Hong Kong!

I crossed the international date line for the first time in my life yesterday. That means, I am sitting in Hong Kong on Sunday night and most of the people I know in the world have not even woken up to Sunday yet. Seems odd!?! Our travel was about as uneventful as you would expect a non-stop 14 hour flight over the pacific to be. Actually it started many hours before we boarded a plane as we had to drive to L.A. My mom and I left Orem around 3pm on Thursday and made fabulous time to St. George where we stopped for a quick dinner at Megan's. Though we had less than an hour we were both fed and entertained. Wyatt played the guitar for us and Lexi showed us her skills in ballet.

We arrived in LA about midnight and finally went to bed after a nice long chat with Joanna. Ken and Joanna insisted on taking us to the airport and everything went smoothly. I don't think it had hit me yet that I was going to Hong Kong, I was just dreading the nearly 15 hour flight. My mom took a sleeping pill and was out most of the flight, I was in and out of sleep, mostly out. Upon arrival Mark picked us up and took us on the Mr. Toads wild ride from Kowloon to Stanley where they live. I had no idea at the time how tame that ride would feel after experiencing the same road from the upper deck of a double decker bus!!! After some serious efforts to stay conscious until at least midnight we went to bed at 11. Both of us were able to get plenty of sleep which prepared us for our first big day in Hong Kong.

We decided it would be best to let Mark take us around the city so we could learn our way around. We walked through Stanley Market, took the above mentioned double decker bus ride (woah!) and walked through downtown and Hong Kong Park. This city is like a giant 3D puzzle. I am sure a map will do us no good as knowing your up and down is as important as knowing your north, south, east and west. We're smart girls, we'll figure it out!

We wanted some authentic local fare for lunch but Mark indicated that local HK food is in three main food groups: white, mushy and greasy...hmmm. We settled on some regular Chinese food and then headed to the harbour for a ride on the Star Ferry.

On the Kowloon side we went into the Peninsula Hotel and experienced some of the crazy street markets before heading back to HK island. After a quick dinner of burgers we got back on a double decker and began our ride home. We have been walking all day and have more energy than we expected. To tell you the truth, I think we wore Mark out! I don't know what we have planned for tomorrow but I know horse races at the happy valley race track, sailing, the peak and shopping, shopping, shopping are on the itinerary! Sounds like fun eh?