As I head home to the Philippines today, just a few quick travel notes:

1. It’s not everyday you see an Indian karate student — still in his outfit — riding a Razor scooter down the busy streets of Causeway Bay.
2. The standing urinals in men’s toilets here in HK do not have flush handles.
3. Chinese restaurant disinfection S.O.P.: Order steaming hot tea. Pour steaming hot tea in bowl. Get all chopsticks, bowls, and teacups, and dip them thoroughly in steaming hot tea. Do not wipe with napkin. This will minimize the risk of bacteria being transferred from your plates to your dimsum.
4. Most Chinese restaurants don’t provide napkins anyway. Cloth, paper, or otherwise.
5. Sweet sauce turns bright pinkish-red when poured in congee. Don’t use too much.
6. When in doubt, McDonald’s. But the double cheeseburgers are better in Manila.
7. Hong Kong isn’t really about cheap prices anymore. It’s about availability of products. Still, this is great shopping.
8. Excelsior Hotel does not provide complimentary slippers or sandals, and their Cable TV channels are limited. But they have an excellent continental breakfast buffet.
9. When riding the MTR subway with a normal single journey ticket, do not go through the special turnstiles for prepaid-card passengers where they just pass the card over a sensor, You have to go through the regular turnstiles with card slots. Observe carefully so you don’t embarass yourself.
10. The MTR is a lot noisier than Manila’s MRT. More people talking in Chinese.
11. You will have to pay for the airport train to and from Hong Kong. 90 Hong Kong dollars, one way.

    That’s all I can scratch off the top of my head. See you in Manila.