The rest of my Asia pictures...finally!

So it would seem I was not kidding when I said it might take me another month to post the rest of my pictures. If you're bored at work and want to see some of my adventures over winter break, check 'em out. Beware...I took a LOT of pictures when I was hiking the Wall. It happened to be the best part of my trip, so if you take issue with that, too bad for you. :)

You'll also see adventures in bird gardens, mud baths, Chinese dragons, koi shows, orchids galore, aquariums, restaurants, etc. Have fun scrolling through!

http://picasaweb.google.com/sharonvarga/VietnamFaves?feat=directlink
http://picasaweb.google.com/sharonvarga/HongKongFaves?feat=directlink
http://picasaweb.google.com/sharonvarga/BeijingFaves?feat=directlink

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Cambodia Pics

At this rate, it may be another month before I get all of my pictures posted, but I figure it helps me prolong the fun memories, right? Would you be surprised to know that I still haven't unpacked most of my suitcase? February 20. That's the end of my trimester, the end of my crazy class load and the beginning of life at a much healthier pace for me. Here's the link to my pictures from Cambodia. There's a lot to say about these photos, but you'll just have to enjoy them without my commentary--unless, of course, you are curious enough to call me and ask. :)

http://picasaweb.google.com/sharonvarga/CambodiaFaves?feat=directlink

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Thailand

Below is a link to my picasa web album for my adventures in Thailand. More to come in future days for the other countries when I find time, hopefully by the end of the week. Admittedly, a couple of pictures should be credited to fellow travelers. I don't know who to credit, though, cuz I took 'em off Facebook and don't remember whose they were. Most of the pictures (unfortunately) I have to claim as my own (yes, the blurred and reflection-studded ones taken from the bus are mine.) There are too many photos to post to Facebook w/o separating. And yes, I know there are a lot, but I did delete a couple hundred already. :) They're best if you look at them larger than thumbnail because it's the details that are the most interesting, at least in my opinion. Enjoy!

http://picasaweb.google.com/sharonvarga/ThailandFaves?feat=directlink

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Inaugural Feasts

As a fan of good food and hosting dinner parties, and as a recent casualty of Asian dinner menus, I found this article from the LA Times to be very entertaining: http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-inaugural14-2009jan14,0,5905247.story

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Transportation Tales

Well friends, after yesterday, I would rate anything short of flying to the moon less exciting for me here in China. You might wonder why I didn't save the best for the last day? It's simple... what would I have done had something gone wrong?! I would've missed it and the word "disappointed" would hardly begin to capture what I would've felt. Although I always hope to return to countries I visit, I'm well aware that life offers no guarantees. I feel very fortunate to have learned and seen first-hand how life ticks and tocks on this side of the world. It's been educational, to say the least, and I've totally loved it! I've had amazing experiences and have collected several teapots and tuk tuks full of memories.

This morning I had so many options of things to do, I wasn't quite sure what to pick. I had already done my three "must dos" in Beijing so everything today was just bonus--the cherry on top. Already having accepted the fact that three days is not nearly enough time to see all the neat things here, I had narrowed my list of possibilities down to two, and the Summer Palace won.

One of the benefits of traveling solo for a bit is that you get to do things in your own way and at your own pace. And, part of what I enjoy when visiting a foreign country is spending time as close to the people as possible. So today, rather than hitching a ride in the back of a taxicab for an hour-long haul across and out of town, I opted to hop on the metro. It's decisions like these that allow me to tell stories... and today I collected a few.

Maps. I can't figure out why no map I've found here makes life easy. Metro station names don't match from map to map, some have so much information on them you can't possibly read them, some show only part of the city, and others include everything except for where the metro stations or key points of interest are located. No help at all!

Case in point: I planned today's journey using a map that indicated a metro stop was located immediately outside the Summer Palace. What I learned while buying my ticket, however, is that the metro stop shown on my map is, in fact, only a "planned" stop that is under construction. Of course, on my map there is no indication that this is so. WHY? Makes no sense at all.

