As the travels moved on from Singapore, Hong Kong was the destination next in the “Orient” for Nicole and I. I hate to start on the negative, but I have to warn anyone about this airline. JET STAR ASIA SUCKS! It was 2 1/2 hours of Hades. I guess you get what you pay for ($106 for one-way/each). I think that I posted that, “if you were CHINESE size” it would not be a problem. But since I am taller than 5′ than it was a huge problem. Especially when the person in front leaned their seat back.

Enough of the negative and on to the positive about our Hong Kong Experience. We arrived at 10:30a got to the Cosmopolitan Hotel, ate a $20 BLT and went straight to sleep. FOR 18 HOURS STRAIGHT! We were so tired from the Singapore trip, and the time difference that our bodies just wanted to sleep…and that is what we did. Probably the best sleep I’ve had since Steven Sanders and I went running for a few weeks at 5am in the morning then went back to his house to sleep until Lighthouse called at 11am for lunch. (Little side note)

Day 2 in Hong Kong was a bit more promising since we were rested up. Lantau Island was the place and the Big Buddha statue was the attraction in our sights. Nicole’s book said it would be about a 5 hour trip total. We walked to Times Square (Hong Kong edition) from the Hotel and hopped on the MTR Subway to take us to the bus stop for the Big Buddha. I was glad I brought my walking shoes because it was 268 steps just to the bottom of the Buddha statue….not counting the 1/2 mile you walk to get there from the bus stop. (Need less to say we have gotten our fair share of walking on this trip – another side note.) This is more of a “Been there done that” kinda thing. I think I enjoyed the view from Big Buddha’s butt more than the front. To explain: from his “backside” you could see the South China sea, which was very beautiful. After a bag of chips some Gatorade and some more unhealthy food we headed back to the hotel where we slept for another 14 hours. I think we missed Dinner on this night also.

Day 3 was wide open as we were saving the best for last. After a McDonald’s breakfast we headed for the MTR to take us to the Ferry to Kowloon. Our search was to find the Jade Market. After a “quick” 2-mile HOT walk we ran into it. It made Nicole and I feel like we were back in Guatemala because of all the people asking us to buy stuff like we have money because we are white…..well, she is white….I’m just half. We did buy a Christmas ornament though. (That is one of the things Nicole and I started when we were dating was to buy ornaments from everywhere we visited for our Christmas tree. Side note number 3.) The night for us was to not go to sleep and head for another country. This country being owned by Portugal and the top Gambling site of the world: Macau. I was craving Snow Crab so we headed to the Venetian. I found it on Wikipedia and it said it had Snow Crabs so we were on our way to find out that it did not have snow crabs. We then went to the Sands and located the Snow Crabs. Nicole was very picky as they had some crazy food there (not as crazy as Beijing, but that’s another post). We headed back about 9pm and passed customs again to get into Hong Kong and went on our way to sleep.

Day 4 would be our last full day in Hong Kong and we wanted it to be the best. We started by making the trip to the South China Sea at Repulse Bay. We didn’t know that we were about to meet our maker with the bus ride though. I thought I was riding with one of the youth…..this guy was crazy. We arrived, hit the beach, got some ice cream, and started taking pictures. The view was spectacular. The interesting aspect of the beach was that it was almost like gravel because of all the small rocks. The gulf beaches trump these by far. While there I started getting messages from Eddie Turrentine (better 3rd of the brothers). Teddie will not read this so I can talk smack about him a little. Just kidding, Love ya Pastor Terry. (That’s what my mom calls him sometimes). Our plan was to go to The Peak for the lookout over Hong Kong. Eddie wanted to meet us and have dinner with us so we planned to meet at the Peak then head to Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. After arriving at the Peak, Eddie had changed gears. More on that in a bit. The view from the Peak was marvelous. The skies were clear so we could see for miles. We stayed up there about 30 minutes just viewing and taking a few pictures then headed to Eddie’s choice for dinner, RUTH CHRIS HONG KONG. This would be a first for Nicole and I so we were pumped on the inside, but didn’t want to act out of order on the outside. The steak was probably one of the top 3 steaks I’ve ever had in my life. WOW, was that thing good. Nicole loved hers and said, “We should go back when we get back home.” Since Eddie generously offered to pay I didn’t mind going. Since I would have to pay when we get home, I might choose to go to Food Tiger and pickup a steak. The meal was great, but the time spent with Eddie was much better. One word sums the day: Fabulous!

The last day was pretty much a travel day as we were headed to Xi’an, China. Hong Kong was super nice, but I’m not sure if we will ever plan to come back. It is very expensive like Chicago and busy like New York, and since we are cheap folk our next vacation may be to Lucedale, MS. I look forward to having many stories about China so stay posted.

Remember as always to keep Jesus first,
Chris