At long last, a source

It helps to bring a diverse group on this sort of a trip, since Millie's ability to speak Spanish scored us tickets on the cheap for women's basketball. We scored the tickets early, so the girls went shopping, and I hung around the hotel and answered a few work emails. I got a taxi to the pearl market, met up with the girls and helped them carry some loot back to the hotel. We really liked our cabbie, and talked him into taking us to the hotel, and then to the basketball stadium. We got to the stadium just in time for the start of the first game and took our really great seats. in the corner of the lower bowl. The first game we saw, Russia vs Korea was a great game with lots of lead changes, but the second game, between Belarus and Latvia was kind of an ugly blowout. Either way I had plenty of Tsingtao and ice cream to keep myself happy. You can tell basketball is an american export, and the stadium and the little quarter breaks looked just like something we would have seen at home. Here's a video of the cool part of the game some sweet dancing mascots for your viewing pleasure. After the game we tried like crazy to buy some tickets outside for the second session, but the scalpers didn't seem to get that the more time that expired during the session the less we were going to be willing to pay for tickets. The other thing the Chinese hadn't quite familiarized themselves with was when to clap when the Adams Family song was being played. We grabbed a little dinner at a hotel right across the street, and then went back to the hotel to get ready to leave.

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Originally uploaded by jrherron

The next morning after we've gotten ourselves loaded into a cab the remaining members of the group managed to score some pool tickets an wanted to know if we'd stay. I couldn't and neither could Millie, but W dumped us at the airport, went back and even managed to get herself on the today show. Yes, I'm jealous. I barely scored a business class seat on the way home and dove right into work, where it's fair to say a weekend trip to Beijing for the Olympics makes you a bit of a rock star.

Tickets, Please?

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Originally uploaded by jrherron

I was worried about tickets. reports of complete sellouts, and scalper arrests were enough to make W unable to sleep. She woke up around 5:00 a.m. Sunday to find an email saying that 9 tickets were available for a 10:00 tennis session. It would cost us $75 per ticket, but given what was out there on craigslist and ebay, that seemed like quite a bargain, and would even mean we didn't even have to decide amongst ourselves who would go and who wouldn't. The guy even came to the hotel to drop them off. We knew it would be far to walk, so we found one of the hundreds of information tents (all of which are staffed by eager, helpful, uniformed and even English speaking volunteers), and asked the best way to get there. Olympic bus number one is what we were told, but every Olympic bus with a 1 on it was crammed, finally we figured out bus number 2 would get us there too, and we even got comfy seats. It was raining, so we were worried we might get there and not see any tennis at all, but we had to go anyway. We arrived and worked our way nervously through security (an x-ray and a bag check) we had a little bit of food with us that we managed to get through, and I had some sunblock in my pocket that I needed to demonstrate that I was willing to put on. For a brief moment you then wonder if the tickets you've bought are real, so you kind of hold your breath as they scan it. Each ticket has an rfid chip, so you just wave it over the ticket reader and in you go, then you go to another station where someone tears off the stub. Each segment starting with security, ticket scan and tear all had more English speakers. In to the tennis venue we walked where someone pointed us to centre court where we finally see that we're watching James Blake. Needless to say we're pretty excited about that, but the game won't actually start for an hour and a half. I spent most of that time in line at the concession stand, but came away rewarded with some delicious ice cream, and some most refreshing and cheap 8 yuan Tsingtao. Just as the tennis match gets started, my camera battery dies, and I realize the backup battery is in the hotel. I'm still not done being angry about that. James Blake wins pretty handily, and then we realize a second match is coming our way, starring Serena Williams. (We could also see Venus and the rest of the team sitting in the stands) Fortunately W has some pictures on her camera of that match. It was eventually rained out during the second set anyway.

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Originally uploaded by jrherron

We weren't able to get any more tickets for Sunday, and we decided to walk back to the hotel to tour the grounds along the way. It was a long walk, but worth seeing many of the Olympic Green venues. Then we ran off to our favorite Malaysian place despite waiting around almost half an hour for a cab to come to the hotel for us. We were not disappointed by our dinner, but had a sobering moment when a pedestrian got hit by a car near the restaurant. Time to crash for the night, still with no tickets for Monday, and still possibly getting on a plane.