So, I decided it would be a fine idea to take the metro as far as possible and then hop in a cab to ride the rest of the way. Ha. That was a "good" idea but not a "good enough" idea, but ignorance is a bliss, right? After all, I wanted my experience with the locals. I succesfully navigated my way through three transfers and finally emerged from the metro an hour and 15 minutes later only to discover that there were no taxi cabs at the metro station. And, everyone around me had dark hair, dark eyes, and dark skin--no other tourists and not a single letter of the Roman alphabet in sight. Sigh. I decided to walk a bit and finally flagged down a taxi, the driver of which spoke absolutely zero English, but who nevertheless delivered me successfully to the Summer Palace, after I pulled out my one map that actually had the Summer Palace on it and showed him exactly where I wanted to go. It's such an interesting experience trying to communicate with someone when verbal language is completely useless.

After a 15 minute cab ride I arrived at my destination. The metro ride got me 90% of the distance for 2 Yuan (about 30 cents). Cab ride took me the last 10% for 28 Yuan (about $4.10). That was my benchmark.

The Summer Palace was lovely, even though it was hardly summery.

(Yes, those are people walking on the ice in the background, and yes, those black dots are ducks swimming in the foreground.)

Instead of green grass and blooming trees, I saw bare branches and ice skates. I'm amazed at how places can still be stunning when virtually everything is dead. I can only imagine how beautiful it is in the summer.


The first thing I noticed upon entering the gates is the extreme detail of the decor everywhere--on the sidewalk, on the buildings--pictures, colors, paintings, ornamental decoration everywhere.



There are a few pictures in exchange for a thousand words each so I can get back to the cabs... so much more drama and suspense...

After finishing my stroll through the 716 acres of the Summer Palace and taking 176 pictures, I noticed the sun was beginning to drop and I decided I should probably head home. Upon exiting the gates, however, I once again noticed that there were no taxis. How is this possible? I guess this is one of the downsides to coming in the winter. I looped around the parking lot and found one, once again, whose driver didn't speak English but agreed to take me back to the metro after I indicated on the map where I wanted to go.

Remember, the way there cost me 28 Yuan. So, when the meter started to tick upwards of 40 and then onto 50 I started to suspect we weren't heading to the metro. Then, my driver pulled over to the side of the road, pulled out a wad of 100 Yuan bills, fanned them out and motioned to the ATM saying something that sounded an awful lot like "s'more money". I had plenty of money with me, and it seemed like this guy wanted me to go and get more, like 100s more. Grrrrr. I told him I wasn't going to get more money and to please take me to the metro. He hesitated, but then started out again. Turns out that the metro was right around the corner, it was just a different metro stop than the one I had journeyed from that morning. And, it turns out that he was not saying "s'more money", he was saying "small money" becuase when I tried to pay him his 60 Yuan with a 100 bill he didn't have change. So, I gave him every last small-denomination Yuan I had with me, which totaled only 58 but that had to be good enough. I got out and entered the metro station only to realize that I couldn't buy a 2 Yuan metro ticket from the automatic ticket machines with a 100 Yuan bill. And, of course, the information booth and two cashier windows had plywood covering the openings, clearly indicating that they weren't just "out to lunch".

It was just at that moment--the one where I was finally fed up and frustrated by this crazy city that is so unwelcoming to foreigners--that a man at the next ticket machine over asked me how to insert cash. Aha! English!! I showed him and asked if he had change for a 100 (which is only the equivalent of $15) and he said no, but that he had 2 Yuan he was perfectly willing to give me. Turns out that the ticket machine wouldn't take his money. We were both in a pickle! This is the point where a good sense of humor comes in handy. You have to laugh. And, I'll admit it was nice to have company. Finally, an attendant from the security check came over, fixed the problem and the two of us got tickets. Whew! I chatted a bit on the ride in with my new best friend, who happens to be an architect from Seattle. I told him he goes down in my book as my hero for the day, so this is my tribute to him. And just for the record... even had I not run into this guy, I still could've taken a taxi back to the hotel... but why settle for the easy and ordinary when you can have a story instead? :)

After today's collection of stories which I can now label as my "Transportation Tales" I was done dealing with the confusing Chinese langage, misrepresentative Chinese maps, unidentifiable Chinese food, literally "pushy" Chinese people, crowded Chinese public transportation, expensive Chinese taxi cabs, and the cold weather. So, on my way home I got off at the metro by the grocery store that sells 10 different colors and sizes of eggs and has a sign on the escalator up that says "mind your hair", bought two bottles of water for 30 cents (they are 10x that at the hotel), a box of instant noodles for 70 cents and some Oeros, and I loved every minute of my cheap Chinese dinner.

