Hong Kong

Hey All!  I'm back in Huangshi from our 3 week adventure and already getting back to the swing of things with teaching and settling in.  I can't wait to tell y'all about my trip, but it will take several posts, so here is the first!

Our trip started with a 17 hour train ride from Huangshi to Shenzhen, China.  As awful as it sounds, train rides really aren't that bad if you take the night train with a sleeper bed.  This picture is of us on our beds in the train.  When we made it to Shenzhen our good friend Dawn met up with us and showed us how to walk to Hong Kong.  You can literally walk across the border from Shenzhen to Hong Kong, so we did!  

After getting settled in a very sketch hostel in downtown Hong Kong, we set out to find some grub!  Low and behold Hong Kong was filled with Western food and our first meal was a delicious cheeseburger from Outback Steak House!  As you can see we were very excited and couldn't wait to eat it!

The first night we walked around and went to the Symphony of Lights, which is a laser light show on Victoria Harbor.  The laser beams are on top of the skyscrapers in Hong Kong and light up with the music that is playing in the background.   

We then walked to the Avenue of the Stars, which is also on the harbor, and has the hand prints of famous stars in Hong Kong and China.  The only one I knew was Jackie Chan! haha

The next day we decided to take a cable car to one of the other islands named Lantau, where there is a village  called Ngong Ping.  Here are pictures of the cable cars.

The three of us in the cable car! 

Once we got to the village, there were many gift shops and the Giant Buddha.  

Lesley with her Chinese fan!

A Chinese cable car.

Unfortunately, it rained everyday we were in Hong Kong, so umbrellas and rain coats were a must.  

You can see the Giant Buddha way in the background!

This was taken before we climbed up to the top to see the Giant Buddha.  It really is huge!  It is 112 feet tall and weighs 250 tons!  There were 200 steps to climb just to reach the top.

The three of us with Buddha.

Before we left the village, we saw this place where you could dress up in authentic Chinese attire.  I, of course, wanted to do it! My dress had a dragon on it, which is perfect since I was born in the year of the dragon, which is this year!

That night we didn't know what to do because yet again it was raining.  After debating for a while we decided on ice cream and a movie!  Yes, an English movie in a real theater! Oh Hong Kong, you spoiled me so.  Lesley and I were so excited about seeing a movie, we made Aaron take a picture of us.  At first we were the only ones in the theater, but others eventually joined.  We saw the second Sherlock Holmes, which is amazing!  I highly recommend it.

The next day we met up with some of the guys who teach in Wuhan.  They were in Hong Kong on break as well.  We rode on the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world.  

Lesley and I on the escalator.

We then headed up to the Peak, which is a location that overlooks the whole city and you are supposed to be able to see all of downtown Hong Kong.  Unfortunately, it was raining and cloudy, so the view wasn't that great.

Les and I on the tram ride up to the Peak.  Just our usual faces. haha

All the boys on the tram ride.

At the top of the Peak, there was a candy store with tons of American candy.  I got a ring pop, which was delicious!

At the top of the Peak! Ta-da

All of  us at the Peak!

Later that night, we went to Outback.  Yes, we had Outback twice in Hong Kong.  This time we ate delicious cheese fries and a cookie cake with ice cream!  Don't worry Lesley and I split both of them.

The next morning, we woke up at 6am and headed to a local pub to watch the Saints game with all the guys.  We didn't bring any Saints attire with us on the trip, but we did have Louisiana State Police shirts (thanks Dad for shipping those), so we wore those!  

We had to leave the pub early to head to the airport for Bangkok, so we didn't get to watch the end of the game.  We found out later in the airport that the Saints didn't win. :( 

The screen at the pub.  Most of the people there were 49ers fans.  

That's the end of Hong Kong.  We had a great time being spoiled with all the Western food, including Starbucks several times.  However, Hong Kong was not what I expected at all.  It is incredibly Westernized and just a big city.  I enjoyed it, coming from a lack of Western anything in Huangshi. It was a nice treat!

Up next:  Bangkok, Thailand