Day 6, Another Brick in the Wall

Remote Outpost
Originally uploaded by jrherron

On our sixth and final full day in china we had arranged to be picked up at the hotel at 7 to be whisked off to the Mutianyu section of the great wall. Yes, We'd been there in November, but Francie had never been, and the weather had no choice but to be better than the first time we were there. As you can see we got significantly improved conditions from the first time. A side effect of that was that we had to share the wall with more people on this day, As you can see from the pictures, it was a fair trade. It was a beautiful day, we'd brought snacks and drinks, and we were ready to do some walking. Instead of Taking a left after the lift we took a right, and found the climbing to be much steeper. The right side is actually much shorter too, so we were able to turn back at the end of the fully restored portion and walk a little back the way we'd gone originally. We spent about 3 hours up there and napped a little on the way back and asked our driver "Victor" to recommend us a lunch place. He took us someplace in the Lido district near where some of W's fellow employees stay when they're in town. The sign outside said Welcome flight crews (in English) and we actually chatted up a flight attendant from the Beijing/Chicago flight while we ate.

Up close and Personal
Originally uploaded by jrherron

There was a dish called famously delicious green beans on the menu, and it turns out they were as good as advertised. Salty and with just enough pork to make them interesting, they went down wonderfully. Then we stopped by the Ladies street market to find some silk flowers Francie had been admiring at the Massage place, and then to the Framing store to pick up our goods. We were pleased with all but one of the frames, but we ended up not getting charged for it. After that it was back to the hotel to drop off our goods, and then a final trip to the pearl market to pick up a few last minute items. We had some trouble catching a legitimate cab back out to the lake district, but eventually found someone to take us and we ate inside at the same restaurant as the afternoon before. We went back to the hotel to pack up all our goods, and W and I snuck out for one more massage.
We knew we had too many bags to fit in one cab in the morning but the concierge arranged us a bigger luxury car for just under what it would have cost to get 2 cabs. We were immediately given business class seats on the plane, and did some last minute shopping at the Olympic store, and wandered off to the plane where we got upgraded to first class. I watched 2 movies and then crashed hard waking up just in time for breakfast. After a quick shower I ran off to work for a 1 pm meeting that I really needed to attend. I hope nobody was watching me too closely because I was nodding off frequently and would wake up just as my head was starting to drop.

Day 5, Power Tourism

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Originally uploaded by jrherron.

On our 5th Day in Beijing (Sunday if you're somehow trying to keep track) W and I split up to accomplish important Vacation Goals for ourselves. I wanted to go out and see some more sights, and W wanted to rest. And since it was just the 3 of us including Francie, we could actually do what we wanted. So Francie and I mapped out a route plan and got rolling around 9. Our first stop was the Lama Temple, a place Madhura had highly recommended we visit since we had tourist time. We took a cab directly there and spent an hour or so marveling at it's architectural details, Admiring the Giant Sandalwood Buddha, and choking on all the incense that was being offered up by worshipers there. Unfortunately no pictures were allowed of the giant Buddha, but you can find some here. Ready for more adventure and some fresh air we jumped on the subway ($.50 for both of us) to Tianamen Square and the Forbidden Palace. It was so busy in the square that I only got offered a Mao watch one time, I was (almost) disappointed.

I gave Francie the abbreviated tour, and we even found a part that costs an extra 10 RMB each that W and I missed on our first trip there. It had beautiful pieces of Jade and Gold artwork and the enormous official seals of the emperors. We took a quick cab ride back to the hotel to meet up with a rested and happy W and then were ready to Go check out the lake district and the old summer palace. We were starving by that point and decided to detour to the lake district first to find a little lunch. We found a great restaurant with some outdoor seating that served wonderful regional dishes served over a Sterno burner. It was a picture perfect day, so we rented a little electric boat and cruised around the lake for an hour.
We only got rammed by another boat once, and that was mostly because the wind was a little stronger than our piddly electric motor and the other boat's human peddle power. We continued our journey around the lake and were constantly accosted by peddi-cab drivers offering a Hutong tour. We found a cute little bar with comfy couches and settled in for a beer and a review of the maps. and then cruised off for a massage. I went along for the ride and sat comfortably in a chair watching tv and grabbing a little nap. I watched the most ridiculous state media coverage of the events in Lhasa, and have never been so angry at the TV before. I won't say too much about it here, since I do intend to go back again and would prefer not to be arrested in customs as a dissident the next time I visit.

Time for Reflection
Originally uploaded by jrherron

But some day ask me what the internal news coverage looked like. Oddly enough in the same news coverage there was news about the 5th anniversary of the Iraq war that I completely agreed with. It was crazy juxtaposition. We went back to the hotel and rested from a busy day, and to mentally prepare ourselves for our last day in town.

