After much procrastination, I finally decided it was high time to post something worth while.

This past weekend marked the halfway point of my visit to this side of the world. In celebration of that accomplishment, I left my beautiful island along with 9 other girls on the team to renew my visa.

What follows is the long version. If you want the shorter version, skip to the last paragraph.

I have been in cities before. But nothing prepared me for what I would see when I arrived. Built around the natural landscape of the area, the skyscrapers of Hong Kong seemed miniaturized against the colossal giants of the mountains.

Hong Kong is a highly trafficked tourist attraction. You discover just how universal the English language is in a place like that. Though I heard all sorts of languages, including Russian, Spanish, Mandarin, Castilian, and Hebrew, the tongue for buying and selling was dominantly English. Practically everyone there spoke it. It was so nice not having to worry about language barriers. There were many different kinds of English there. I heard Australian, British, Scotch, and American. As Hong Kong was under England's rule until very recently, the majority of the English was British.

The 10 of us landed in Hong Kong in the late afternoon on Thursday. We grabbed our bags and made our way to the Hotel. That was no easy matter. We first took the Airport shuttle to the Metro station. Then we searched our pockets for some HK currency to pay for our tickets. As none of us had small enough bills having just arrived, we made our way to the 7/11 to break some cash. That accomplished, we bought our tickets and took the metro to Causeway Bay. We disembarked and made our way to the hotel. We looked for signs pointing to the Charterhouse Hotel, but saw none. After about an hour and a half of lugging suitcases, dogging traffic, and asking for directions from about 5 people, we finally found our residence for the next 3 days. By now it was dark. We checked into our rooms and collapsed on our beds.

After 6 months of Taiwanese beds, it was heavenly to feel the softness of not one, but two feather pillows, a thick, springy mattress, and real sheets. I did not have too long to delight in such material matters, for I was soon fast asleep.

The next morning came for me around 8:00. I got ready and found Rachel and Lauren. The three of us grabbed our bags and made our way to Times Square. What had taken us nearly an hour to get to the night before, only took us about 5 minutes. The streets looked much diffrent in the light of day. We arrived at Times Square and made our way to the Starbucks located inside. After ordering our Toffee Lattés, we found the Krispy Kreme and bought a doughnut for each of us. With our coffee and doughnuts, we made quite a happy trio. We window shopped around the mall-like building a little longer and then returned to the hotel.

Upon arriving, we asked the gentleman at the front desk for directions to Stanley Market. He gave us directions. Pick up the number 40 bus here and take it all the way to Stanley Market. Seemed easy enough. So the three of us set out with bags in hand for the number 40 bus. We found it, but it was not at the correct station to pick us up. Thankfully, the driver spoke English and told us to follow him for two blocks. We chased the bus around the city until it finally stoped and picked us up. We boarded and paid our fare of 9HK dollars each. After about a 20 minute bus ride, we finally made it to our destination.

Stanley Market is simply a conglomeration of streets packed with tiny little shops filled with all sorts of touristy type things. From Chinese silk clothes to name engraved chopsticks to beautifully painted tea sets.

We wondered the streets and looked through the merchandise. Lauren and Rachel bought a few souvenirs. I mostly looked and followed them. Those of you who know me, know that I don't really enjoy shopping. Most of the time, I just go to be with the other people. So they led the way, and I willingly followed. Lunchtime came and we found a resurant serving a special of Fish & Chips. Rachel was particularly excited about that. So, we went in and found that you could only get the special in the bar. Since there was nobody in the bar, we said we would just eat down there then. So we ordered one plate to share. The guy brings out the plate and then also brings out a tall glass of beer. Wow, does that stuff stink! We told him we didn't want it, we only wanted the Fish & Chips. So he kindly took it away. It was by far the best Fish & Chips I have ever had.

After lunch we decided to go back to the hotel. We found the place where the bus had dropped us off. But after two attempts at trying to board the number 40 bus, and having the driver tell us to get off, we decided to ask for help. We found a Kiwi (a person from New Zealand) also waiting on a bus. We asked him if he knew why the bus driver wouldn't let us on. His first answer was "Maybe he didn't care for your fragrence." After a few more minutes of discusion, we finally figured out it was because we were on the wrong side of the street. We crossed the street and got on the bus, easy as anything.

