Wrapping It Up

I haven't had time to post about the end of the trip until today. Even though it's a bit delayed, I thought I would wrap it up for anyone who may still be reading. :-) (And I can't believe this all happened just over a week ago!)

Tuesday was my last day in Hong Kong, and it was a full day, as my flight wasn't until 11:45 pm. I hit the streets in the morning with a very specific shopping goal in mind. I don't think it took 30 minutes for me to go astray - wandering into cute stores, poking along at stalls, and in one case, being pulled into a Secret Basement Showroom (caps mine!) to see a wholesaler's purse line. (Yes, I bought a purse there. Okay maybe it was TWO purses.)

Around noon, I realized I'd better stop shopping and head to my lunch appointment with a local attorney. A friend (hello, Dorothy!) connected me with an attorney in her firm's Hong Kong office who had written an article about her pro bono work for the ABA. We went to a wonderful dim sum restaurant (my first dim sum!) and had a very pleasant time getting to know each other.

After lunch, it was off shopping again for a couple of hours.... at which point I realized that it was very possible I had too much to fit into my suitcase. This made me head back to the hotel where I confirmed that it was a tight fit. But it did fit!

Once Charlotte finished work for the day, we met for drinks in the hotel. We were joined briefly by a guy who was drunk, stoned, crazy, an actor, or possibly all of the above - whatever he was, he was entertaining for a brief time and knew when to leave. We were then joined by Charlotte's colleague and a local attorney, who convinced me you do not need to go to the airport 2.5 hours before one's flight. So I had a very nice dinner at a Japanese restaurant before setting off.

The flight back to LA was, for the most part, wonderful. I highly recommend Cathay Pacific business class! and in particular, true flat seats over the almost-flat seats on other airlines - it made a huge difference in my ability to sleep.

After a brief overnight in LA with a friend, it was back to domestic flying. I wanted to cry on the flight to Chicago - not only because my tooth was now rampantly painful (a story for another blog...), but because I was allegedly in First Class and it was nothing compared to my previous flights. I guess it was a fitting way to re-enter my normal life: hello, Reality!

The View from the Peak

Monday was the day to take the tram to the Peak, aka Victoria Peak. The tram line is 120 years old this year - thankfully, the technology and cars are not! They can pack 120 people into the cars for the ride up and down to the Peak.

The top is pretty commercial - there are a ton of stores you have to walk through to get to the boarding area to come back down, and there is a mall on top, too. We did get a little sidetracked by souvenir shopping, but managed to find time to take in the views which were pretty cool.

After Charlotte headed off to work (this is a work trip for her...), I took a ride on the Star Ferry to Kowloon, so I could get the view in daylight. I did some shopping in a less touristy area, then explored one of the street markets - this one was a lot of electronics, so I wasn't very interested in buying something.

All that walking made me hungry and tired, so I went back to Hong Kong Island and had the best dumplings I've ever had. They were pork and leek and a perfect texture and balance of flavors. I wanted to order several more orders to take back to the hotel room!

Instead, I wandered around the area for a while. Eventually I found myself outside of Happy Feet, which I took as a sign and treated myself to a 50 minute massage ($35 USD). She managed to loosen up some of the tension in my shoulders and back and I felt a lot better afterward - ready to go back to the hotel and start the packing. Holy cow, how is all this stuff going to fit?!?!

Ahhh, Happy Feet

After doing so much walking for the past couple of days, our feet were tired and sore. So we decided it was time for some foot reflexology. We went to Happy Feet, recommended in several guide books, and got a 50 minute foot massage. AHHH. It was so relaxing. And they had little model feet tpo look at so you could see what pressure point they were rubbing. One spot felt incredibly good, and amazingly when I looked at the model, it was the spot for the knee - and my knees had been in pain from all of the stairs! Amazing.

Feeling like new women, we headed out to Western Market for shopping. We managed to do some damage there!

Then, across the street to the ferry terminal to Macau. We got to the ticket counter and found that getting there was not an issue, but the first available return was 11:45 - about an hour later than we'd been planning. We decided to buy the ticket, and try to standby for an earlier ferry back.

Macau was very different in appearance from Hong Kong - much more European. There were moments when I thought I was in Lisbon! In some areas, the streets and sidewalk were paved in tiles, with designs laid in to the tile.

We walked around for a bit, taking in the sights, including the cathedral of St. Paul - only the facade is left after a typhoon destroyed the building.

