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Published: August 6th 2007
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Reunion Weekend
Hong Kong Edition - What jet lag? Let's go out! Finally after months of anticipation and seemingly endless preparations (passports and visas to apply for, plane tickets and luggage and appropriate travel clothes to buy, camera batteries to charge, PTO to save and work coverage to arrange...) I went to China. I'd never been anywhere. But thanks to Mandy's (or Amanda's depending on what phase in her life you met her) encouragement, I decided to start big. So I flew across the world (literally via the North Pole), wandered around what felt like a whole other world for a few weeks and then came back.
I've been back in the U.S. for a week now and have faced countless questions from friends, family and coworkers about "How was it?", "How was China?". The answer has been different everytime and none of them seem to adequately describe the last 2 weeks of my life.
China was an assult on the senses. It was the smell of seafood and street food and diesel exhaust and toilets that aren't always flushable and gardenias in the monastery courtyards and incense inside the sanctuaries. It was the taste of green tea and fried rice and sichuan spices and starbuck cappucino's. It was the sound
Hong Kong at Night
Hong Kong...a gentle introduction to the East. of unknown languages and accented "hello"'s and monks chanting and horns honking and men hocking lugies (spelling?) on the train. It was the feeling of rain and sweat and humidity that saturated every pore of my body, a never ending dampness. It was the feeling of being totally fascinated and frustrated at the same time. The feeling of a lack of understanding of the world around me and how to negiotiate it that was unnerving and uncomfortable. And the sights...those are best described by the pictures.
The words only begin to describe what China is, or was to me anyway during my short time there. One thing I can say for sure is that Mandy's right...the place is crazy!
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amandainshenzhen
Amanda Ahrens
The pictures are wonderful and most of the time a smile is on your face. I hope that you always remember China with a smile. I believe Amanda has more adventures in her and if you are not careful...you may be invited on her next journey. It is funny how nothing is ever what is seems and is never exactly the same each time we remember it either. You are a brave soul to pick China as your first venture out of the USA. Mrs. Ahrens