After that, I went to see the Chinese "flying" acrobats and they were pretty fun, but not near as fun as the experience of just being there. I laugh at so many things here. In the theater, all of the foreigners are seated in the back. The theater is so cold you don't mind keeping on ALL of your winterwear during the performance. They sell popped microwave popcorn...still in the microwave popcorn bag... so odd. And, I had to chuckle when four women entered my row. I should've suspected from the fur-lined cuffs, hoods and the orange hair that they might be Russian. They totally were, as was the couple behind me. I had no idea so many Russians spent time in China, but I've concluded that of all the people to come to Beijing in the middle of winter, it just makes sense that many would be Russian. After all, they have no reason NOT to come. They are certainly not going to be intimidated by the weather, that's for sure. When their own homeland is frozen solid, why not add a bit of spice to winter by visiting another exotic, frigid country? I can only assume they don't know about tropical destinations like Phuket...or that they don't like sand or how they look in a bathing suit... just kidding... I'm sure they have good reasons for coming, just like me.

And this concludes my blogs from Asia. I'm off to the airport in less than 12 hours. It's been an AMAZING trip AND I'm looking forward to letting my toes thaw and being able to brush my teeth with good old fashioned tap water. Such are the delights of my simple life in the desert.

Zai jian!

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Holy Greatness!

Check me out! Here I am standing on the Great Wall of China! :) :) :) :) :) :)
Today was an AWESOME day! I loved, loved, loved the Wall. It was everything I expected and more. (This picture was taken by a handsome young man I happened to meet on my way.)

The only organized tours I could find had shopping trips and other stops on the way. Ugh. I wanted plenty of time to hike at my own pace, so I hired a driver for the day and told him "NO SHOPPING!" Best money I ever spent. As I passed two different groups of people while hiking the opposite direction, I heard members of both comment on how they felt cheated by their "one hour hike" and had they know it was going to be this beautiful, they would've planned to stay all day. That's exactly what I wanted to avoid, so I was quite pleased with my splurge because I spent the better part of the day hiking. After all, the Wall was the main reason for my coming to China. Also, my driver was a cultural experience all on his own. He spoke about 15 words of English, and 10 of those were the numbers 1 - 10. But, we entertained each other on the hour plus drive to the wall with my Chinese phrasebook and his melodic questions (I tried to find out if he has a family--I think he has one son, don't quote me on that. Afterward, he pointed to my silver ring and started humming the wedding march as a question...too funny! Who needs words to communicate??) He also tried to teach me a few words in Chinese: bicycle, beautiful, and how to count.

On the way out to the Wall we passed by thousands of trees, lamp posts with solar panels, lots of farmland, several frozen ponds and streams, some older gentlemen ice fishing, and a sum total of about 5 bikes. I thought Beijing was supposed to be the city of bikes? I have hardly seen any here, and nothing compared to the SE Asian countries. That has probably been one of my biggest surprises. No wonder the world is in an energy crisis...China traded in all its bicycles for cars! Along the way, my driver asked me if I wanted to drive (NO WAY--the drivers are CRAZY here!) and indicated that he could teach me how to fish. Cute, and thanks, but I don't dig hanging out on frozen ponds.

I took a ton of pictures today but I can't post them all, so here are just a few of my favorites. I'm up to over 2,000 pictures now for my trip, and that is after having deleted a good number. Yay for pictures! By the time I'm done picking my winners, I'll probably be down to about 200, maybe. :)

Hiking the Wall--there just aren't words to express how completely and utterly fantastic it was from beginning to end. I wanted as authentic an experience as possible, so I not only hiked the Wall (which definitely qualifies as a hike in all senses of the word) but I also hiked up TO the Wall, which is another hike all on its own. Somehow the thought of taking a tram up to the Wall after flying thousands of miles to get here seemed like I would be cheating myself out of part of the experience. I can see why they have it, though, because when you do the first part, you're already tired by the time you get to the first tower, and the rest of the Wall is HIKE.

