battery, or wait a week while they ship in a new one). SIX stores later on both sides of the harbor (ankle now hurting even when I'm still) I found a hole in the wall place by star ferry which, miracle of miracles has my battery. Why no one else in the biggest international trading port in Asia does, I don't know. Either way, while this guy is processing my bill ($400Hk, which somewhat ironically, is the cheapest I found) I tell him how I've been looking all afternoon and how I hurt my ankle.

He goes "Ahh, you have bad luck." Maybe there's something to all this Chinese superstition. I'm getting myself some lucky red envelopes for my receipts tomorrow, maybe they'll act as a spiritual warranty.

So now I'm back in the hotel, bag of ice on my ankle, new battery quietly charging away for the next 10 hours. Thank goodness I checked out Mon Kok and Ladies' market yesterday and got some cheap (and perfectly legal, thank you very much) movies, otherwise I'd be stuck watching Discovery channel all day. I guess these are the risks you take in the field, eh?


Oh, and in case you were wondering why I don't use my film camera, two points. Big point 1 is, a new battery costs about $55 US. Film, development and processing for the next two weeks would be WAY more than that. Point 2: I checked out the battery selection in a few drugstores, and apparently they don't sell the little hearing aide sized battery that my manual uses for the light meter. What's up with HK being under-supplied?

I think tomorrow I'm going to go to Lantau and skip central for now. I don't particularly like it there (personal issues aside) and two days has been plenty for now. Its not going anywhere and I need a little break from it. So, yay, the world's largest "outdoor seated bronze" Buddha. Maybe I'll grab some incense for the temple while I'm at it.