Day 4, More shopping + Malaysian Food

So once again the morning started with a crazy rush to the airport, and a less than stellar Chinese style breakfast on board a China Eastern Airlines flight. We swung back by our hotel dropped our junk off and went for some lunch at our new favorite restaurant near the pearl market. We shopped some more spending an insane amount of time helping Betty buy a Wii. The Wiis sold by our favorite and highly recommended electronics guy (Who's name and shop I won't mention here) are Japanese models chipped to play lots of games easily available in the market place. We decided to test it pretty thoroughly on the spot, and I had to teach them how to sync the wiimote to the machine. The menus are all in Japanese, but as long as you buy games in English it works fine. After surviving the super lengthy purchase process, It was time for dinner at our favorite restaurant in Beijing, Cafe Sambal. We had a big group and found a lady standing outside the pearl market with a van looking for some people to give a ride to. She was charging at least double what a cab would have cost, but since we would have needed at least 2 and possibly a third cab, it suddenly seemed like a good deal. Fortunately Betty knows the neighborhood so well that when our driver didn't know whee she was, Betty knew exactly where to go. The restaurant is hiding in a Hutong but is filled with the most delicious Malaysian food you ever laid eyes on. Exhausted from a full day we crashed early.
To start the post I've given you a look at Xi'an's calligraphy street, below, a little bit of awesome grammar for your viewing pleasure. I'm accepting definitions for the word "areaturnover".

Day 3, Warriors, Come Out and Play

Warriors, Come Out and Play
Originally uploaded by jrherron.

On our second full night in Beijing I was doomed not to get any sleep at all. We had to catch a 7 a.m flight the next day which meant needing to walk out the door at 5. Our room didn't have a clock that lit up so it was very difficult to tell what time it was without getting up and finding enough light to read a clock. I woke up at 3 and only dozed for the next hour. It wasn't fun, but it was far from the most painful part of the day. We rushed like crazy to get everyone downstairs to the 3 cabs we had ordered, and arrived at the airport and got ourselves checked in pretty smoothly. The hard part would be the security line. We stood in this huge mass of people with everyone growing more and more nervous about actually making their flight. Standing in line is not something built into the Chinese culture like it is into ours, so at every conceivable opportunity someone would try to push past you as if you weren't standing there or cut under the rope that made the line orderly. We knew we were cutting it close and ran through the terminal after having our bags picked apart and having each and every liquid or gel sniffed by a security person. We got to our gate just in time to find out it had been changed, and had to backtrack to a different gate. We then waited on a bus for 15 minutes to gather all the flight's stragglers and got on in the very back rows of the plane. (That'll learn you to make your reservation 2 days before you want to go). The flight was short and they served a bad breakfast (you could opt for the Chinese style breakfast of porridge, or the even less appetizing egg and sausage western style breakfast). The good news was the seats were actually quite comfortable equivalent to W's employers upgraded seats, and was far less scary than you might think. The flight attendants were quite helpful, and all spoke at least some English, and in typical Asian style went through a couple of wardrobe changes even for such a short flight. We went to the information booth and scored a van big enough for all of us for something like $10 per person for as much time and mileage as we needed. We went straight to the Terra Cotta Warriors museum and and began to take in the sights. Under the massive domes you can shove your way up into the picture taking throng and struggle to hold your camera steady enough to get good pictures. (Flashes and Tripods are forbidden D'OH!!!) It's hard to imagine that the Soldiers are over 2000 years old. The compound itself is huge, and makes for a solid 3 hours of walking around snapping pictures and taking in the history. When we got done we stopped by the little cafe to have a Vienetta on a stick. It was awesome!!!! We had an hour ride to the hotel, and ran right back out to eat our first real meal of the day. Needless to say most of our party was cranky and hungry by that point and patience with wait staff and each other was wearing a little thin. We ended up at a hot pot and seafood place, but didn't eat either, settling on some non-threatening typical Chinese food. About half the group had bailed to the KFC, and actually missed out on a very tasty soup and a nice fried rice dish. In the process we learned that the hand signal for 8 is not what you'd expect it to be. Your instinct tells you to hold up 8 fingers, when in fact you should just make an L shape with your thumb and index finger, if you want to be understood that is.

The South Gate
Originally uploaded by jrherron.

Use of the walkies reconnected us with the group on top of the city walls, where we really wanted to rent a bike and ride the 9 mile trek around the city, but we'll have to save that for next time. Most of the group went to the Xi'an branch of their favorite massage place, but I went back to the room at the Sheraton Xi'an and promptly fell into a ridiculously deep sleep. W even brought me a dessert home that I had to eat for breakfast the next morning. Which was good, because I had to face another early flight and boring Chinese Porridge again for breakfast the next day.

