before i begin boasting of my incredible weekend getaway, i must apologize for keeping you in the dark with everything else. i haven't necessarily been too busy to blog; it's just that i haven't taken the time to do it. my sincere apologies. i intend to change that, but we'll see how that goes.
anyways, let me tell you about my trip. i went to hong kong. and, as always, it's amazing, it's beautiful, and i love it. it's clean, the people are friendly, and it oozes of westernization. seven-eleven's with cream sodas, starbursts, and twix bars are enough to soothe away the longing for american snacks. english-speakers and the plethora of foreigners also add a certain warmth to the city.
i had to go there to adjust my visa. so, technically, it was a business trip. lucky for me, the business portion of the trip lasted less than three hours.
i took an overnight train with my school liaison, sophie, to shenzhen. from there, we walked through customs and crossed the boarder into hong kong. we arrived in hong kong in the morning. the customs lines, the subway rides, and the visa process filled up the entire morning. we finally got back to the hotel mid-afternoon. since i hardly slept on the train, i crashed for a looong nap. the night ended with chicken wings and an enrique iglesias concert on mtv. the next day, sophie and i got on the hotel shuttle bus before 8am. when we were about to board the subway, sophie pointed to the map and said, 'i go here. where do you go?' i was not prepared for that question. i looked down at some advertisements on the map and said, 'i'll go here.' i pointed to a picture of a huge buddha, with blue sky in the background, and a lot of happy foreigners in the corner. done, i'd go see buddha. i rode the subway for a long time. thank goodness for the book and the ipod that i had decided to throw into my bag last minute. i took a cable-car through the mountains with a group of five friends from thailand. i was so happy to learn that they could speak english; they shared with me a fan from their bountiful collection of chinese fans (since the cable-car was so hot) and they also shared with me their beliefs in buddha. i was interested in their 'faith,' but had to literally fight back tears of deepest sadness for the thousands and thousands of people that were coming to pray to buddha on that very day. i paid my entrance fee of $23(hk) to climb buddha's stairs. the buddha was huge, the sky was blue, and the mountains were mystically covered with fog. a perfect day to see the world's largest bronze buddha. on the way down, i stopped for a coffee with a lovely irish man. i reflected on my morning's experiences as i glided through the mountains on my cable-car journey downwards. my next destination was a life-size replica of noah's ark. (yes, budda in the morning; noah in the afternoon i felt weird explaining this to sophie afterwards; she must think i'm searching for religion in my life. little does she know ... ^^) anyways, in order to get to noah's ark, i had to take a ferry. it was a beautiful day for a boat ride. the 'ark park' was quite a waste of money, but the actual size of the ark was interesting to see. i ended my first full day in hong kong with an overpriced pizza, an overpriced heineken, and an early bedtime.
my second day was not nearly as interesting. i was craving something western-ish. so, i decided that if i found a movie theater, i would stop for a 'foreign' film. and, that's exactly what happened. i was headed towards a traditional chinese-style park. but, when i got off the subway, the neon lights of a cinema caught my eye. movie of choice? 'contagion.' i was early for the movie, so i walked around the mall. i soon quit after an impulsive purchase. i quite enjoyed the film. i recommend that you go see it. that way, you can put yourself in my shoes ... in kowloon, the only girl, the only foreigner, the only one coughing and sniffling with a cold. (go see it.) after the movie, i took just a quick stroll through the park. then, it was back to the subway. next destination: church at the asian seminary. i went out to dinner with the majority of the als crew which was awesome. the night ended with a good pint of beer, a delicious meal, and wonderful time with friends.
the next day was monday; i had to pick up my visa in the morning. luckily, i bypassed the huge line. i was in and out of the visa office in less than ten minutes. since i had nothing to do and time was limited, i stopped at starbucks to enjoy a double-chocolate muffin, latte, and book. i was back to meet sophie at 1:30pm to begin our journey back to mainland china.
soli deo gloria.
