Crowds

I tried to take a couple of pictures to show you how crowded it is but I don't know that these will do. These are the best I have for now....

The craziest thing to me is that these were taken during business hours so these are just the people that aren't working.

Hong Kong Day 3

This is a shot I took from a window of our apartment. It doesn't do the skyline the justice it deserves but we are hoping to get to the Peak this weekend where you can see the entire skyline and I will make sure to post a picture. Hong Kong so far has been crazy! Overwhelming is the best way to put it! The city is so big! I don't know how to describe the massiveness of this place but can maybe paint you a better picture as I'm here longer. The good thing is the public transportation is amazing. Efficient and affordable. I can take the escalators down into "central" which is the financial district and from there I can grab the MTR (their underground subway system) to go anywhere.

We went to "times square" yesterday and saw SO MANY stores and people! These people love their shops and love their name brands! They have every store you could think of! It is nice living up on top of the mountain because it is much quieter and calmer than in the center of the city. Plus by our house there are all these restaurants and bars. There are Greek, Mediterranean, Spanish, Italian, Thai just to name a few. I think we could eat at a different place every night and never hit them all! We went to a great place Monday night called BACAR which was tapas and we hit up a Greek/Mediterranean one last night.

Today I'm going to go travel along some other parts of the island with our friend who is looking for a place to live. I hope to get some more pictures since I know that is what you are all interested in.

I miss everyone so much from home! I feel very far away but I do know 6 months will be gone before we know it! I'll post more pics soon....

Chinese Scaffolding

They use bamboo as their scaffolding here. It's amazing to watch the construction workers maneuver around so easily on it.

The escalator system

This is the escalator system that takes us up and down the mountain.

You can see how steep it is. After midnight they turn it off and you're on your own to get back up. Kind of makes you think twice about having a late night out.

Coconut Juice

At lunch today I ordered coconut juice because it sounded really yummy. For some reason I was expecting a pina colada type drink but ended up with an actual coconut cut open with a straw in it. Devin loved it!

The only pictures I have so far...

A street very near our apartment

Just thought this was a cool building

We're Here

Well, we touched down at 5:10 Monday morning here in Hong Kong. The flight was fantastic! I slept 9 out of the 14 hours. Our chairs reclined into full beds and it was marvelous! Between naps we dined on Roasted halibut, spinach cream, creme fraiche mashed potatoes and red wine. It was ridiculously good! I also enjoyed my own 15" tv so I caught up on the 30 Rock hype that my sister has always told me about. I watched a full season and do believe I'm hooked. Marsh, you were right! My sweet (and may I add BEAUTIFUL) stewardess woke me up for a sundried tomato quiche breakfast sometime later and then we landed. It seriously was that fantastic.

Now we are in our hotel room. It's not a hotel room but it looks just like one so I'm calling it that for now. We just got back from taking a mini tour with our friend Stephanie who is also from Charlotte and has been in Hong Kong for 3 weeks now. She showed us the lay of the land (a bit). We are living on a mountain so every morning these escalators take you down into the hustle and bustle. She showed us how to navigate our way down and we shared coffee and a smoothie and she had to get to work. Now we are waiting for a nice lady that the bank has provided to give us, as they call it, "settling services." She will help us get a bank account here and cell service and hopefully my gym membership. The gym is only $799 Hong Kong dollars a month here! That is $100 US dollars and more than I've ever paid to work out but...it is what it is. I'm going to need a treadmill to run on because it is SO HOT! Hotter than I've ever known! I wish I could take back all those times I dogged Columbia for being the hottest place on earth! Anyway, I have no pictures as of late. I promise I'll get some today with our "settling service" friend.