The benefit of coming to the Wall in wintertime is that even though your hands freeze, you pretty much have the Wall to yourself, which is not the case during other seasons. So, I sacrificed green trees for the experience of peace and silent awe. I ran into a few folks on the way, but not many. Had it been summertime, I would've opted to go to a different, more remote part of the wall that's supposed to be the most beautiful of all, but I was concerned that not enough people would be there and I would be in a real pickle if anything happened. Next time I hope to come when there are at least a few leaves on the trees and I have friends to accompany me on the adventure. :)

This goes down as my best day EVER!!!

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Duck for One

Today was one of those days when you looked outside and were delightfully optimistic because the sun was shining, you intended to be outdoors most of the day, and sun meant warmth. WRONG! Weather.com says the high today in Beijing was 37 degrees. I don't know where I was when the temperature spiked, but I missed it. Personally, I don't think Weather.com knows what it is talking about. I saw two temperature signs today and one said -4 degrees Celsius and the other said -9. My brain immediately translates all temperatures with a negative sign in front of them into TOO COLD FOR SHARON. Brrrrrrr!!!!

But, since I can't let the cold deter me, I headed out for some adventures anyway. (I came prepared--sort of--I have long underwear, a scarf, hat, and gloves, but all that didn't stop my teeth from chattering). Today was Forbidden City and Tian'anmen Square. My hotel, by the way, is not all that far from Tian'anmen Square, but you have to be heading in the right direction in order for it to be within reasonable walking distance. (I happened to be heading north when I should've been heading west). After running into a metro stop I didn't recognize (which, actually, could've been almost any of them at this point), I decided to hop on the metro and let the trains do my navigating for me. Next trip I'm bringing a compass! I was interested to see that they have security checkpoints all over the place--before entering the metro, before entering Tian'anmen Square, before going into the Forbidden City's Wall. Checkpoints, but still hardly a word of English. I have a hard time believing it was this way during the Olympics, but what do I know?

I have found the Chinese people in Beijing to be much gruffer than those in Hong Kong. They push a lot here, which is totally weird for me. I "get" pushing when you're on a crowded metro--fine. But in a gift shop? People will half knock you over without casting a single caring glance in your direction. Weird.

Many people wear face masks. I wondered about that in Hong Kong...there were plenty of them there, too, and plenty of warnings about symptoms and signs of avian flu. There seem to be more of them here, and I wondered about that this morning as I looked out on the "perfectly blue" sky. It appeared surprisingly clean for all the attention it has received about being a terribly polluted city. However, by lunchtime I discovered I had developed a cough and it didn't go away for the rest of the day. I don't know whether that's pollution in disguise, cold weather, or my subconscious just wanting to "fit in" but it made me wonder where I could get a face mask, too. :) (You would get a kick out of the face mask vendors--you can get face masks in all a WIDE variety of fabrics.)

Some pictures from today:

Pretty cool, eh?

But my most favorite experience today was with food--surprise! I determined last night that even though I found peanut butter, that find was good for only one story, so I needed another Chinese culinary experience. I took the advice of a guidebook and headed to a restaurant down by Tian'anmen Square for Peking Duck, Bejing's "specialty". It's a good thing I attempted to find this restaurant in mid-afternoon because there is NO WAY I would've made it after sundown. Not only is every map I've collected difficult to read, but this particular restaurant was, in fact, down an alley that I'm sure looks daunting and dangerous at night. During the day, however, it is quite charming. Check it out:

It's literally a hole in the wall and once you enter you snake through a series of hallways and end up somewhere in the middle of someone's home, pretty much, except there are 8 or so tables that indicate it's at least an eating establishment. Good time to go as there were only two other people eating...they happened to be Russian...and I happened to be seated in the same small room as they were. They carried on their conversation in Russian completely unaware that I could understand most of what they were saying...ha..ha.. it wasn't very interesting chatter, but I chuckled inside at the fact that I was experiencing the ultimate of cultural experiences... waiting to place my order for Peking Duck in a dive restaurant in Beijing while eavesdropping on a Russian conversation. Total bliss!

I was given a menu in English with about 500 choices. All I wanted to try was the duck. That's what people come here for. When the woman came to take my order, she immediately flipped to the first page where the "duck dinner" was listed and asked me if I wanted an order for 1. I nodded yes.

