Hong Kong-Macau, pt 1

Wow... it's been awhile since i've posted. These past few weeks have just flown by. I did do some blogging while on the move!

After a few weeks of good hard work, I'm off to Hong Kong. I'm traveling with Morgan, John, Patrick, Clay, and James. Wendy of the lost boys much (with, of course, the exception of Morgan :) ) ?? Because I had an afternoon class today, I left about five hours after everyone else... Alone. Clay did not inform me that he had changed his flight, so I realized this afternoon that I would be fending for myself. Ainsley luckily had a close flight to Beijing, so I had some company on the way to the airport. From there, I proceeded to negotiate, explain, and board my plain in mandarin. I've gotten used to people staring at me all the time, but now I love that I can semi understand when people make comments about me in line. My favorite of the evening: "what is she?" "English? Too skinny to be American."
I passed out for most of the flight. Chinese airlines, regardless of
the time of day, always serve food. The Stewardess brought me a half
decent fruit cup, and I enjoyed the roughly translated English announcements.So after a rather easy flight, I landed in Shenzen. The south china humidity smothered me upon exiting the aircraft into the open expanse of outdoors that is Shezen. Still alone, I found a 90 kuai bus to Hong Kong. Flying into Shenzen and taking a bus or train significantly saves money... All the more for shopping I guess. I navigated this bus, picked the correct stop, and then saw my shining beacon of hope: Starbucks. Being alone, tired, and looking at an hour on the bus, this was the best part of the evening :) the bus came about ten seconds after I picked up my latte, and now I'm on my way to the W. I'm keeping track of this on my iPod, to be published upon arrival. As for now, I'll sit back with my latte, read my new Dan Brown novel, and continue to call my useless friends who have not yet remembered to turn on their phones. Oh well.

Later...

Finally at the W. Turns out the bus was not as simple as first expected. After getting settled in, the bus stopped and I was told to get off. I had to first go through a set of customs, transferring from mainland China to Hong Kong. Then to another bus. Ten minutes later, I had to get off again to go through the health exam. One more bus, then head into the Prince Edward port somewhere in Kowloon. I get off the bus, find a taxi, and eventually make my way to the W. Though exhausted, I'm sitting here in the lobby with everyone, enjoying the white party and hopefully going out for some more fun in a little bit!

Yay for traveling alone. More on Hong Kong to come :)