Today we leave for the USA and home. This has been one wonderful trip. Being here has been fantastic but to experience it with my son, nothing could be better.
Since coming back to HK we have been non stop. Wed afternoon we spent with Stefani, her family and her Swedish mom, Hellen. Not only did we eat a great lunch at a beautiful restaurant but we had a delicious non stop dinner that her mom had made us. Fish, crab, vegetables, pineapple and beef, cucumber and dried scallops, tea and then some fruit. Everything was so tasty and new. Her family is very sweet and kind just like their daughter!
Yesterday we spent it at the Jade Market doing some shopping and of course haggling! I wonder if this techinque will work in the US? :) Then last night we went to the Peak. Now that was an experience. Once up there you see all of HK and the beautiful lights. We were also able to see the laser show. Once down the mountain we rode on the Star Fairy and then walked along the pier. We ended our evening having a nice coffee and sandwich. A great way to end a great trip.
Today we leave the hostel around 8:15 and take a bus to the airport. We leave HK at 11:45 Am, get into San Francisco at 8:30 AM and then to Arizona at 1:15 PM. This will literally be the longest day of our lives because we get the have 36 hours in our day today. I'll let you know if it really does help having more "hours in a day".
Posting has been fun and I hope you have gotten to experience a bit of HK and China through my trip. I feel a bit of sadness for having to leave and can only imagine what Sam must be feeling today. As excited as he is to get home and see is family and friends he is very sad to be leaving his Asian home!
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
It is Wed night to me...actually Thursday morning since it is now 12:46 AM. We are back in Hong Kong to spend our last day! Today we traveled by train from China to Shenzhen then took the MTR to our Hostel. Once we got here we went and met Stephani, her dad and her Swedish mom, Hellen, for lunch. It was delicious!!!!
Monday, June 1, 2009
Donna sent the next installment of her blog:
This was written on Tuesday to me, Monday afternoon to people in the states.
I first have to say I am sitting in the lobby of the hostel and there is this intense argument going on outside by a Chinese man and women. I mean intense…I was on Skype when it started and Yvonne even heard it. They might be tourists to this area, but they sure are not agreeing about something, and neither one is backing down. I do think they are a couple and not strangers. It's a bit distracting as I write my blog.
But back to our trip! Yesterday we left Yang Shuo and took a bus to GuiLin. It is very beautiful here but much more touristy -- so the prices for things are a bit higher. Sam has taught me how to haggle down prices for things though. In fact, yesterday I wanted something and he left me on my own to do the dealing…me, who can only say hello and yes in Chinese. This is how it works…you say “how much?” Then they say or write down a price…you indicate that is way too much (or if you are like Sam you say “too much” in Chinese and shake your head) and they hand you the paper and say “how much, you write“. You write down a very low price and it goes back and forth from there. If they don’t accept the price you feel is fair you walk away and they come after you and say “ok, for you ok“. It’s an interesting exchange. They do start by saying in their broken English, “cheap price for you, come look, cheap price for you”. Sam says he spent more money than he should have perfecting his bargaining skills! But I am sure impressed with how he does, especially since he learned Cantonese and here they speak Mandarin, and they are two totally different languages.
Once we checked into the “Backstreet International Youth Hostel” we dropped off our bags and started walking around. Within 100 feet from our place are many stands with people selling their goods. This group of sellers were much more physical then others have been, grabbing my arm and pulling me to look. It was fine though, and very interesting!
Then we came upon an outside mall area. This place was very large with many shops! I keep looking for a pair of sneakers to buy, but no luck so far. Sam looks too and they take one look at his feet and shake their heads and say no, no, no. His feet are just too big for this culture! We did come upon a store…just for your information there are typically no doors or if there are they are open, and Sam started looking at things. Then a man (maybe an owner, maybe just a man, we don’t know) started talking to us. He spoke broken English but enough for us to understand, and he told us that he was a teacher and artist. He also told us about a theater show that was happening that night, the final showing of four nights for the Annual boat Festival that had just happened. He said it was a “traditional Chinese Acrobatic show” and “very good”. It sounded great and something we both would love to see. So, we follow this man to the theater, only 15 minutes away and close to our hostel and decide to purchase tickets -- “a great price for us” says our friendly "guide." He dealt with another man for getting us the tickets. They showed us the seating chart and told us the prices. Hesitant, we decided to go for it. We didn’t have enough money, so they gave us the tickets
, we gave them half the money and the man follows us to the ATM. We give him the rest of the money and he then takes us to an art studio so we can look at the beautiful art. Wow this story is getting long…
Anyway, we do not purchase any art and also reject his offer to go with him then to have tea. The rest of the afternoon we are just hoping we didn’t get ripped off. Finally it's show time and we head there, after waking up from a nap with only 20 minutes to get to the show, but we get there on time, no problem. Everything seemed as the man said -- there were people there to escort us to our seats, and although we did not get the VIP seats he said we would have, we had good seats -- in fact row 7 with no one in front of us. He did say the sho
w had been sold out the three prior nights. This night it was not. As it gets ready to start we are still worried that it is a legit show. We happen to be sitting next to an English speaker and find out she lives in Flagstaff and works for NAU. Small world!
