Oxen on Blinking Rollerblades…? o_O

(Mark)

HELLO FROM HONG KONG!

So we touched down at the airport at 6:45 and made our way to baggage claim. The airport was so unnecessarily large…we had to walk for like ten minutes, then get on a subway type thingy that took us to baggage claim. Our bags came almost immediately (no, we didn’t lose any, despite Lianna’s fear), so we exchanged money and started heading out. As we got into the main airport, a random guy came up to us and asked us where we were headed. Turned out he was a taxi driver, and offered us a ride right to the hotel for 380 Hong Kong dollars (about 54 USD, divided amongst the four of us). So we went with him. And the ride was pretty cool. And he was really nice. When we got to the hotel, we tipped him an extra 40 Hong Kong dollars or so, later discovering that tips were supposed to be about 5. We certainly made his day.

After checking in, we headed to the night market (though we don’t think we went to the right one…?). Getting there was quite an experience, as we had to learn to ride the subway. You can only by a single trip ticket, and you need it to get OUT of the subway when you reach your destination. Allison thought she lost her ticket, it was bad… she’s still living in the subway. Like Charlie on the MTA. JK LOL, WE LOVE HER. The night market was actually kind of a let down (hence our doubts as to whether we went to the right place). It was pretty much just like any other market in any China Town. People were obsessed with remote control helicopters... one dropped and almost beheaded us. Except it was way too small. But I like dramatic effect.

ANYWAY. Then we were tired. So we tried to go back to the hotel. On the way, however, we encountered the rehearsal for the New Years Parade. We were pretty much in a delirious stupor, so we were just kinda wandering around when we stumbled upon it. It was pretty epic, with dancers, bands, large dragon thingys… When it began to get old, we headed out, but somehow ended up on the wrong side of the entrance gate, so that we could have just gone right into the stadium where everyone was performing. We decided not to though, which was an EXCELLENT decision, as we ran into “THE COOLEST THING I’VE EVER SEEN” (in Allison’s words). What was it? Little Chinese children, dressed as Oxen,* on flashing rollerblades. In Lianna’s words, it was “SOOO amazing!” Alex has a video of it that will hopefully be posted, and you can see the oxen and hear Allison and Lianna’s exclamations. You will laugh. A lot.

So then we went back to the hotel, and tried to get internet. It was quite annoying, there was a fifty dollah deposit, and we had to buy a minimum of fifteen minutes (at one dollah per minute). So Allison just checked her email, and sent the world’s worst and shortest message to our parents and Viz to say we were alive. You probably won’t see this post till we get to Guangzhou, as we don’t want to deal with that internet thing again, but OH WELL! So yeah, hi mom, dad, alex, steve, grammie, gramps, nana, anita and steve, pam, and anyone else who I may have missed due to my exhaustion. Mom, your brownies were awesome! Coming up next… to Hong Kong Island!

*It is now the year of the ox. The Chinese aren’t THAT weird. Usually.