Dinner was at a Macanese/Portuguese restaurant. The guidebook had mentioned the baked duck rice and African chicken as the specialties, so we ordered one of each. Yum! The African chicken was smothered in a sauce that was similar to Indian curry, and the rice had shredded duck under a layer of saffron rice. It was good that we had such a late ferry, as it gave us a lot of time to drink wine and eat a little food at a time! For dessert, we had serraduro - a mousse with crumbled cookies - for dessert. Yum!!!

Arriving at the ferry terminal, we realized standing by for an earlier ferry was not an option - there had to be a couple hundered people waiting to get on the two ferries before ours. Not a big deal, since we only had to wait 30 minutes. Once on board, we both fell asleep, making the trip back to Hong Kong a quick one.

Shop 'til we drop!

After a hearty buffet breakfast, Charlotte and I hit a local market for the start (but not the end!) of our shopping. We felt like big spenders, dropping HKD 225 on 3 items - of course, that was a whopping $30 US. I gave in to a whim and bought a cute, but unnecessary, tote bag - since it was only $2 US.

After lugging our buys back to the hotel, we headed over to the Flagstaff Tea Museum. It was actually pretty interesting to learn about how tea is processed, and the varying ways it has been prepared through the ages. Sadly, the teahouse was closed, so we didn't have a chance to put our new knowledge to use.

We continued the sightseeing with a stop at the cathedral nearby - it was very cool, built in a traditional style but with tropical touches such as opening windows and ceiling fans.
Then it was off to Kowloon and the Ladies market for more shopping. We actually suffered sensory overload, with vendors yelling"Hello lady!" and stalls crammed full with stuff, much of it exactly the same.

Eventually the sheer overload of STUFF wore us down and we made a quick run back to the hotel, then jumped on the Star Ferry back to Kownloon for a drink at Felix, the bar at the top of the Peninsula Hotel. Finally, we wrapped up the day with a metro ride back to Hong Kong Island and a Chinese hot pot dinner - kind of a Chinese fondue in broth. It was fun, especially since the restaurant staff had limited English! But I think we managed not to embarass ourselves - and we definitely were full!

On the plan for tomorrow: Macau!

Day One

After getting in at 10:30 pm last night, I finally got to my hotel just before midnight. So it was right to bed for me!

I woke up to find a text message from Charlotte that due to fixing the lavs on her plane, her flight was delayed 4 hours! So now she won't get in until midnight. It's going to be a logistical challenge for me in terms of storing my bags, but I'll work something out. (Geez, such a fuss over having restrooms on a 16 hour flight...!)

So far I've wandered around a bit - saw the antique shops, a couple of markets, and a temple. Oh yeah, and I used a very Hong Kong (i.e. squat!) toilet. That was an experience!

Off to another market!

Tokyo Narita Airport

I have just completed the longest flight I have ever been on - 13 hours or so. It wasn`t bad (although I would not want to do it in coach!). I had a couple of meals (mmm Japanese food, since I was on JAL), a decent nap, and read a lot. I tried watching Wanted, but boy was it bad - Chicago looked good, though!

Super cool: JAL planes (the one I was on at least) have nose cameras that are on at takeoff and landing! Hope the next flight does too. It would be even cooler if Kai Tak were still in operation!

As we landed in Tokyo, I was disappointed that the scenery below didn`t look very different from anything I`d seen before. I was hoping my first glimpse of Asia would be something completely different. It was beautiful, though; I could see mountains in the distance, as well as some rivers and what looked like farmland.

So now I have about 3 hours to chill out before the flight to Hong Kong. Thankfully the lounge has free internet. I also managed to find a lounge with a shower, which felt fantastic. I loved the restrooms in the lounges - the toilets were heated with multiple bidet options, and I loved the unmistakable signage!

48 hours to go....

Oh my. Only 48 hours before I am on the upper deck of a 747 and off to Hong Kong via Tokyo!!!! Amazingly, I am 90% packed, which is good since:

1) Tomorrow I am going to Michigan City, IN to Get Out the Vote

2) Then I am going to the Obama rally in Grant Park (8:30 pm - 1 am)

I am seriously debating whether to go to bed at all - staying up would certainly make it easier to sleep on the (11am) flight...!

In other news - the Travel Phone freaked me out last night by refusing to charge. I had visions of trying to get to Devon after work tonight to buy a new phone. Luckily, I played with the connections and it started charging. So I should be able to get a SIM card right after landing in Hong Kong and I'll be connected again, yippee.

So now all I have to do is get through the next 2 days!