Hong Kong... too expensive for me!!!

So because we decided to spend 4 months here in China, we had to take a little side trip somewhere... anywhere out side of China... to renew our Visas (which were good for 2 trip of 60 days). So we decided to go somewhere close... a quick side trip to Hong Kong (except it didn't seem very quick!) When we were looking at tickets for the one weekend we could go (the only weekend that would give us under 60 days on both sides) the plane tickets were more expensive to Hong Kong than they were to get us all the way to CHINA!!! So we thought... lets take a train!! Samuel was very excited... telling me how him and his siblings talked about taking a train from Beijing to Russia or something like that. So we bought tickets and went on our way.

First we went up to Beijing for a day to see one of Samuel's mission converts. When we got to Beijing we had a little time to spare, so we grabbed some lunch, Samuel finally got a hair cut (first one in 2 months) and then i decided to get a hair cut. We used the subway in Beijing (which is amazing) and laughed at these 2 chinese girls who were trying to "sneak" a picture of Samuel on their camera phones (thinking of course that samuel cant understand anything they are saying) and Samuel would duck his head right before they would take the picture every time. They never got it and made fun of Americans... we laughed at them and I wanted Samuel to say something to them in Chinese right before they got off... but he didn't. Instead we went to meet Dong (said like you say a doorbell "Ding Dong"), Samuel's mission friend. She was the cutest lady i had ever met and became a fast friend... and of course they just all thought that i was wonderful (but i am beginning to think that chinese people think all American girls are wonderful and beautiful... whatever!) She took us to a Hot Pot place... which Samuel loved, gave us food for our train ride and helped us find a hotel.
The next morning we were off to find our train. We almost messed up and didn't go through customs... but we made it on the train ok... and found our cramped little 6 bed room (pictured to the left with samuel). luckily we had the bottom 2 bunks and no one snored. So now we just had to figure out what to do for 26 hours. well... we did a lot of sleeping (or tried to... sleeping on a train is REALLY HARD) played a lot of kid games (like "i see a color that you dont see") and did a lot of sitting. (Don't worry though... the trip back when a lot better) the next day we finally made it to Hong Kong!! YAY... i was so excited to shower, clean up and go to the TEMPLE!!! but we were supposed to meet one of Samuel's mission frends at the Station. So after 2 hours of waiting at the station, 40HKD spent in pay phone calls that kept getting dropped, and his friend being at the wrong station, he finally found us and we talked to him for a bit. Then we jumped in a taxi to get to our hotel... only to immediately be bombarded by an Indian trying to sell us custom made suits for $200 American dollars... we laughed (we can get a suit made here for $100 American dollards). But he was fun to try and avoid for the next 4 days as his shop was right next to our hotel. hahaha!

As for our hotel.... the "Best Hotel" (yes... that was its name). imagine a bed slightly smaller than a queen... in a corner, with 2 feet of walking space on one side, a small TV and stand at the foot of your bed 1 TINY makeshift closet and a bathroom that has a toilet, tiny sink (literally the sink was the size of 2 of my hands) and a drain in the floor b/c the shower was the whole bathroom (you had one of those hand held shower things on the wall). Let me tell you... when we got home our room here in China seemed HUGE! and of course the walls are so thin and the windows so bad we could hear everything from outside... and our AC would stop working in the middle of the night! hahaha! but it was cheap... which was good... b/c nothing else in Hong Kong is!

We did get to go to the Temple though... and it was wonderful. The subway system in Hong Kong is super nice as well.. and it was only a short 5-10 min walk from the subway to the temple.. and it was beautiful... it definetly stood out in Hong Kong (not too much though b/c it wasn't white... it was this beautiful dark cream color... but still just wonderful). As we walked up to it i got so excited... after being on a train for 26 hours, and tired and stressed and overwhelemed... walking in the temple was a breath of fresh air... familiar and wonderful! luckily we had an hour before the next session started... so i got to just sit and ponder for a while, until this funny American lady came in and chatted my ear of in the waiting room. But the session was wonderful and refreshing.

After the Temple we went to find the "Outback Steakhouse"... oh i was so excited.. but Samuel wasn't feeling well. Part of me didnt' want to go b/c i wasn't going to enjoy it... but he insisted and ate 3 bites of his burger and 1/4 of my steak (I LOVE OUTBACK STEAK). The prices though were a shock... it wasn't any cheaper than eating at an outback at home... and of course with the money conversion, although it was only like $40 USA money... seeing an almost $400 bill was a shock. we decided from that point we needed to be a little more careful with the money. Which is why we decided to not go to Hong Kong Disneyland. This was something I was really looking forward to.. having never been to Disneyland. But everytime we told people about our plans, they would get a disappointed look on their face and tell us it wasn't very good and they wouldn't recommend going. So after hearing that and knowing how much it would cost to spend a day there, we decided to save the money and just tour Hong Kong.