Here's almost the whole crew hamming it up on the ancient wall of Xi'an From Left to right you've got Millie, Francie, Shin, Heather, Betty, Madhura, W and Me. The Tripod and Camera are managing themselves and Jen stayed back in Beijing since she'd already been to Xian Before

Day 2,Shoppers Paradise?

On our second day in Beijing We had much shopping to do. We rolled out of bed at 9, and grabbed new travel buddy Shin and rolled out to the framing store. We knew it was near the workers stadium, but unfortunately our cab driver dropped us off on the wrong side of it. We strolled around and put in our framing order in, and then it was off to experience the Pearl Market.
I learned a quick lesson on the way that if I memorized the Chinese names for places, I'd actually understand when the cabbie asked me to confirm. (The name of the Pearl Market is Hongqiao [pronconced: hong chow])Since I was the tallest in our party most of the time I had front seat privileges, which also meant having navigation and negotiation duty. We never visited the pearl market on our first visit, so this would a new experience. We made a side trip to the noodle restaurant across the street from the pearl market and were pleasantly surprised by its awesomeness. Unfortunately I don't know what it's English name is, but I recommend it.

When you walk in some one in front yells something across the restaurant and several waiters seem to compete to serve you. There was a very tasty eggplant dish, and a really great sweet/spicy chicken dish with nuts. With full stomachs we walked back across the catwalk for some power shopping. A few gadgets and purses (from the super secret around the way purse shop) and some scarves later it was time to meet up with the other half of our party for some shopping and dinner at the Silk Market. We all had walkie-talkies that had impressive range, and we arranged to meet at one of the coffee shops on the street level. We grabbed a few things from our favorite jeweler, and then it was time for some Peking Duck at Quanjude. This branch seemed a little more touristy than the one we'd eaten at in November but our duck and side dishes were still very delicious. After Dinner we made an early night of it, since we had a 7 a.m. flight to Xi'an the next morning.

Repeat Offenders, Day One

Next in Line
Originally uploaded by jrherron.

Early Tuesday morning it was time to throw off the shackles of work and do what we do best, jump on a plane travel far away and make a town our own. This time we meant business, since we'd already been to Beijing once, and knew what to expect in a lot more situations. Getting on the plane was mostly drama free, scoring some first class seats for Me, W and travel/food buddy Francie. I watched Alvin and the chipmunks, Superbad, and 3:10 to Yuma. There was time for a little nap mixed in there, but I found myself unable to get a real night's sleep and knew I'd pay for it later. We arrived in Beijing early Wednesday afternoon and had much running around to do. We met the rest of our travel party at the hotel, and then broke out to the Sheraton Great Wall, where we had to go sit with the travel agent to arrange the final details of our Xi'an trip. We grabbed a little food at a little place the Sheraton Concierge recommended right around the corner, where we dove right into our first Chinese food and our first Tsingtao. We had to go back to the hotel after that, since W had to take one of her finals online. After her test, we were ready for some Peking Duck. We asked specifically how to get to the Famous place in town that we'd been to last time, but instead got pointed to a place right near the hotel (The Marriott Executive Apartments) that we got lost trying to find. We went back, and someone else at the concierge desk actually walked us there personally. It was a nice gesture, but the place was already closed, so she nicely walked us to a nearby noodle shop that had great food, little spoken English, and a cat that wouldn't stop crying while we were there. I know what you're thinking, and the cat was a very well taken care of pet on a leash who was just a little noisy, he was never in any pain. We enjoyed a great meal that included fresh made noodles and then went back to the hotel and crashed pretty hard.

Beijing Day 4

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Originally uploaded by jrherron.

