Visa Run

I am still recovering from my world wind tour of Hong Kong. I barely slept while I was there and have been in bed and lazing on the couch since I returned yesterday afternoon. I stayed in a clean, modern, and small dorm room at a hostel on the main island. So small that the bathroom was literally a water closet, with the shower head directly above the toilet with a miniature sink. I introduced myself to fellow bunk mates and said I was travelling alone and was looking for someone to pass the time with. There was a guy in my room from Ontario/Quebec (who lives in Japan) and I had great fortune as his friend was a local who had spent a good part of her childhood growing up in Canada. They were kind enough to let me tag along. On Friday we left the main island and travelled to another island where a giant Buddha was perched high in the mountains. We took a gondola up and like hundreds of others climbed our way up to this massive structure. We then toured around some temples and caught a bus to a fishing town that is entirely on stilts. The town is old for Hong Kong (around 80 years old) and is somewhat of a historic site. The residents are mostly older and they make a modest living by selling fish which they often dehydrate in the open air. We wandered around and found some mudskippers - which I had heard of (from Ren and Stimpy and nature programs), the little buggers are camouflaged and impossible to photograph but cool none the less. We took a boat tour around the town and out onto some open ocean for great photo opportunities. We made our way up to the New Territories which is on the main land and closer to main land China. Maggie's family owns a local restaurant and her parents and sisters joined us for a meal. The tables are sort of open to the air but there is a roof to keep off rain. It is a very simple place with folding tables and plastic stools. You have to put your bags on a stool to keep them off the ground because of the rats. They treated us to any dish we wanted and I was finally able to sample a variety of the local cuisine, all of which was tasty. Paul and I made our way back to Hong Kong Island and got off at the central station to view the massive buildings by night.

The following day we went to the famous Stanley market on the main island. I really wanted a traditional silk dress and tried a few on but they are not made to fit my curvy Canadian build and it was rather hopeless, so I bought some silk purses, scarves and gifts. Then we caught a ferry over to Kowloon and finally got to see a view of the sky line. We ate at another local street restaurant and went to another market that sold knock off everything.
That night a guy showed up in our room that was from New Zealand. He had been living in England for a couple of years and had spent the last 5 months backpacking around Europe and was on his way home. I woke up in the wee hours with some food poisoning but managed to keep it down with gravol and rubbing my belly all night.

Matt joined Paul and I for my for my final day of site seeing, we went for breakfast and I had the shakes so I again attemped to order French Toast and specified no pork which confused the waitress. This time I got a fried egg sandwich full of peanut butter - different but tasty. We went to a really busy market. We also went by the cultural center and saw some Chinese Opera. The singing is rather painful really and I had no idea what it was about but the costumes were very colorful. The previous evening we had gone up to the peak and found ourselves in a cloud and unable to see the city view below, so we thought we would try again. The line up for the tram was hours long so we found a tower in their central park and climbed up just in time for sun set - got some great shots. Later we went to the local 7-11 for drinks and partied with our roommates till 3am. Paul and I had to get up at 5:30am to get to the airport. I was so early that the check in wasn't open yet - an hour and a bit later I was at my boarding gate and laid down on the bench to sleep. I passed out and missed all my boarding calls. A flight attendant woke me up for the final call and I was the last to board the plane -oops! Now I am home in Taiwan and will get back to work.

I got more than I bargained for in my visa run.