Thursday, December 29, 2005

Hong Kong BigShow - #1 Super Guy

Went to Hong Kong finally this morning..... We hadn't planned on being gone for very long but...

Left on the 7:45 ferry. It's 50 minutes to Central Hong Kong by Ferry and since I was "leaving China", I had 2 pieces of paper to fill out, and had to go through Customs into Hong Kong all over again. I went with Tony and Yani and the first place we went was to get Yani a Visa to get into Taiwan next week (for work). That took another hour of sitting in a waiting area but the weirdest part of that wait was seeing the rates for a Taiwan Visa.... Yani is from Israel so only had to pay $450 HK (about $60 US) for a same day visa that is now good for 60 days (multiple entries). If I was to get the same thing, it'd cost me the $450 HK but there is AN ADDITIONAL $800 HK (about $105 US) fee since I am from the US. It's called a "Reciprocity Tax" and when I asked Tony about it (whom also has a US passport and travels A LOT) he said most countries have it for the US since the US requires it of other countries citizens that are seeking a US Visa. WTF!!! So for those of us US citizens who want to see the rest of the world and not think that the world revolves around the US, we have to pay a lot of extra money to get a visa..... So I took a picture of the rates and plan on sending it to the wonderful president and have him explain his foreign policy and how this seems right to him. I'm sure he doesn't have to shell it out to go see other countries so what does he care? Just seems pretty messed up to me.

The whole time I'm in Hong Kong, I'm singing... "Hong Kong Phooey.... Number one Super Guy". What a great cartoon. I even found the theme song for all of you that grew up in the 80s and 90s cartoons like I did. I don't remember a ton from the cartoon but I remember watching it if it was on. It was one of the Hannah Barbarra cartoons because he would actively participate in the HB Olympics or whatever that cartoon was that would have the three teams compete in stuff every week. Anyone else following here? Don't make me go to Google - this one could take a while to research and I'm not in the mood right now.


When Tony finally bought his PSPs (I didn't find any great deals on my phone or camera), we headed back to the ferry station to find out we missed it by 5 minutes!! And Yani had to wait anyway for his visa that was to be done at 4pm. So we walked around a ton. Did some heavy walking and shopping in downtown Hong Kong. HK is nice since everyone speaks English:) It's basically like walking downtown NYC where everyone calls you "boss" and wants to sell you a watch. Tons of electronics stores with some having good deals, others not having any deals.

We found an Irish place in the morning for a traditional Irish breakfast with eggs, bacon, sausage (not blood sausage - YUCK!), toast, and juice that was perfect! We ended up going back there on our way back to get Yani's visa to sit for a bit and have a coke. It was really warm today in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is insane though. It's a huge city (think Manhattan) in size with lots of modern buildings and they even have built these tall sky scrapers into the mountain side to keep using more and more of the island. Talk about an engineering feat!!! I was impressed with the size of Hong Kong and how many people there were there of all nationalities.

Which reminds me.... I had a "moment" of awkwardness while we were eating..... There I was in an IRISH bar in HONG KONG where the waitresses were speaking CHINESE to each other and we were speaking ENGLISH between myself (AMERICAN), Tony (LEBANESE) and Yani (ISRAELI). Talk about a diverse meal! I did start some good conversation on the boat between Yani and Tony who both have countries that want the other one dead but neither has any hatred towards the other. It was interesting to hear their views on what is going on in Gaza even today with more hostages being taken there. Continue to pray for more educated ambassadors like Tony and Yani who realize that the world doesn't revolve around them but revolves with everyone in the world in it. We are all part of the same human race and there should be no hatred among any people of the world. I pray that this concept hits our nation's leaders someday too.

Which reminds me.... on the boat ride, they had a short 2 minute video that had music and both English and Chinese dialogue about putting on your life vest, etc. As I listened to the music on the way to Hong Kong, I thought I recognized the back ground music (again, elevator music style).... on the way back to China (on the not-so-slow boat to China this time), I listened more carefully and it was the dang intro to What a Feeling that they were playing. SERIOUSLY!!!! I'm just impressed that I could finally figure out what it was. They cut off right before the drums kick in.

Had McDonald's while waiting for the ferry to come back. I am left with only $6 HK (which is no good here in Shenzhen) so that's a good thing. I'll buy a coke or something when I go back next week on my way back to the US.

I forgot to mention the thing I miss the most from home. MY )@#($@#$ FAN TO SLEEP WITH AT NIGHT!!!! Most of you know that I sleep with a fan and have done so since I was in middle school. My mom will attest to that for me for you doubters. I take it with me when I travel to other US places, but don't when I go international. Usually hasn't been a problem in France or Ireland... but I miss it here in China. I should look into a battery powered one but then I'd run out of batteries before my trip was over. Hmmmm.... something to look into sometime when I'm bored.

So anyway - we took the 6pm ferry back to Shenzhen and I arrived back in the hotel around 7:15 (quick detour to get new bottle of water for the evening).

Ok, have a great Thursday. My Thursday is almost over. I'm exhausted and am taking a shower, then headed to bed!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

DUDE! I've finally started to pick up my daily Adam. :) Glad to hear things are going well over there and hope to see you home safe soon. BTW, insanely jealous of your international escapades!
-N