We Have Arrived in Hong Kong

We are now in Hong Kong. Where, oh, where do I start? What a day we have had. The morning was pretty uneventful. Bought a couple more souvenirs, ate lunch with the Andersons(one of the other couples using our agency). Lucy's again. It is really the only place on the island to get Western food. We weren't that hungry so Dallas and I just had onion rings.

At 2:00 we were picked up and went to the White Swan for pictures. I should have taken more but like Dallas says we have a red couch at home. It has been so long
since I have seen it I had forgotten. Then on to our Visa appointment. The U.S. in China is 100 percent nicer than the one in Russia. We had to show our passports and Grace's to prove we were who we said we were. A lady gave a short speech and then we raised our hands and swore all our information was correct. We then recieved Grace's passport with visa and mysterious brown envelope. We were free to leave the country. Yipee!!

Now here is where the adventure begins. Connie our guide decides we are going to make the 5:00 train. She quickly loads a different bus to take us to the train station and the Andersons will stay on and she will take them to the airport. So anyway, we are off to the train station. Fortunately it is not far. We go running in the train station with our 2 huge bags, 3 medium bags, a double stroller, and a carry on each. Connie has on high heels and is dressed to go out on the town(I know this is unrelated information but it is so Connie). We weren't really pleased with her. But back to the point. Here we are these crazy Americans running through the train station. Connie tells us to go up the escalator and wait for her. We manage O.K. but the sweat is already pouring off plus we are soaking wet. I forgot to mention it was pouring down raining when we left the consulate. Connie comes up with our tickets and points us in the right direction. We are off. First stop customs. When there is 7 of us it takes awhile to fill out all these forms. We finally make it through customs and have to go down an escalator. I have a 15 pound bag on my one shoulder, a 5 pound bag on the other shoulder, Grace in my arms, and am pulling a 45 pound suitcase(a bike is on the inside. I did O.K. on the up escalator but going down is another story. My large shoulder bag got stuck on the suitcase and we almost tumbled down. The first angel was put in my path. An asian man who spoke very clear English asked if I was O.K. My answer at the time was "I don't know". I really didn't. He said not to worry he would hold the suitcase up for me. So with his help I made it safely to the bottom. This could have been a disaster.

They are already boarding the train, so we get in line. The next adventure comes when we try to board. The lady sends us in the wrong department. We have all these suitcases and are blocking the aisle. Dallas is telling me to sit anywhere and I am arguing with him. The line is getting longer and longer. Of course everybody is staring at us. Finally I do just sit anywhere and Dallas starts throwing the luggage above us. You feel real safe when a 40 plus bike is overhead with nothing to hold it in.

The kids and I cram into 4 seats and Dallas sits beside us. Whew! We made it. We get about halfway there and Julia has to go potty bad. Dallas takes her to the potty. Guess what? It is a squatty potty. Julia absolutely refuses to use it. Dallas said he doesn't think she understood what to do. I have avoided public potties the whole time we were in China. When she came back all she could talk about was there was no seat. So I tell her she will have to wait. It soon becomes apparent(sp)that she can not wait. So I have to dig in my huge bag with Grace in my lap and a table in front of me for a diaper. I finally find one and get her to come stand on my bag and I slip a diaper on her. Another problem solved.

Now it is Grace's turn. We are almost to the station and Grace starts screaming. Of course everybody is staring at us. Guess they have never heard a baby cry. Who knows why she was crying. Grace is a very determined little girl and if she doesn't get what she wants when she wants it she has a tantrum. When this happens there is nothing you can do to console her.

Finally the train stops, we manage to get all our kids and bags off. We have to go up another escalator and through customs again. At least once up the escalator we can open the stroller. What a relief! It takes awhile to get through customs. The girls were in the stroller and the custom officer asks me which one was this(holding up Grace's passport). I thought it was pretty obvious.

Our next angel appears when we walk out of customs. Dallas and I were worried about how we would get to the hotel. We tried to switch hotels but it was too late. A man walks up to me asking if we need a ride. He has a minivan and can fit all of us and our luggage. I told him to ask Dallas. We don't know this guy, who he works for, and we are just going to go get in his van. He speaks fairly good English. Dallas says he is fine so off we go. We barely fit in his van but he turned out to be a nice guy. Dallas and him talked sports on the 45 minute drive to the hotel. Whenever you tell a Chinese person you are from NC, they always say near Micheal Jordon. I prayed the whole time that this guy was actually taking us to the hotel and he did.

This is the best hotel, yet. We would have loved to stay here a couple of days if we weren't so eager to get home. It is beautiful. It is attached to this huge shopping mall. It says they are outlets but their prices don't appear to be outlet prices. We weren't interested in shopping anyway. The suitcases are full.

We did need to eat dinner. It is now about 8:00 and we are all starving. So where to we go but to McDonalds. It was the best meal I have had in 2 weeks. The biggest drink I have had with a meal in 2 weeks. It was delicious and we topped it off with ice cream. I forgot to mention in China and here you can get corn with your combo instead of french fries. Corn just doesn't do it for me.

We then came back to the hotel to get the kids to bed. Our flight leaves at 10:25 but we want to catch the 6:30 shuttle. We are leaving way in advance but we would both feel better being at the airport.

Once again, sorry to go on and on, I just wanted to get all this down while it was fresh in my mind. Here's hoping to a good flight tomorrow. I can't imagine Grace on a 15 hour flight. I am thinking she will do worse than Julia did on her flight home from Russia. I felt like I was living through a nightmare with Julia, I am sure it will be the same tomorrow. But at least we will be home.

One more thing. Hong Kong looks beautiful in the dark. Lots of modern tall buildings. I am sorry we won't get to see it but now is not the time. On the way to Hong Kong there were beautiful mountains but such poverty. People were living in shacks with the roofs falling off in ankle deep water. You would see children and adults working hard in the fields. There is so much more poverty here than at home. You just can't imagine how these people live. These places would be condemned in the states. When we get home I will see if any of my pictures came out.

Lesson learned today...Never take the train with 5 kids, 5 suitcases, a double stroller, and 7 carryons even if it is the nicest train station you have ever seen.

I am extremely happy to say ....Next post Fuquay Varina,NC. Only a day away.