Where’s Megan?

I was in Beijing and my flight home was from Hong Kong, so I skipped the train this time and flew to Hong Kong for a few final days of sightseeing and shopping. The main HK attraction is taking a tram up to Victoria Peak, with spectacular views of the Hong Kong Skyline and Victoria Harbor.

Last picture of me in the Eastern Hemisphere:

There’s really only one other activity in central Hong Kong, and that’s shopping. Every company that exists has an office or store here, so plenty for everyone who cares about brand names. And then lots of cheap knock-offs for those that don’t (I picked up some nice “Tmibrbands” shoes for about one-tenth the price of Timberlands), and shirts with random hilarious English words (Kyle now has a shirt that boasts “100% degree of tastiness”)

My hotel was one of many housed in one of the “Mansions”, which must be Cantonese for “old dilapidated high-rise”.

My 4-person room was the size of a king-sized bed, with an attached bathroom the size of a phone booth. But it was clean and non-stinky, at least. One morning as I walked down the narrow corridor, some guy opened his hotel door and sneezed on me. This was altogether a) disgusting, b) great comedic timing, and c) an example of how small the rooms are – that you have to open your door to sneeze.

Thankfully there were a few pockets of quiet open spaces in the city, like Kowloon Park which had sculptures, koi ponds, and a nice aviary.

I made a special trip to see the World’s Longest Escalator! It was supposed to be 800 meters long, but it wasn’t continuous, just a series of normal escalators. Disappointing.

I had some sushi, since it’s the closest I’ll be to Japan for awhile. It was a trendy conveyor-belt-style place, and was pretty good, although a bit pricey.

Didn’t eat: roasted squid arms.

[Fun Fact: There are about 8 Hong Kong dollars to one US dollar, so everything looks ridiculously expensive ($10 cookies, $80 lunches, quite scary.]

For my last night in the city, I watched the big sound-and-light show the city does every night, with moving lights and lasers on the buildings, accompanied by Hong Kong action movie music. It was… flashy!

And then I took a plane and bus to…

Home Sweet Home!

I was trying to figure out how to summarize my trip, and I could try to reflect upon profound moments and ramble on about the meaning of life, etc…. but I like numbers and lists, so that’s what you get.

By the Numbers…

Number of days traveling: 150
Number of countries: 12
Number of flights: 7
Total hours spent on a bus: too depressing to think about.
Total distance walked (rough estimate): 300 miles
Weight lost: 20 lbs
Number of books read: 11 (which is more than the past 5 years, I’m ashamed to admit)
Cheapest hotel room: $3, a tie between Laos and India.
Longest bus ride (officially): 12 hrs in Vietnam
Longest bus ride (seemingly): 3 hrs from Vancouver to Seattle

Things I’ve Missed that I haven’t had or done in 5 months:
(David Letterman “Top Ten” style)

10. Cleaning (Definitely not missed. Aside from laundry, I’ve had to clean virtually nothing)
9. Driving
8. Having a phone
7. Shower curtains (a small luxury, but strangely absent in bathrooms worldwide)
6. Mexican food
5. A tall glass of cold milk
4. Wearing jeans
3. Wearing seat belts (sorry Mom, they just don’t exist)
2. Petting Stu
1. Kissing Kyle (Awww…)

By the “Mosts”…

Most Useful Gear

• USB Portable Drive. (Files, photo and music storage, plus I can plug it into any computer and run my own secure browser)
• Mp3 player. (For music, audio books, and audio travel guides. Essential for those long bus rides, and a perfect design: small, plugs into USB port, powered by rechargable AAA battery, and even has an FM radio)
• SteriPen UV Water Purifier. (The traveler’s magic wand. Stir contaminated water for about a minute, and it kills both viruses and bacteria, making the water safe to drink)
• Compass (I get lost a lot).

Most Favorite New Foods:

• Mangosteens
• Panaeng Curry
• Masala/Chai Tea
• Peanut candy

Most Useful Lessons Learned

• How to use a squat toilet, on a moving train, in the dark.
• How to haggle (I’m terrible at it, so my method is to offer 1/10 to 1/3 of the offering price, then start walking until I hear “OK! OK!”. It’s quite effective.)
• How to ignore people. (For starers, scammers, and salespeople)
• Not to assume what a “milkshake” is. (For instance, doesn’t always involve milk, or is necessarily cold).
• In most of Asia, passing on 2-lane roads is done using the invisible middle lane.

And that’s all, thanks for reading and commenting! Now back to real life…

Bye!
-Megan

—-End Blog—-

Tags: Home, Hong Kong, Travel

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007 at 3:05 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.