Well we made it back without landing in a Chinese prison. Some of the highlights are as follows:

The food was great we ate entirely Eastern cuisine. There were hundreds of great looking western restaurants but we figured , When in Rome or china do as the....... We did not eat anything to weird (I did have eel) but there were lots of strange things on the menu, such as scalded pig stomach , deep fried pig ears, chicken feet. sea slugs (we think these might have been snails escargot sounds much more appetizing) , fish lips (seriously fish lips) guts and intestines of about every kind of animal in the world. With all that being said there were some great things on the menu and we ate great buns and vegetables with great sauces, some great spices) and we used the chopsticks. I was always the only blonde type in the restaurants and Language was a small problem sometimes but we pointed good. The menus all had English or we would not go in.

We took a ferry ride to a island called Cheung Chau. It takes about an hour by ferry. This place was really a step back in time. Lots of people living on boats, an I don't mean yachts. These were very old looking fishing boats with laundry hanging out to dy with the fish. They had some great beaches but the shark warning signs and the shark nets they had draped all along the beaches kept us out of the water. We also found a shrine in a small temple on a deserted hillside. This came complete with incense burning and oranges set in front of the god. It was not completely deserted because there was this little old lady sitting on a bench. When Sue tried to take a picture (she was only on the third picture on the roll) the lady yells something that neither of could understand the words but we knew the meaning, and then Sue's camera started to rewind for no reason. This was the only roll of film we had so there will be no pictures. This is a true story.

Everybody says you have to shop in Hong Kong. We are not shoppers so we mainly watched people shop but let me tell you this is a shoppers paradise. From street markets that stay open well into the night to more shops and shopping centers than you could ever imagine. The Mall of America would go unnoticed in this city. The prices were also great.

We did visit a couple of really neat markets. There was a place that sold song birds and the old men took their birds for walks here also. The birds were beautiful and their songs filled the air but they all did not appear to be taken care of well. We also walked down flower street. This is an area about 1.5 miles long with stalls that just sell cut flowers. It is hard to describe all the different colors and species of plants. Then on to the Jade market all sorts of people trying to convince you that you need this stuff pretty interesting but one blue green stone looks like another to me.

The city itself is built on a hill and the views are great. We sat at the Regent's hotel and could see the whole skyline. We also visited Victoria peak and could look down on the entire scene. Once again it is something you can not do justice to with words.

The mass transit from ferries to trains to trams were cheap and easy.

The other thing that was very noticeable was that the city never slept and there are millions of people stuffed onto this island. From my perspective at 6 foot it was a sea of black hair bouncing up and down. They all have cell phones and they are always ringing. I could never figure out why they had so much to say to each other on the phone. The street vendors could see me coming two blocks away because of my height and hair. They were dying to sell me a tailored suit (supposedly if you find the right guy these are a great deal) or a fake watch (Rolex or cartier) I bought neither.

Gardens were everywhere. The weather was hot and humid (most days over 90 F) and the gardens reflected the weather. Many tropical exotic plants and always there were people with those Chinese wide brimmed hats taking care of them. There was one park in particular that housed a plant greenhouse as well as a place that had over 700 hundred types of wild birds from Asia. The bird place was designed so that you walked over the canopy of the forest. There was a huge net that covered the area so that the birds could not leave but it was a lot of acres so that you really got the feel for the birds in their natural habitat. By the way this whole park area is free. There are lots of waterfalls mixed in and remember this is in the middle of the city with skyscrapers all around like in Central Park but because the city is built into a hill the views are breath taking.

It was also neat to read the paper. We read the South China news. (which by the way is online) Reading of the economic news which was the headline everyday reminded me of the 1989 to 1993 years in the States. Always some group was being laid off and lots of predications of when the economy was going to hit bottom and start to head back up. Most predications were that it was going to be a tough few more years. When Bill dropped some money to help boost the Yen (which helps all the Asian nations) we expected people to thank us personally, well they didn't because they just assume that people that look like us are from Europe. The papers did cover the story very favorably but stated that it was a short term fix and that doom and gloom were right around the corner. The other big news was FOOTBALL. (of course it was really soccer but then again this is the world cup)This occupied as much of the front page as the economy. There were stories on the actual matches as well as stories on people who died of heart attacks watching matches, people who stole or were scalping tickets, players who partied too much, and referees who were taking bribes. We were also very upset with the English Hooligans and the riots they were causing because they drank too much beer. One story reported that the English were downing their third beer while people from other countries were still on their first. I bet they are glad the Packers play real football as opposed to soccer because Packer fans drink a six pack before others can even open their beers. China's team was not a factor but this did not stop the enthusiasm. The matches always started round 11:30 PM China time and the bars were packed. We watched a few matches at local Chinese bars and the people wanted to know where we were from and who we were rooting for. The broadcast was in Chinese but it was fun to be part of the scene.

We went to the Hong Kong Museum of Art. It was a nice place but the funny thing was we were always walking the exhibits backwards. The Chinese are funny people with this affinity to start everything from the wrong direction. We kept colliding with large groups of school children and when there were explanation panels to read that were numbered we were always at the wrong end. The public school issues uniforms to all the kids. Some schools wear white some a light brown.

Another restaurant note. When we ate at one restaurant I ordered Shanghai broad beans. I had no idea what a broad bean was but it sounded neat. The waiter took the order and came back a few minutes later and told me that only people from Shanghai liked these beans and that people like us would prefer something else. I was a little taken back but I think he was trying to help. Now I need to find out what these beans are. By the way when we got home at 11PM Sunday night we went out for cheeseburgers.

The other markets that I did not mention were really a sight but not one you would like to see. The food stuff was pretty brutal. We know what Chinatowns in this country look like, now picture no FDA!!!!!! Well it was bad. Fish were still alive sitting out in the sun on bamboo trays,every few minutes they would flop around. In one market the guy was scaling a big fish on the ground and did everything but hold it down with his foot. They were literally slaughtering chickens in the street. Sue said she was not going to look but she did. Turtles, frogs, sea slugs were all proudly displayed alive laying out in the sun. The only reason we were able to eat still after seeing this is because we were accustomed to this type of food preparation by eating at the Saint Norberts cafeteria.

It still amuses me that my ATM card works in foreign countries but once again the key pad was upside down and there were no letters just numbers (We remember our code with letters) so we had to stand there and picture the telephone pad and convert our letters to numbers and then realize that the high numbers were on top of the list in this upside down world.

By the way it is 4am and I am up writing this. Jet lag was not a factor when we were in China but being home I am suffering. Sue is sleeping but she sleeps all the time anyway. The other neat thing about the time was that I did not need to change my watch. When it is 10pm in New Hampshire it is 10 am in China only it is the next day???????

The plane ride was brutal 21 hours but worth it.

We are ready to go back or maybe try something even more scary like Thailand.