Hong Kong

These last few days have been such a whirlwind I don’t even know where to start. I guess at the beginning is the best…

My night in Dubai was miserable. I slept for probably 2 hours on the floor of the airport…not the most comfortable place in the world. I was also a little anxious because I am a 21 year old white female from America and I was in the Middle East, which is still new to me. It’s hard to be alone in any place when you’re not familiar or comfortable with their traditions or way of life, but I feel it is especially difficult to be alone in a place where your own nationality is what determines how you are treated. I didn’t have any troubles, but I did get strange looks from men which naturally made me a little uneasy. Anyway, I made it through with no problems and I’m glad for it.

The airplane rides from Paris to Dubai and Dubai to Hong Kong were spectacular. I flew Emirates airlines and let me tell you what…I felt like a princess. Warm towels when taking off and landing, 7 course meals, free alcohol and genuinely nice and friendly flight attendants…flying Continental will never be the same again. Both of my flights were 7 hours long and when you consider a 10 hour layover, a 5 drive to the airport and a 7 hour time difference, it makes for quite a long few days of traveling. I left Will’s at 6 on Wednesday morning and arrived at my hotel around 10:30 Friday night! And speaking of the hotel…it’s 5 stars and we’re on the 34th floor with an amazing view of the harbor and skyline of Hong Kong. Need I say more?

My first night in Hong Kong I was a wreck but I could not sleep…I was up at 4:30 for the day. That put me at a grand total of 7 hours of sleep for 3 nights. Sleep deprivation makes you act and do strange things. I don’t remember parts of my day on Saturday and I seriously wondered at one point if a person could die from lack of sleep. But it was a good day despite my zombie-like state. There are 6 of us staying at this hotel that are on TSS, so we all stuck together and headed out to explore Hong Kong. We ended up at the Hong Kong park and Victoria Peak which overlooks the city. We had to take a cable car to the top of the mountain & we actually ended up eating at a restaurant at the top of the peak…it’s too bad the city is full of smog, or the view would be really nice.

Today I woke up after a full 6 hours of sleep and headed for an 8 hour tour of the city. Our first stop was the Avenue of Stars which is kind of like Hollywood Square on a pier that again overlooked the city. There wasn’t much to see, but I did get to see Jackie Chan’s hand prints! Next on the tour we took a little boat to a cove on the South China Sea where there a supposedly pink dolphins, but unfortunately the water was too rough and we didn’t see any. The boat let us off to Tai O, a quaint little fishing village which was once the largest inhabited settlement on Lantau Island. This was definitely my favorite part of the day…I actually felt like I was in China. The streets were lined with women selling freshly caught crabs and fish and the water was filled with colorful fishing boats. I enjoyed that the people weren’t pushy when trying to sell their items…I’m used to markets in places like Marrakech where they will follow you for miles trying to sell you some used tissues. In this market, the shop keepers let you browse and take pictures and gawk and they were all smiling and happy the entire time. I also realized that I am either really foolish and naïve or really independent and fearless. There were a lot of dogs and cats roaming around, and a couple of them seemed to have rabies. I did not have my vaccination and I definitely don’t want rabies, but it would never stop me from walking down one of the streets…I just figure if I’m careful and avoid where the animals are I’ll be fine. However, some of the others were quite concerned and just wanted to go back to the buses. I definitely understand not wanting rabies…I understand it involves a series of shots in the buttocks and honestly, who wants that? (Mom, I’m sorry in advance) So I ended up just wandering around by myself for a little while and the others went back to the bus meeting place. I promise it was very safe and quite touristy and I didn’t go down any dark alley ways! I don’t know what I take from that situation…like I said, I’m either naïve or fearless and I’m not sure which is worse?

After the fishing village was the Po Lin Monastery which boasts the largest outdoor Buddha statue in the world. I was disappointed that we didn’t actually get to see any of the monks or really learn anything about the monastery, but we did enjoy a vegetarian meal in the monastery. I can’t tell you a single thing that we consumed, but it was all delicious! Our final stop was another little town called Ngong Ping Village where we watched a really great video about Buddha and Buddhist beliefs. I do know a few things about Buddhism, but I got a better feel for it’s principles and where they came from. I really like the concepts they believe in…peace, balance, moderation and toleration…all things I try to practice in my own life & all things I genuinely believe could make this world a better place.

We took a ferry back to our island and on the way we saw the boat!!!!! I don’t know what the chances were of us seeing it, but I can’t imagine they were very good. It looked small although I know it’s huge and I got strangely excited to see it. I summed it up to the fact that I haven’t had a home in 5 weeks and the boat is my new home. Well, in 3 days it’s my new home.

I’m not sure what our plans are for New Years Eve tomorrow but we will definitely be going out…we have tours at 8am on the 1st so it won’t be anything too crazy, but there will definitely be celebration!

Hope everyone is well at home! xo

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