By the way, did I mention that in Hong Kong people drive on the left side of the street. I must say it was a little disconcerting to be watching the cars next to you and discover that the person sitting on the left side of the car didn't have their hands on the wheel.

We got back to the hotel just in time to leave again. This time we were joined by Christy. As she had a different kind of visa, she had to go get a new one. We only had to renew ours. Anyway, we went with her as moral support to get her new visa. She got it with no problems. We did more window shopping at the mall there and then took the escalators up the side of the mountain to Hong Kong Park. We walked through the park and enjoyed the beautiful fountains, trees, and flowers. The birds sang, the turtles sunned themselves on the rocks in the pond, the fish were swimming around happy as could be. It was very relaxing.

After crossing the park, we boarded the Peak Tram. The Peak Tram is a little train that goes up the mountain to the Peak. The Peak building built on top of one of the mountains. Inside are many diffrent shops. You can go out on top of the roof of the building and get a beautiful view of Hong Kong. We wandered around the shops for a couple hours until it was dark and then went back up to the top and looked out at Hong Kong. The skyscrapers were all lit up with lights. It was stunning. We took pictures and then due to soreness in the feet and shoulders, we decided it was time to go. We went down and boarded the tram, took it back to Hong Kong Park, went back through the park, boarded the metro, and rode back to our stop. We had gotten some ice cream while up at the peak so none of us were hungry for supper. So we went back to the hotel and went to bed.

My second day in Hong Kong didn't arrive until 11:00a.m. when I finally decided I ought to get up. I went and found Lauren and Rachel. I discovered that they had already gotten their daily ration of Starbucks and doughnuts. I was a little disappointed that I had slept in and missed out, but finally decided that I didn't need to drink coffee every day anyway. It is one bad habit that I don't want to pick up. Instead I ate some pretzel nuggets we had bought the day before.

Rachel wanted to go to a spa to spend some of her Christmas money. She didn't want to go alone. So I decided to go with her. We wondered around the streets looking for the correct place. Forty-five minutes after her scheduled appointment, and an hour and a half after we left the hotel, we found it. Fortunately for Rachel, they still had an opening. I sat in the lounge and read my book while she got a back massage. Forty-five minutes later she came out feeling wonderful. She paid and we left.

We had planned to meet up with Lauren and Christy at five o'clock. It was four. So we looked around for a place to eat. We found this great little cafe. We went upstairs and had a delicious chicken ceaser salad. It was probably one of my favorite meals while I was there. After our lupper, we made our way to the meeting place just down the street.

Earlier that day, while searching for spas in a magazine, Rachel had found a place that had a deal on manicures and pedicures. So Lauren, Christy, Rachel, and I decided to go. It was the first time I had ever done anything like it. It was so much fun. We sat in the chairs and let the girls that worked there pamper us. I enjoyed it immensely. It was very relaxing. Two hours later, the four of us walked out with beautifully painted nails.

We decided to have our last meal in Hong Kong at Pizza Hut. We ordered two large pizzas and had a wonderful time visiting with each other and eating. After we ate as much as we wanted, we put the rest in a box and made our way back to the hotel. Again, I quickly fell asleep.

The next morning, I awoke, packed my bags, and met the rest of the group in the hotel lobby. We took the hotel shuttle to the airport, boarded the plane and flew back to Taiwan. We then boarded the bus sent to pick us up, eating Subway in the bus, we took it all the way to another airport in Taipei. Lauren, Rachel, and I disembarked and boarded yet another plane for Kinmen. We arrived back to our dorm late that afternoon, just in time for a fabulous meal of grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup, and pasta salad prepared by Jarita and Lucas. Krispy Kream doughnuts and root beer which we brought back from Hong Kong made the perfect dessert.

Well, that is about it. Now that you have read the long version, here it is in a nut shell.

Hong Kong is a city. It is expensive. I spent a lot of money (a lot for me at least). I bought one souvenir, a french vanilla scented candle. It was fun. I don't think I want to live there. I much prefer the clean air of Kinmen.
:o)