On our 4th and Final Day in Beijing we decided we should finally get over to Tianamen Square and the Forbidden Palace. We started with a quick breakfast with Betty before she took off, and then had to fugure out how to get our enourmous set of frames home, so we had someone look into shipping for us and then mozied out to the square. It wasn't quite like I'd pictured it once we were there, mostly because there weren't actually any tanks trying to mow me down like the only image of the square I'd ever seen before, and it was painfully cold when we first got there. We wandered around a bit and then went inside the forbidden palace to get inside the walls and out of the cold air. The inside of the palace is pretty cool except they were doing maintenance on some of the larger rooms so we couldn't go in. We debated for a long time about getting the audio self guided tour, but were glad we didn't when we saw how much was actually closed for the winter. I guess this means we'll just have to go back sometime closer to tourist season. After taking in the wonders of the palace, we wandered around a bit trying to find a reasonable cab. Sometimes the cabs right outside of tourist areas find any way they can to charge you too much, so your better off walking away a bit to find a regular cab that will use the meter and take you where you want to go. We had the concierge give us the address to a shipping place that shall not be named before we left for the morning so we went there next to see about shipping our stuff home. W is supposed to get a corporate discount, so we figured that would be the way to go. We could not get anyone there or on the phone to actually acknowledge the discount but at the very least they gave us a huge box until we figured out what to do. You should have seen me in the subway with this huge box on a train that was completely packed. When we were trying to get out at our station I had to wrestle like crazy to get it out and still only managed because I handed it around some guy that was standing in the door. So We stopped by the hotel decided we'd try to pad the frames and check them like regular luggage. That would require bubble wrap. I don't know about you, but I don't know the chinese word for bubble wrap, so once we got past that language barrier the conceierge recommended the post office as a place to get some, and we could take the subway or just walk. Well the directions we got sucked, and we couldn't find it. After an hour or so of wandering we got in a taxi showed him the word post office someone had written in chinese for us even he didn't take us to the right place. Frustrated tired and hungry we got on the subway went back to the hotel and paid someone to run out and get us bubble wrap and tape. It was not good use of a vacation day. After getting all our stuff wrapped up we went for happy hour and then a delicous korean dinner. I had the most wonderful beef dish that came on a hot flagstone. Tired but with full tummys we went back to the hotel where we scored a massage for W and a place to sleep for me.

Beijing Day 3

Through the Arch
Originally uploaded by jrherron.

On our 3rd day in Beijing we had arranged for someone to pick us up and take us to The Badaling portion of the great wall, the best restored and most visited portion of the wall. It was rainy and overcast and cold as we left, and we thought we might actually see a little snow on the wall. We woke up early (around 5:30 a.m), Cashed in on our breakfast and said goodbye to Dave, and then jumped in our car for the 2 hour ride out to the wall. It stopped raining but was still cold and gray outside. As you can see from the pictures, my camera had trouble getting through all the low hanging fog, but it was reminiscint of a dark misty kung fu movie, exactly the sort of thing you'd expect to see if you believed everything you saw on the big screen. You start your journey on a chair lift (which having grown up in Florida and never been skiing I'd never ridden on before) that lifts you up to the wall. There were a few vendors at the start and a few other tourists there, but we managed to beat the big groups and it was nothing like visiting during the peak of summer tourist season. We started out in coats and gloves and hats, and as we climbed the steep stairs and hillsides we warmed up quite nicely and were down to just a long sleeve shirt by the time we finished. In my wildest imagination I never actually pictured myself standing on the great wall, when suddenly I looked around and realized there I was in one of the world's most amazing places. The views and the late autumn colors were amazing and the steep climbs and fast descents made it a really fun adventure. As more people arrived at the wall it was fun to watch the choices of footwear, including some high heel boots, that people chose for the climb. We walked out and back for a little more than 2 hours and were rewarded with a ride back down the toboggan ride. Picture a luge that you sit in, running down a curvy metal half pipe. Is it touristy and totally out of place? Absolutely! But was it really fun? You bet! Except for the people who went down before us were really slow and we stopped one time to let them get farther down, when someone crashed into the back of W and hit head to head. That was not so fun. She toughed it out though, and on she went. We then talked our driver Lucy into taking us to a roadside fish place for lunch. Picture a trout farm sort of place where someone scoops your lunch up with a net and then cooks it for you. They really wanted us to eat the sturgeon that they had sitting in the bottom of the pool, but you can't imagine how much that grosses you out if you see someone scoop it up off the bottom of the pool before you eat it. We passed and went for a trout looking fish instead. It came fried in a brown sauce and was awesomely delicious. We also ordered an Eggplant dish that was crisp on the outside and was the most delicious eggplant I'd ever eaten. After a huge lunch (The fish we got was huge, and we ordered too many tasty veggie dishes) we journeyed back to the city, napping along the way of course, and had Lucy drop us off at the spa Wendy and Betty liked. I sat and watched The Mysterius Island on TV and had a beer while they got massages. It was relaxing for everyone. We then proceeded back to the frame shop to pick up our goods and were very pleased with the results. We grabbed some snacks and some drinks at Happy Hour, and then it was back to the silk market for more shopping. I got myself a new backpack by totally turning Chinese culture upside down and insisting I couldn't pay the asked for price because W had all the money and would only let me have more than US $20 to pay for it. Meanwhile W was breaking the spirit of the purse lady in the booth across from my backpack. You do not want to negotiate with her. Then as the market was closing I picked up 3 pairs of shoes for about US$20 each that alleged to be much fancier brands than they likely are. One pair even claims to be made in Italy. By the time we took the very convenient subway home we were too tired to venture out for dinner so we tried to get some room service but for a second day in a row couldn't negotiate the phone system and decided to just go to bed.

