This morning I needed a taxi to the airport at 5:15. I had arranged it the night before with Me Mates Place, or at least I tried to. The guy who was working really wanted me to take a tuk tuk, but I preferred a taxi. Apparently this is an unusual request and I was doubtful that I would actually have a taxi this morning. I was right. It didn't come, and neither did a tuk tuk, and it was raining. I was so pissed off. Anyway, the guys who were sleeping in the lobby (they work there, but this is very common that people sleep in the lobbies of hostels I think) ran down the street and found a tuk tuk. I don't think they understood why I was so angry, and I wasn't angry ... read more

So you may be wondering why I stayed in Hong Kong after Enis left. I had an appointment to get a stress test done this morning. My heart is fine, but I already knew that. That's enough about that. It was noon, so what do I do with the rest of my day? I don't leave until 3:30 tomorrow. Well, first I went to, you know. Pacific Coffee Company. Then I decided to visit Kowloon Park which is a beautiful park on Nathan Road. It has a sculpture garden, a maze, and beautiful scenery. But it's not very big so I didn't kill much time there. I did a bit of shopping and got something to eat and called it a night. I went back to my room to read the 615 page Mao biography I'd ... read more

We met Pearl for dim sum at 10:00 AM in front of our hotel and walked around the corner to a dim sum restaurant on the 6th floor of a building that I don't think I would recognize again. We ordered lots of different things - egg tarts (very traditional in HK), steamed custard buns (yummy and filled with sweet egg custard), beef balls, beef spring rolls, veggie dumplings and seafood dumplings and other stuff I can't remember the name of. I have to be honest. After the egg tarts and steamed buns, dim sum went seriously downhill. I liked some of the other things, especially the dumplings, but some of the things we ordered Enis and I were not too keen on, but we ate them because of Pearl. We didn't want to disappoint her ... read more

Hong Kong Day II - Victoria Peak here we come! We actually got up early and I forget now where we had breakfast, but I think we ate at Pacific Coffee Company. This place is great and we ended up going here every day. Their coffee is so good (I recommend the caramel latte!) and even the food is good. They have lovely pastries, and it is about the same price as Starbucks, maybe cheaper, but so much better. After breakfast we took the metro across the river and walked to the Peak without the use of a map since the signs are so good. We wanted to take the tram, of course, so we followed the signs for Peak Tram. To ride the tram costs about 36 HKD each round trip, unless you want to ... read more

We were in no rush today. Our train was leaving at 9:30 tonight and we only had one thing left to see - the Temple of Heaven. We slept in a bit, had breakfast at our hotel again, and then took the metro to the Temple. Beijing is handy that way. Nearly ever major tourist attraction has a metro stop named after it. It was crowded. Surprise, surprise. The Temple of Heaven is not an active temple. It is a museum now. A huge museum that is larger than the Forbidden City if you include the gardens. The actual buildings are not quite as impressive though, but it is well worth a visit for only 35 RMB each. The gardens are beautiful and so is the architecture. The Temple of Heaven was originally built in the ... read more