Wonderful day in Hong Kong!

Well, We made it! All 15 hours of our flight, but we made it. The flight wasn't actually too bad.. with a little help from an over the counter sleep aid, I got a good 10 hours in before we landed.

Although I chose to skip most of the food the offered, their snack was the trusty "Cup 'o' Noodle." I figured they couldn't go wrong with that so I took a shot. Turns out I was right. It was quite yummy!

Upon landing, we made our way through "customs." They just stamped our passports and waved us on through. No searching the bags which was nice due to the fact we were EXHAUSTED at this point.

The View as we flew into Honk Kong when the sun was coming up. Breathtaking! 

We made our way through the airport and finally found a place to take a warm shower (for $20 USD) but it was SO worth it. Katie and I found a place to store our carry on luggage and we were off to explore the city. After much confusions on where to catch the train, we were finally pointed in the right direction and boarded the A11 to a place called Stanley Market. Being the friendly American that I am, I made friends with a man from Australia who was in Honk Kong for business. He gave us a few pointers and places we should see before we left, so I was very much appreciative.

Katie and I on the Train to Stanley Market

Anyway, back to our trek to Stanley Market. It was only about a 20 minute train ride to what was called Central Station where we then caught a city bus, yes it was a double decker with and yes we had a maniac driver, to Stanley Market. Now it may sound simple to just hop a bus, but this bus station was HUGE. It took at good 30 minutes to figure out which route was the correct one to take. Our driver apparently didn't like us because he sort of yelled at us when we couldn't figure out how much HK dollars to pay him. Oh well! Katie and I made our way up to the second level of the double decker bus which we would soon figure out was a mistake. These drivers are crazy!! They FLY down these small winding roads and slam on their breaks just before they hit the person in front of them. Needless to say, experiencing this from the second level made both of us pretty queasy.

Once we got there it was worth the ride! It reminds me a lot of China Town in NY, as in there are different allies with little shops and women and men encouraging you to come in and see their deals. On past these allies was a boardwalk that was gorgeous. We found a local restaurant where we endulged way too much on the local cuisine which happens to be my ABSOLUTE favorite!

(This picture was taken at the top of the hill of Stanley Market)

We worked our meal off by searching the city to see what we could find. We came upon a pier which we loved! We watched as several john boats came in and fishermen caught their supper.

We left Stanley Market and headed to an are of town called Central. It's shop after shop, name brand after name brand.. I mean, name a high end clothing/shoe/handbag line and this city has it! When we decided we were ready to head back, we hopped on the bus, lower level this time, and rode back to central station where we boarded the train back to the airport. It is now 6:00 PM on Friday local time and 4:00 am CST, yet we are still kicking. We are waiting to board our 5 1/2 hour flight to Chennai where we will catch a train to Salem. This is where the orphanage is and I am SO eager to get there. I finally got the pictures to work so I hope you enjoy a little taste of what I am getting to see! 

Miss and Love you all! If you want to see some videos of where we have been, check out Katie's Blog www.thesoulexperience.blogspot.com

Remember to Charge Thru your Challenges!

Miss you all!!

Emily