Introduction...kind of

I have been in Beijing, China for two years now. Although I have written a lot about my experiences, I have never had a blog before. So this is my first try at blogging! I hope whoever comes across my blog and reads it, finds something interesting. :)

About Two Years Ago:

I got to Hong Kong at about 9:30, after one very long flight -from Alaska to Taipei- and one short flight -from Taipei to Hong Kong.

I wasn’t very comfortable but I did all right. The first flight played a movie about a man who thinks that a life-sized doll is real and falls in love with her. I guess there’s a disorder for believing things that are not real, are real. I am not one who knows about these things, unfortunately. I didn’t watch the whole thing- I was asleep for the beginning- but it was peculiar.

The airport in Taipei was easy to go through, and nothing much happened. I sat in the big, gym-like waiting room, and did what you’re supposed to do in a waiting room.

Hong Kong was amazing. It’s huge and it seems to be made of only tall buildings built very close together. Everything written has English, not just Chinese, and may people can speak English, or know enough to sell you something. There are people everywhere, constantly coming and going. At night, it only slows down because not as many shops are open.

The subway is huge. Think of London but twice that size and in some places more spread out. When I went to the Hung Hom Train Station, I had to walk three or four minutes to get from one line to the other; all under the ground and walking fast, because everyone does. But it is clean and very cheap and efficient. I used the subway for going everywhere.

The hostel I stayed at was very high on a big hill. It overlooked the water and Kowloon, main land Hong Kong. It was very pretty, even with the smog and I liked it. The road to the hostel was very thin, for the most part room for only one vehicle. There were rocks, fences or trees on both sides and it was steep. The shuttle bus driver should be in NASCAR. He went up and down that little road at neck breaking speeds, to the point where you got a funny noise from the shuttle and I couldn’t tell if it was the clutch in the wrong gear or the tires grinding against the asphalt. On my first time up, I had my backpack on the seat next to me and every time we went around a left turn, I thought my pack would throw me off the seat.

I explored Hong Kong a lot. I tried to get to an art exhibit at a University, but couldn’t find it and gave up. I walked so much that by the time the day came for me to go the Guangzhou, my legs were beat. It hurt to walk. I also tried to go to an Art Museum in Kowloon, but went in the wrong direction and by the time I figured it out, I was too tired and went back to the hostel. But I got a first hand view on Hong Kong neighborhoods. I even walked through an area that was full of shops with funeral stuff: coffins, flowers and such.

The shops in Hong Kong are amazing. If you want to really go shopping, go to Hong Kong, everything else is a joke. I even found real alligator skin bags.