So Friday we went to the Art Museum and enjoyed looking at all kinds of chinese caligraphy and art, and went to "The Spaghetti House" for lunch. We were told by a friend about a really good Italian restaurant that we were going to go to, but when we saw that the prices were similar to the Outbacks, we found someplace that gave us soup, garlic bread, lasagna and spaghetti for only $140 Hong Kong Dollars. Sadly Samuels spaghetti tasted like chinese food (they didn't have a sauce on it) but the lasagna was amazing. Then we went up to "Lady's Street" to hit the markets. My first order of business was to get my brother Dan a Rolex. And there were people all over saying "Copy Watch, Copy Purse" who would show you a Rolex magazine and tell you they could give you exact copies. The first girl i went to wanted me to pay $600HKD (hong kong dollars) for a rolex.. i laughed and moved on... the last girl i went to i got down to about $270 HKD... less than $40 USD. and when i compared the watch to pictures online when we got home... its so exact no one will be able to tell. Dan of course loves me now!!! hahaha!! Samuel got a new wallet, as his was falline apart, some famous brand, i can't rememberm for super cheap. And i got a really cool chinese silk robe, green and black, reversible and "fire proof" (the lady actually took a lighter to it). we argued her down to $100HKD, she wasn't happy about it, which means we got a good price, but she sold it to us. Then we went to dinner at Ruby Tuesdays and got burgers (the cheapest things on the menu) and they were MASSIVE and WONDERFUL!!! Then we went to see the Light Show. Every night at 8pm between Kowloon and the Hong Kong Island the buildings, on both sides of the bay, put on the world record holding light show. it was really cool, with lights going off from the tops of all the buildings. (you can't tell from the picture.. but its a cool shot of the island while we were on Kowloon)

Saturday we slept in a little as Samuel wasn't feeling well, the food always seems to upset his stomach wherever we go. Around 11 I finally agreed to him getting out of bed... trying to be a good wife and take care of my husband...and we went to find some cheap food. We ended up finding a little food court with a fun pizza place (which we ate at twice) that sold little calzone type pizzas for only $25HKD.. which was good, and then we went to the Space Museum (a little curious about how it was going to be since china hasn't even been to the moon) but we were excited when we saw that there was an Omnimax theatre. There were 2 shows, The Alps and The Oddesey Adventure (or something like that). We saw the Alps first, which i think i had seen before, but was really fun, about this guy who climped the north face-- which his father fell off of and died when he was a child. then we saw the space one... and it was CRAZY. It started with these 2 little kids talking about how they booked tickets to go to the moon... and the whole thing was this joke about traveling to the moon and getting ready to go to the moon... no video or anything... just still cartoon type pictures with a couple real human pictures of people in space in between and some talk about the chinese trying to improve their space flights. we laughed over it. Then we went over to the Island and walked around all the shops (going crazy over the expensive prices compared to China) and then got some of the most amazing Sushi ever! This place sold them by the piece, not too expensive, and we tried all kinds of different sushi. it was fun! Then we found a McDonalds on the other side of the Bay by the Pier and ate Apple Pies and McFlurries... oh so wonderful! Then we took a Night Ferry ride (pictured right) all around the bay, saw the light show again from the boat, which was cool b.c then you could actually see the lights from both sides, and i almost got sea sick from all the rocking. but it was fun!

Sunday we went to church in the morning... it was so nice to be in a chapel again, but sad to be away from our little branch here in China. But i wasn't feeling well so we went home after and rested for a while before finding something for lunch. i think we got the pizza again (since it was so good and so cheap) and then we went and hung out together outside taking crazy pictures together and talking and just enjoying the breeze (this of course is a rare moment... b/c let me tell you... Hong Kong is HOT AND MUGGY!!! and i mean MUGGY... i have never felt so gross the moment i walked outside... the moment i walked out of my room... it was bad). Then we realized that there was a little arts and crafts fair going on , so we walked around that and Samuel talked me into getting Henna (pictured left) I was reluctant... but I did it. Then we walked around a shopping mall by the pier called "Ocean Avenue" and ate some KFC and got milkshakes (i got a strawberry one... it was wonderful).

Monday we woke up... went to the place where we found the pizza and they had a little grocery store where we found some good American junk food for the trip home. Then we made our way to the Train station and took off again on our 26 hour trip home! This time it was a lot better, we bought some playing cards from the snack cart (only 10HKD.. like 1.3USD) and a chinese girl in our room taught us a really fun chinese game we stayed up playing all night. And we realized we brought Yahtzee (why we didnt' realize that on our way down i have no idea) but i got 4 yahtzees in one game... or was it 5... anyway.. i rocked!!! and of course we ate junk food and did a lot of sleeping. But it was good to come home to our big clean hotel room and a not expensive China.

So now an hour later after starting this blog... i have decided i will post all other life randomness at another point in time... I love you all...