Day 1-1/2: Breakfast, Buddha and Beyond

Technical difficulties have been fixed. I posted this information earlier, but couldn't add the photos. For some reason, the photos add in their own unique order, but I'm tired and I think any of you are smart enough to figure it out.

This is the Hong Kong airport. After you go through customs and get your baggage, you walk a bit and eventually get dumped out in this big area with lots of shops and restaurants on the perimeter. This is where you would find a limo driver or train to the city. Once you get here, you go left and you'll see the Regal Hotel through the windows at the end of the building. We had many folks tell us how to get there, but we couldn't figure it out and just eventually asked someone who pointed us in the right direction. And that was 6 of us trying to locate it. When you get off that plane, you're just tired and not thinking straight.

This morning we went to McDonald's for breakfast with JD and Deanna (yes, I know I swore I'd never do it since I don't even eat at McDonald's at home, but it was cheap and easy). The food at McDonald's is mostly the same as the US, with a few different menu items such as a cup o' fresh kernels of corn. They are very into corn here in China. I've seen it in many dishes, plus soup today. After breakfast, we stopped in a few shops to window shop and picked up water, diet coke and chocolate at the 7-11. After working at Oscar, I didn't think I'd ever spend much time in a 7-11 again. But, it is also cheap and easy. Plus it is the only place that I can easily get bottled water in larger bottles for the room.
Mom and I are in the upper lobby of the Regal Hotel here. It is a very nice hotel. The rooms aren't huge, but they are comparable to any US nice hotel in a big city. We have twin beds, a couch/TV area, plus a long desk that holds our luggage and computer area. Very clean and relatively upscale. Like a Hilton or similar. The staff all speak English fine and all the signs are in English and Cantonese (Hong Kong was British until a few years back). There are several restaurants, not cheap but several are reasonable ($10 to $15 US for entrees). There is a nice bakery and after my vegetarian lunch (later in the day) I had a carb fix by buying a wheat baguette for $1.25 that came with lots of butter. I ate almost the entire thing. :-) At 10am, we boarded a bus for a 5 hour tour of Lantau Island. It is the island that the airport is attached to and it is almost entirely a county park. Very few vehicles are allowed in the park to limit pollution, mostly busses and only about 40 taxis. It is mainly green space plus about 10 monasteries, 7 prisons (??yes!!), and some expensive summer homes. This appears to be where the more well-to-do Hong Kong folks come for get always, with beaches and hiking. There is also a small fishing village which I've posted about later. While we could have gotten to the Buddha by public transportation, I think that the bus tour was a great way to see this area in an efficient manner for not a lot of cost ($50 which included lunch). Our first stop was the Cheung Sha beach. Above is Deanna Rainey and mom at the top of the beach. It would be really beautiful if the sky wasn't a murky, polluted grey which reflected into the water. It was a really great day to be out and about here, high 60's and no odors. Everyone says China stinks, but not so far!
Above is mom at the airport waiting for me to exchange $$. The exchange rate is slightly better at the airport than at the Hotel (note to future LL travelers). The $$ exchange is in the corner of the airport open area pictured above, across from the walkway to the hotel.
This is a pic of my tootsies as I walked the beach. I was amazed that we were walking on a soft beach in Hong Kong. And I thought only the Calhouns would be hitting the beach! (They are adopting 2 year old Joy from a resort island with white sand beaches often called the Hawaii of China.) I took of my shoes and walked along the water's edge a bit. Made it feel a bit more like vacation and less like The Surreal Life. For those of you yet to make this trip, just wait. Traveling halfway across the world and sightseeing for a day or two is just strange when you know you are about to meet your daughter. You take it all in, but it still feels a bit like killing time.

Tomorrow (which is actually today since it is 1:30 am and I'm awake again) we are going to meet up with my aunt's sister's sister-in-law Chloe who is going to have a meal for us at her home and then take us shopping a bit. I am very much looking forward to meeting her and hopefully seeing her little boy who is adorable in the pics I've seen. The hardest thing about the trip, hands down, is that I've had to leave Alex. I videotaped myself reading him books and he gets to watch one a night. I ask him questions and Brad says he thought I was in the TV and was talking to me. When we talked on the phone last night, Alex told me that I was gone a long time and I should come home. I reminded him that I still needed to get baby sister. He understands (??), but would still like me to come home. If he only knew how long it still is. I would never have brought him here and I know he is having fun with dad (Alex told me before I left that they would be having many parties!), but it is difficult to be away. Brad and I talk on the phone and chat a bit, too, via the computer, so it isn't as hard to be away from him. Plus he knows I am coming home eventually and is probably enjoying a little bachelor time, though it does come with child care responsibilities that most bachelors don't have. Love you both so much!