Hong Kong: oh, but a brief moment of westerness.

Because we are here on 90 day Visas, we had to leave the country and come back to renew them.  I'm no lawyer or TSA agent so I can't tell you why, its just physics or something. Anyways, since I suck at blogging I'm going to formally apologize for the sporadicity of my posts.

Every weekend it seems we have an invitation to visit with friends (mainly Jessie because she is our only english speaking friend, you thought we were popular for a second huh?). 

We also use our weekends to go grocery shopping since it is a time consuming event. We walk everywhere so you have to be equipped with the proper items to bring home large amounts of peanut butter and crackers, and maybe some oatmeal. Which is pretty much all we ever eat. 

Our apartment usually around this time needs a good cleaning, so ya know... that's why I suck at blogging...haha. Very long-winded, but I digress. 

Visas. Hong Kong. Focus.

Some of you, like I once thought because of my lack of knowledge of this region of the world, may be thinking- isn't Hong Kong a part of China? Michael will say, "It depends on who you're asking." Which means to China they are, but China "lets" them do what they want. Super simplified explanation that may not be quite right...but whatevs. You get the point. 

We decided to go to Hong Kong because that is where Michael's dad served his mission and thought it would be cool to see it for ourselves. We were only there for a weekend, which was totally fine because there's a lot of high-end shopping that is very tempting. It's crazy that on one side of the border it's totally Chinese- no "western" food, shops, etc, but once you get to Hong Kong you can find 7/11's, H&M, pizza that is actual pizza without odd toppings like corn, and people who understand English! Now you have to understand, we have been living in a place where few people understand you and everything is SO different. Don't get us wrong, we love it! It was just nice to have some familiarity for a little bit. 

We got to our hostel and met the owner Sam. This hostel had only been open for like 2 months I think. So they were super clean and Sam was even nice enough to show us around Hong Kong. He took us to a place that served a traditional rice dish that has burned rice on the bottom with my all time favorite sausage- Lap Chong. We were also welcomed with warm weather...which I was not prepared for since Luoyang is in its winter climate. We decided to take a ferry across the river to walk around and explore a little bit. And by explore, I mean get kinda lost...which is like the same thing right?

Some of the more famous parts of Hong Kong is it's Skyline along the bay. If you can recall a certain Batman scene where he jumps onto a building and does cool vigilante stuff in China- well that building is one of Hong Kong's tallest buildings. It was pretty cool I guess. They also have an old tram that takes you up to the top of victoria peak so you can see all of Hong Kong. It was the longest wait ever, but totally worth it. It was really cool too because we got to see the other side of the island that was more jungle. Random fact- at the top they also have a Madame Tussauds, with mostly famous Chinese people... random.

So I've said a lot- how about some pictures?

waiting waiting for the plane. We match...its cute. 

At the airport they had these coffee places that were like " Yea son, we're hella expensive."

PUNNY!

on the train to Hong Kong

Sitting down to our first meal that wasn't Chinese. We got some super yummy Doner Rolls at this Turkish joint. 

I'm still salivating, it was so delicious...AND they have cold drinks!! Like refrigerated and everything!

Ice Cream truck

Historical spot.

'

cutesy pose striking spot

sweet staircase to the Museum of Modern Art. Pretty sweet place- wasn't allowed to take pictures...sorrry. 

colorful ferry

a quick self-timer shot

on the ferry. 

Yummy to my tummy

but I didn't actually eat any of this stuff. It was just really pretty.

ERMENEGILDO!

There was this huge beautiful tropical park with an outdoor/indoor pool ad all these bird areas. So peaceful, and it had a convenient little McDonald's. 

This flamingo is fabulous

at the street market buying shiii

Sweet Catching Fire poster.

heading to the tram...

saw these awesome propaganda posters

they were super ridiculous and very humorous. 

The line at the tram

It had such a steep incline that there were grooves in the floor so these people wouldn't fall

escalators for DAYS

the windy view

my awesome windy hair

so suave

The other side.

Complete opposite of what's on the other side!

As you can see, I was super stoked to eat my first Kinder Joy because you can't find them in the U.S.

It was such a great surprise. Michael and I played miniature hockey while we waited for our pizza

So delicious...I mean, look at all that cheese!! 

One last look

Jazz band at this Australian Pub we went to. We dined on nachos that were actually Doritos with salsa, sour cream, and red kidney beans. Surprisingly delicious!

Night life

Every night at 8:00 they do this super sweet light show with music. 

The fog made the lasers even cooler. 

This little thing had the sweetest voice! under the bridge at the pier there were tons of acoustic singers performing. Needless to say, this girl was a favorite. 

Heading back

It's always awesome to have an open seat next to you on the plane ride home.

We came home to a package our family sent!! It was pretty beat up, but it made it. :]

Well folks- we only have 3 more weeks here in China. I can't believe it has gone by SO fast. We've had so many adventures...and I haven't even blogged them all yet! so stay tuned!

(lo)ve+michael