Beijing Day 2

Fall at the Temple of Heaven
Originally uploaded by jrherron.

We didn't exactly set the world on fire getting out of bed on our first full day, but eventually made it for our breakfast at the hotel, they served a nice mix of english style breakfast and a few chinese dishes and lots of fresh fruit, including dragon fruit a new favorite of mine. Our first stop was the framing store to get a few of my pictures framed. We needed something else to decorate the walls of our house and wanted something to remember our travels by. So we had lots of decisions about frame styles and matting to make. We then grabbed a snack at a cute little French bakery that I really should have taken a picture of so I'd remember it now, but life's like that some times. Then we decided we wanted to go see the temple of heaven. We didn't have one of the hotel cards that had it's name written in Chinese, but randomly Betty had a postcard with a picture of it on it, and we jumped in a cab and said please take us here. it worked, and off we went. It was a gorgeous afternoon, and there were still some great fall colors to be seen. its hard to believe how much beautiful stuff is nestled in among this smoggy city of 7 million people. The best moment of the trip came when the four of us were huddled around a sign trying to figure out where to go next when a young Chines boy walked up to us with a big smile and waved and said hello. Our tourist instincts made us think he wanted to sell us something when in fact he just really really wanted live subjects to practice his English skills with. We were honored he chose us. We Grabbed an early meal at a really great Malyasian place called Cafe Sambal. They served really great samosas, a mango spring roll, a fried whole fish dish that was amazing, and despite the fact that we were sitting outside in the cold, we really enjoyed. We also had the four sided bean, a new vegetable for me that our waitress recommended, and I would gladly eat it again and again. Then it was off to the Silk market, which according to the shopping bags they give you is one of the 3 must do experiences in Beijing. (The great wall, and eating roast duck being the other 2) I got myself a nice new jacket right at closing time that is a super Polo knockoff.

Farewell Hong Kong

Across the Bay
Originally uploaded by jrherron.

On our final day in HK we decided to split from the group to maximize the amount of ground we could cover. I got up early and made a run to the Delifrance that I had discovered was in between our hotel and the Mong Kok MTR station. Kinus took half the day off so that she could hang out with us and show us around a bit more. We took took the train down to the Tsim Sha Tsui station which just happens to be the last station on the Kowloon side. That gave us the opportunity to wander down to the waterfront to take some pictures.

Looking Down on Everyone
Originally uploaded by jrherron.

We grabbed a mango drink and then Kinus escaped from work and showed us a few of her favorite stores. Then she took us to a really great noodle shop where they only had one english menu that they kept hanging in the back of the restaurant. Fortunately we didn't need it, and we didn't accept the offer of a fork either. We took a ferry to the hong kong side, and Went to the observation deck at the International financial Center. From 55 floors up you can really see a whole lot of the city. The views were dizzying, and we took a little time to learn about the creation and history of Hong Kong money. We went from there to the most delicious sushi I have ever eaten. I have been absolutely ruined by how fresh and delicious it was. Believe it or not, we went directly from the sushi restaurant to meet a former co-worker of mne for dinner. We worked up a bit of an appetite getting there, but since we weren't starving we had several appetizers at a ritzy shanghai style restaurant. It was all things that I'd never had before, and were absolutely wonderful. We got done with dinner, strolled through Hong Kong park to the Peak tram. We took the tram to the top of Victoria Peak for some spectacular views of the city and the sorrounding areas. It was a perfect way to close out the trip. We went back to the hotel and met back up with the group and W went and got a massage. I was done, and got some sleep for the long journey back home. Our flight was decent, and I got to see shrek 3, oceans 13, and something else not good enough to remember too.

Final thoughts on Hong Kong. They have way cooler phone technology than we have. Everything is built absolutely straight up.Never has so much great food been gathered into one place. The MTR and the Octopus card are really the coolest public transportation inventions ever. I was dissapointed to have to ride old crappy BART when I got home.

Hong Kong at Night
Originally uploaded by jrherron.