Sunday, May 21st Hong Kong

Well, it is 3:00 a.m. HK time and I am up and ready for the day!!  LOL!  We had a wonderful day yesterday, so much so, we fell into bed without blogging you first.  We trekked 7 walking miles in heat and humidity...I think I lost 50 pounds!  What an amazing city Hong Kong is!!  Drew's new Nike wrist trek calculator is fun...it calculates how many calories you burn, and baby we were well into the negative calories yesterday!!

First off, I want to tell you that I am a little rusty when it comes to writing anything describing my thoughts, usually I am writing about someone else's illegal thoughts in the form of a criminal complaint.  So if I get a little boring, I apologize up front.  Second, I don't have my friends/co-workers Pam or Lisa editing, so lots of mistakes/grammar issues.  Sorry for that!  Third, I just want to try and remember this trip, since I'm 54 and starting to have memory issues...LOL

Yesterday started out with beautiful weather (inside our hotel room that is, The Royal Pacific, air conditioner was set on highest mode).  As soon as we hit the cement, Drew commented that the heat felt the same as yesterday, but the humidity was higher...I immediately felt like Auntie Em in the Wizard of Oz melting into the pavement..................ufda, it hit me like a ton of bricks and I immediately started sweating and was wet the rest of the day!!  My hair was up and I had a kleenex in hand!!  Again, ufda!!

First stop was the tailor for suit fittings.  Drew's suit is beautiful and it was fun to watch how they take so much care and precision in making a man's tailored suit, unlike the more boxy cut of an American suit.  Very nice.  My suit jackets were not ready, but maybe Monday.  I don't think a European cut is for Lisa, but Mr. Richard said he 'take care of me!!

From Nathan Street we jumped on the MTR, subway.  Massive people already on the MTR and crammed into the subway cars.  Unbelievable clean and smooth flowing.  We went from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island in about 5 minutes.  Yesterday's ferry ride was about 20 minutes for the same distance.  The mass transit serves Hong Kong well for the mass people!!

Upon exiting we went to the mid level escalators...a must see.  Drew spent a lot of time in this area last summer and knew it like the back of his hand! I can see why he spent time here!!  Like cosmo NYC.  All of the expats hang out in this area and you can get about any kind of food or drink desired....british pubs, french bakeries, italian pasta, you name, they have it!!  The escalators are 10-15 blocks long (conceptually difficult to imagine, but see pictures) going up a mountain side...unbelievable!  When we reached the top and looked down, we had rode the mountain via an escalator.  Instead of walking down the mountain we took a taxi.  We needed to get to the Man Mo Temple to meet one of my niece Jen's friends who lives and works in HK.  The taxi ride was like winding down the the roads in San Franscisco at 100 mph dodging people the whole way.  In HK, cars have the right-of-way not the pedestrian like the States.  I actually think this is a better law.    

We met Jen's friend Emily in front of the Man Mo Temple, the oldest temple in Hong Kong.  The smell of incense was strong, even though it was about to downpour and the humidity was high you could still smell it!  You are encouraged to enter the temple and light an incense with a prayer/request.  We did not enter, although a request for cooler weather was certainly on my mind!! Even though we had never meet Emily, when she appeared with her huge smile, she was instantly one of those people in life you LOVE!!  Her personality filled Hong Kong Island!!!  She wanted to know if we had had our palms read at the temple, Drew and I laughed!  No we had not.  However, we could see that we were in for a wonderful afternoon with her, no palm reading needed!!

Emily suggested a wonderful dim sum place called Luk U (forgot the rest of the name),.  We began our walk and a tea ware shop caught my eye on the way.  The cute elderly chinese couple,  in the store as big as a shoebox, had very lovely cups/saucers/teapots and tea.  I immediately thought of our friend Mary Kay in Madison and how she would have loved this store.  I had to buy her a tea cup!  My friend Pam too, although the cup is to small for her jugs of chia, she will enjoy the chinese art decor on the cup.  Upon buying these items,   I didn't need my fortune told to realize that Delta will be getting an additional $100 out of me for a second piece of luggage!  LOL!

While in the store, the downpour started.  We were near the escalator district again and the water was rolling, literally rolling down the mountain.  We were held up for 20 minutes chattering away and learning of Emily's exciting life in HK.  Drew's eyes were as big as saucers listening to Emily's work and home adventures!  I was awed at her accomplishments and encouraged for Drew and his future as a Mandarin Chinese and World Econ majors!!  Emily is a wealth of information and wonderful resource for Drew!! She is amazing!!

After 20 minutes, Emily hailed a cab to the eatery.  Upon arrival, the Luk U waiters tended to Emily's every wish.  They knew her by name.  A number of items were ordered by Emily and round-two, by Drew.  Conversation was anything but boring.  Travel and adventure and experiences were shared!!  Fun!!  But the afternoon came to an end!  Emily bought lunch, much to my dismay, and we were off to the MTR to get back to Kowloon.

One of the Judges I appear in front of with some frequency has a daughter Drew's age who is studying in New Territory, Hong Kong through the University of Minnesota.  She is an accounting major.  I had been in contact with Shayna and she suggested meeting for dinner at a hot pot place.  Drew and I were stuffed from lunch and not really hungry, but I didn't want to miss a chance to meet Shayna.  We meet at the Super Hot Pot at Yae Ma Twi, the Mong Kok MTR exit.  Once again, my hair was drenched with sweat.  I was uneasy about meeting someone looking like this but they don't have hair dryers, so I had to go with the flow.

We meet Shayna at Super Hot Pot.  It appeared to be a very popular eatery, as the line for the second floor eatery was long.  We went up the stairs to a different eatery, however, the menu was not very enticing, so we had our tea with lemon and moved on.  Shayna, having lived here for the past semester, suggested a cheap chinese place down the street.  It was Sunday night and the streets were packed with people shopping and eating. I can't count how many stores we saw with mushrooms, chicken, beef and herbs selling in an open market setting!!  Clearly the USDA would not approve.  We arrived at the eatery and Mr. Fong, owner, immediately recognized Shayna and began to flirt with her.  Mr. Fong.  That was his name.  Shayna said there are blogs written about him because everyone loves him.  He immediately started bring out tons of food:  fried rice, broccoli, pork, chicken, potstickers, spring rolls....Drew and I looked at each other and our eyes rolled to the back of our head.  No way were we eating this much food, but it just kept coming.  We sat at an outside table with plastic tarps shielding us from rain and Mr. Fong clearly wanted to practice his english and engaged us in a lot of conversation about...well, we don't know.  He was hard to understand.  He had a nice laugh though.........

From dinner we left to go to Ladies Market and Jordan Street.  Both open markets selling knock-offs and trinkets.  Ufda, it was 9:00 on a Sunday evening and the streets were still packed!! I hit the wall and needed to get to the hotel quick.  Instead of a taxi, we walked (not quick) about 1.5 miles to Kowloon.  The sweat, well, it didn't matter.  I looked like I had been swimming in my clothes all day.  When we got to the room and I looked at myself in the mirror, I strongly considered throwing them out.  But I was too tired.  A quick shower and a few minutes later I was asleep on the world's hardest bed.

It is now 4:00 in morning and I am going to try and get a few more minutes of sleep before the sum rises and we head to Macau via 1 hour ferry ride!!  I love Hong Kong!!