Sunday, February 19th

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Today we had a group tour with the rest of our travel group (minus one couple). Brian and Beth were able to get in last night and Brian is feeling much better! We had breakfast in the hotel, and it was very nice, from homemade waffles and omelets to salad bar (what?), and muffins. When we arrived we were seated, but then moved to where most of our group sat. We are really enjoying our travel group!

We met for the tour, with our guide, Matthew at 8:15 and met the Springer’s. Their daughter is also from Xinyi. We left for our tour to a somewhat foggy/rainy morning. It wasn’t cold, though. We were supposed to go to Victoria Peak first, but it was so foggy and wet, the driver felt it would be better to attempt it later on. We went to Stanley Market which is just a small marketplace that has a lot off booths with different things for you to buy. We didn’t really buy anything except a bigger backpack with wheels for Mark to use as a carry-on on the way home. The backpack he’s using now will be Ryleigh’s diaper bag. He got a nice backpack, and after some haggling, it was about $18 US. Good deal! There were some adorable clothes for little girls at the market, but we all kept reminding each other to wait until Guangzhou!!!

After we left Stanley Market we went to Aberdeen Fishing village. We rode on a traditional fishing boat with the Epstein’s around the harbor. The people in the harbor live on their boats 24/7 and make their living fishing. The boat ride was amazing and interesting because at the beginning of the ride there are these HUGE yachts that probably cost millions of dollars, then you turn the corner to complete poverty. The water is a green color that is only seen in Disneyland in California. The ride was my favorite part of the day and lasted about 30 minutes.

After that we went to the “rip-off jade factory”. I guess if you really wanted some jade, and you were really into jewelry you would love this place. It was not for us. Some of the necklaces looked like they weighed about a pound for a pendant. It was ridiculous. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t buy the jade if you love it. We just don’t. Most of us stood in a circle talking and praying that the salespeople would leave us alone because they were seriously like vultures on a dead squirrel. Oh, and you couldn’t take pictures in the sales room because you just might steal their designs (yeah right!).

We then got to go up to Victoria Peak. It’s a good thing we were in the back of the bus because those roads were curvy and small, and there were a LOT of busses!! Matthew, the guide was telling funny jokes the whole day and I have to tell you by the time we got to Victoria Peak I was sleepy, and ready for the jokes to end, but he was very interesting talking all about how small the living quarters were for people in Hong Kong and how the economy was so bad after the SARS outbreak that they are just beginning to come out of it. Victoria Peak is beautiful. It was hazy, but we could see everything.

After that we went to a Dim Sum lunch. It was really yummy, and we had more fun with our group. We were split into three groups, and it was fun just talking and figuring out what the food was. It was mostly pork, and very good. Our favorites were the crispy noodles with dog sauce (JUST KIDDING, there really wasn’t any dog sauce!!!!).

Now I know you are thinking “aren’t these people tired”, but we were on the go!!! After the dim sum lunch we were on our own. A quick trip to the room to drop off the new backpack and we were back out on the town. Hong Kong consists of three areas. Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories. We are staying on Kowloon, but Hong Kong is right across the harbor, so we walked about a mile to the ferry terminal and ferried across to Hong Kong Central. We walked around, and I was getting grumpy (and a blister) so we ferried back across and walked back to the hotel after a quick dinner at McDonald’s. Now, we don’t usually eat at McDonald’s at home, but I have to tell you. When you are tired, and you just don’t want to “figure out where to eat”, it was a good choice. Everything tasted the same, and actually the fries were better, they were really hot and very good.

We just spent about an hour in the room talking to the Tina and Kevin Theis and just laughing and laughing. We are all feeling the same way about this trip so far. It is so surreal that we are getting the babies so soon. Tina gave me some bandaids for my blister (which isn’t that bad).

Tomorrow we have a wakeup call at 6am, and meet in the lobby at 7:20am for our drive to the airport. Our flight is at 10 something, and then we are in Guangzhou!!!

HINT: CCAI suggests you change $100 US to HK dollars. We ended up with about ½ of that left and can’t do anything with it. I would suggest changing $50 at a time.

HINT #2: Don’t forget bandaids!!