This is driving me nuts...

...Regarding just what is wrong with my Zen.

I have 3 devices that use the same kind of input port to USB with my computer: the camera, the Zen, and a duracell USB battery charger. Of these, the battery charger is able to connect fine with my computer (and start charging). I also have two devices that uses a different input port to USB - the nook and smart phone - and both of these come up find on the laptop. I know I have previously been able to connect this same Zen and camera to the computer. Thus, it doesn't seem as if the problem is on the computer side.

My second thought is a problem on the adapter as that is the only thing different than what I usually use. However, the same Duracell battery charger also has an output port of the same format as the input port, with no USB on the other side, and that was able to charge the Zen for like a few minutes last night (maybe about 20%) before it stopped. That seems to lean me to thinking it's not an adapter issue... though admittedly this is still the weakest part.

The only other option is that there is a problem on the Zen itself. Which seems unlikely as whatever the problem, it's also affecting my camera too.

As an workaround, at least I can take out the SD disk of the camera to retrieve my files from there onto the computer. I can't do that with the Zen, so I'm worried about not having access to my music at all over time... T_T

Day 3 Hong Kong

Today was a much more...fruitful day, I think.

We didn't leave the hotel until about 9 AM. Found a breakfast place that looked very popular. Forgot to note down the name. The service was a little slow (possibly due to the being busy), but the food was decent - in the good tasting way.

A little after 10 (which is when the majority of places open), we went to the HK Art Museum. I didn't expect too much out of the place, and was pleasantly surprised that there were a few nice galleries apart from the bleh stuff like contemporary art and film history. Photography wasn't allowed, but I managed to sneak a few shots from their porcelain gallery. Will need to figure out how to upload them.

After the museum, we went to the nearby Harbor City. Unfortunately, the shops there turned out to be all brand names and too rich for our blood. The front door was kinda pretty though, all decked out with Christmas & Disney themes. Took some photos there and also of the next door building place that might've been the Consumer Education Info Center (not sure).

We then had lunch at the Jade Garden (翠園) restaurant. I'd found the place while searching for good/popular yet not too expensive dim sum places earlier in the morning. It was second on my list (the first being Serenade restaurant near the museum). The food was pretty good, as was the view. I don't recall the menu item names, but there was one with a lobster broth thing that was really nice - both in terms of presentation and taste.

A little after 1 PM, we hit the HK Space Museum. There was some very cool (and educational!) stuff there too. I didn't do any of the hands on demos (like the 1/6 gravity thing, the gyroscope thing, etc., as I was still feeling stuff from lunch and wasn't sure how my stomach would react to that kinda thing. I did take some photos much it's not much representative of all the nice stuff they have there.

We saw 2 of the large dome movies. One was the 3D dome movie about the "Wildest Weather in the Solar System" - which covered stuff like the planet-wide dust storms of Mars, the methane rains of Titan, the high speed winds of Neptune, etc. Also saw a non-3D movie about the "Dynamic Earth" - which talked about the carbon cycle on Earth and Venus, and so forth. Both were pretty cool.

After resting a bit back at the hotel, we left again for some further shopping at around 7. I didn't find much of anything aside from a T-shirt that was kinda nice and on sale. Mom bought a bunch of specialty food packs for gifting people.

Although it was close, we managed to drop off our bags back at the hotel and make it back to the Avenue of Stars in time for the 8 PM "Symphony of Lights" show. Tonight's was in English, and I managed to video most of it. Will need to see how well that turned out.

For dinner, we went to the Super Star (鴻星) Seafood Restaurant across the street from our hotel. Again, I'd researched for seafood places that were not too expensive. We ordered a lobster (which was rather standard fare), a Tiger fish (which was wow-tasty-good), and a little shrimp dumpling made in the form of little koi fish things (which was tasty and adorable). Total price came out to something like 716 HKD which isn't too bad for fresh seafood.

Our plane to Nanjing leaves at 10-something tomorrow. So we need to arrive at the airport by 8, which means leaving the hotel by at least 7, and so a wake up call at 6 or 5:30... Probably won't have access to the internet for a while after this then. The rest of the entries will likely need to be back-dated. Ah well.