So, good show or not, legit or rip off? Within the first two minutes I turn to Sam and say, “this is well worth the money!” It was fantastic, the backdrops, the costumes, and then the talent. We loved it -- it was 75 minutes of pure entertainment! We could not take pictures during the show, but after it the cast was in the lobby for pictures. Here is one of them we took, and one I snuck of the show. We will for sure go back to find that man and thank him.
This was suppose to be a short post…sorry I got carried away!
Moon Pagodas.
This was written on Tuesday to me, Monday afternoon to people in the states.
I first have to say I am sitting in the lobby of the hostel and there is this intense argument going on outside by a Chinese man and women. I mean intense…I was on Skype when it started and Yvonne even heard it. They might be tourists to this area, but they sure are not agreeing about something, and neither one is backing down. I do think they are a couple and not strangers. It's a bit distracting as I write my blog.
But back to our trip! Yesterday we left Yang Shuo and took a bus to GuiLin. It is very beautiful here but much more touristy -- so the prices for things are a bit higher. Sam has taught me how to haggle down prices for things though. In fact, yesterday I wanted something and he left me on my own to do the dealing…me, who can only say hello and yes in Chinese. This is how it works…you say “how much?” Then they say or write down a price…you indicate that is way too much (or if you are like Sam you say “too much” in Chinese and shake your head) and they hand you the paper and say “how much, you write“. You write down a very low price and it goes back and forth from there. If they don’t accept the price you feel is fair you walk away and they come after you and say “ok, for you ok“. It’s an interesting exchange. They do start by saying in their broken English, “cheap price for you, come look, cheap price for you”. Sam says he spent more money than he should have perfecting his bargaining skills! But I am sure impressed with how he does, especially since he learned Cantonese and here they speak Mandarin, and they are two totally different languages.
Once we checked into the “Backstreet International Youth Hostel” we dropped off our bags and started walking around. Within 100 feet from our place are many stands with people selling their goods. This group of sellers were much more physical then others have been, grabbing my arm and pulling me to look. It was fine though, and very interesting!
Then we came upon an outside mall area. This place was very large with many shops! I keep looking for a pair of sneakers to buy, but no luck so far. Sam looks too and they take one look at his feet and shake their heads and say no, no, no. His feet are just too big for this culture! We did come upon a store…just for your information there are typically no doors or if there are they are open, and Sam started looking at things. Then a man (maybe an owner, maybe just a man, we don’t know) started talking to us. He spoke broken English but enough for us to understand, and he told us that he was a teacher and artist. He also told us about a theater show that was happening that night, the final showing of four nights for the Annual boat Festival that had just happened. He said it was a “traditional Chinese Acrobatic show” and “very good”. It sounded great and something we both would love to see. So, we follow this man to the theater, only 15 minutes away and close to our hostel and decide to purchase tickets -- “a great price for us” says our friendly "guide." He dealt with another man for getting us the tickets. They showed us the seating chart and told us the prices. Hesitant, we decided to go for it. We didn’t have enough money, so they gave us the tickets
, we gave them half the money and the man follows us to the ATM. We give him the rest of the money and he then takes us to an art studio so we can look at the beautiful art. Wow this story is getting long…Anyway, we do not purchase any art and also reject his offer to go with him then to have tea. The rest of the afternoon we are just hoping we didn’t get ripped off. Finally it's show time and we head there, after waking up from a nap with only 20 minutes to get to the show, but we get there on time, no problem. Everything seemed as the man said -- there were people there to escort us to our seats, and although we did not get the VIP seats he said we would have, we had good seats -- in fact row 7 with no one in front of us. He did say the sho
w had been sold out the three prior nights. This night it was not. As it gets ready to start we are still worried that it is a legit show. We happen to be sitting next to an English speaker and find out she lives in Flagstaff and works for NAU. Small world!So, good show or not, legit or rip off? Within the first two minutes I turn to Sam and say, “this is well worth the money!” It was fantastic, the backdrops, the costumes, and then the talent. We loved it -- it was 75 minutes of pure entertainment! We could not take pictures during the show, but after it the cast was in the lobby for pictures. Here is one of them we took, and one I snuck of the show. We will for sure go back to find that man and thank him.
This was suppose to be a short post…sorry I got carried away!
After the show we went to see the “Twin Towers” --
the Sun and
Moon Pagodas.If you are an Amazing Race fan it was one of the pits stops for one leg of the race this past season. It was beautiful too, and here are two pictures of us and the towers and also
a picture of a little girl near the towers and a light.
Today, Tuesday we were just
Today, Tuesday we were just
planning on touring the area and then taking the train back to Shenzen (sp) tonight for our trip back to HK. Unfortunately, it is pouring rain, so we stayed at the Hostel longer, even though we've checked out, and hope it stops in time for us to see some more before sights before catching our train.
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