Jetlag? Ha! Team China scales Victoria Peak on the first morning!

(Cady)

Ni hao and hello to everyone!

I am currently sitting in an internet cafe in Kowloon with Em enjoying some hot tea. Actually, I don't have much room for the tea because we had such a huge lunch, but I'll get to that. Well, we have been in Hong Kong for less than 24 hours, which quite frankly is amazing because it feels like it's been ages. We seem to have already accomplished so much. Come to think of it, we've spent more time traveling to China thus far than we have actually experiencing it! Now, I'm sure you folks at home are all wondering how the excruciating total of 21 hours in the air turned out. Truth be told, it wasn't so bad. I believe Terry is going to write an entry tonight about our day(s) of travel, so I won't get into the gory details of the flight. All I can say is thank god for sleeping medication- Heath Ledger here we come. Not to worry though one and all, we are all quite well and not dead in any way shape or form. Actually quite a bit of today was spent improving our form, but I'll get to that as well. We finally arrived in Hong Kong at around 6 pm last night, Wednesday, February 6. We were all, not surprisingly, quite energetic and eager to walk around once arriving at the YMCA, which is where we're staying. The hotel turned out to be very nice, and once we spent twenty minutes or so settling in we set out to find some sustenance.

When we first arrived in Hong Kong it struck us as being much like NYC: lots of skyscrapers, people, and lights. Upon walking around however, we discovered that Hong Kong is far more eclectic than New York, and much more neon as well. Not to mention, full of exceptionally trendy people. We have spotted more amazing boots here than is believable, but leave it to Em and myself to notice that. Really though, Hong Kong is vibrant and modern- very East meets West. The architecture is amazing too, I find myself snapping photos right and left because all of the buildings have so much character. Anyways, we ended up settling on a little upstairs Szechuan restaurant, whose neon sign must have particularly caught out eye. The food was excellent, taking a page out of the book of Viz we ordered a vast array of food and shared everything. It turned out that we were quite hungry and fish (yes, Nick and Drew both tried it!) szechuan beef, scallion rolls, and very spicy chicken were all devoured. First dining experience in China: success!

After filling of travel weary bellies we decided to visit the night market in Victoria Park. It seemed like literally every extremely trendy young person, group of people, or couple had come out to the night market. We waited in line for a good half hour, which served for an excellent people-watching experience. Once we actually got into the market though it was so packed that we couldn't even move! We were basically forced to surge with the crowd, it was much like a crowded concert or the opening of the first Ikea in Massachusetts... So, we decided to head back to the YMCA, but the journey was good overall because it prepared us to use the metros today. Once returning to our rooms we journaled a bit and fell into bed. Amazingly enough we all managed to be down for breakfast by eight this morning. In fact, despite the fact that we didn't end up going to bed until about 3 am, we crawled out of bed with relative ease at 7:15 this morning. So much for jet lag. The buffet breakfast at the hotel was further proof of Hong Kong's eastern and western influence as I had dumplings, steamed pork buns, scrambled eggs, and toast all on a single plate. Quite delicious. It was a bit misty in the morning, but we decided to tackle Victoria Peak, and I mean that quite literally.

First though, the metros- they are absolutely wonderful. Efficient and extremely clean, the metros are great for getting from one place to another in Hong Kong. Rick said that being in the metro here (which they call the MBT I believe) looks like an asian version of the London tube stations. I find it very comparable to the metro in Rome as well. I guess that's what a hundred years under British rule will do to a place; give it good public transportation. We've taken the metro quite a bit not, but have yet to take the Star Ferry, though I believe we plan on doing that tomorrow. This morning we took the metro over to Hong Kong Island and walked from Central Station to the Peak Tram. Seeing Hong Kong during the day was awesome, lots of hustle and bustle. So we get to the Tram and Team China decides that we'd really like to walk up Victoria Peak. It sounds easy enough- walk up past the botanical gardens, find Old Peak Road, and follow it to the top. Rick and Terry stick with the tram and we arrange to meet at the top. Team China then sets off on our adventure. The first people we asked for directions literally told us to turn back, I think they thought we were a little bit crazy for wanting to walk up the peak when we could take the perfectly good tram. Crazy? Ha! So we continue on, meanwhile the roads are getting steeper and steeper. Wow, it's just like being in the Andes Mountains again. The roads eventually give way to a concrete path that winds up the forested peak. The road was beautiful- the best word that I can think to use for the trees is craggly, which isn't even a word according to Yahoo spell check. Actually, just think Lord of the Rings and you can have a pretty clear picture of what the area was like. Of course, ascending the peak turned out to be a bit more physically draining than we anticipated, but arriving at the top, all of us quite a bit more sweaty than we were at the beginning, was a fantastic feeling.

Once we reached the top, quite a feat indeed, we relaxed for a bit in a coffee shop, and then the six of us took a walk around the top of the mountain, which to our delight was flat contrary to the vertical nature of our precious "stroll." We decided to take the tram down the mountain, and visit the Manmo temple. The walk there from the tram station was nice- it took us through the "SoHo" area of Hong Kong, which is where much of the international population comes to play. We saw the outdoor escalators and every type of international restaurant we could possibly imagine. The temple seemed very preserved, considering that everything outside of it was several stories higher and much more modern. The air inside was thick and smokey with incense and the floor was packed with people, mostly of the older generation, looking for a blessing on the New Year. We didn't do the whole routine, but we did donate some money, beat a drum, and ring a bell. Afterwards it was scrounging time again and we settled on a Greek and Mediterranean restaurant called Olive. We decided it wasn't cheating not to eat Chinese food since the international food in that section of Hong Kong is such a part of the culture. The food was excellent- complete with pita, babaganough, and olives (as the name would suggest). After lunch we were ready to return to the Y and hunt down a source of internet.

So now were we are. Nick has joined us here, so you should all be able to see the pictures he uploaded from today. Tonight is the New Year so we should be seeing a parade and fire works in about two hours. Anyways, this has gotten long enough, so zai jian everyone!

Gung Hay Fat Choy! (Happy New Years! in Cantonese)

[and here's what they'll be seeing tonight! .... Ms. Viz]