While I was waiting for my duck, they brought the traditional accompaniments... julienned leeks, cucumbers, rice pancakes (crepes) and hoisin sauce. Then came the duck. I was expecting duck for one, but what I actually got was ONE DUCK!!! This picture is not of my actual duck, because I was in too much shock at the time to actually snap a photo in the whole 3 seconds the waiter was in front of me, but this is pretty much what it looked like:They brought the whole thing to my table, head and all, to show me it was done, and then proceeded to slice it up nicely and display it on two platters. I was laughing SO HARD inside becuase they win the gold star for creative presentation, plus there was no way I was eating an entire duck! (Small though they may be, my tolerance for super fatty meat is not high.) You eat the duck much like you eat fajitas, wrapping everything inside the crepe. This picture is of my actual meal:I ate my fill (I'm sure they rolled their eyes when they saw my plate because I had peeled off the meat from the skin, which is supposed to be the delicacy part... but it's just too fatty for me... if you've had duck or goose, you know exactly what I mean), paid an outrageous amount of money for one meal and left out through the maze I entered, only to see this upon exiting the building:How can you not laugh at that and love lunch--greasy, hard-to-hold chopsticks and all?

I had hoped that lunch would be a place where I could thaw, but the room I was in was not much warmer than the outside. My duck was cold within about two bites. Anyhow, the duck constituted the highlight of my day and my most memorable culinary experience thus far on my trip. Duck, anyone?

I have since returned to my hotel, thawed in the bathtub, and am ready to hike the Wall tomorrow. I'm totally excited!!!

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Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland

I'm in Beijing and HOLY COW is it cold here. And to think just a week ago it was so hot and humid that I wanted to take multiple showers a day. It's a good thing Sarah warned me to bring warm clothes. Not much to report on Beijing yet except that it's a completely different world than Hong Kong. Completely. I took a walk last night and quickly realilzed that all maps of the city grossly misrepresent the size of city blocks. This place is enormous, yet it all "fits" on a small pocket-size map. Nice. : And, I miss the English signs of HK. I have seen precious few subtitles in English...sigh...which means I might have to actually break out the Chinese phrasebook. We are so spoiled being English speakers.

I am pleased to report that last night on my walk I found a supermarket, once again, filled with products I did not recognize and on which couldn't read the labels... I walked up and down the aisles and you'll laugh at what I picked up (which includes all of the recognizable products I found, minus the Ritz crackers): Skippy peanut butter, Nestle Quick, a box of what I hope is orange juice, and some Oreos. :) Upon returning home, I discovered the Oreos are past their expiration date and stale. :( Funny, because it's not like there were only a few "left over" packages--in fact, there were probably hundreds (yes, I know, all "left over" from the summer). I also picked up some drinking water and out of the entire aisle full of plastic bottles, I chose the one with the Pepsi logo...just because in China you never know. Actually, even with the Pepsi logo it's still true that in China you never know (because even though I didn't think to check the Oreos, I had earlier entertained the thought of getting some milk so I could make hot chocoalte out of some dutch chocolate--this was before I found the Nestle Quick--but all of the milk expiration dates were past.) In all of this, I found it interesting to note the power of a logo and a few words of English. So that was my crash course in the importance and power of branding. In honor of all the pork curry and UFOs I've eaten in the past couple of weeks, I treated myself to a peanut butter sandwich and a mug of hot cocoa. I love China!

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UFOs on Sale

After today I'm inclined to think that the whole world is on sale, and that everything is made in China (except for the single box of pistachios I spotted on the trail today...they were made in the USA, at least according to the box.) What amazes me about China is the sheer volume of absolutely everything in sight. People, taxis, skyscrapers, street vendors, shoes, shirts, belts, hats, batteries, silk scarves, wool scarves, cotton scarves, pastries, new year decorations, flowers, fruits, jackets, plastic piping, steel rods, buckets, cleaning supplies, personalized ink stamps, calligraphy brushes, live snakes, bird's nest, bolts of fabric, noodles, seahorses, sunflower seeds, coffins, paper lanterns, silk carpets, porcelain bowls, ivory carvings, pearl rings, jade necklaces, wood carvings, watches, boxes, bracelets, t-shirts, lottery tickets, lingerie, paintings, picture frames, prints, greeting cards, note paper, postcards, tea, mushrooms, keychains, backpacks, suitcases, kitchenware, teapots, rice, fish with or without heads, chickens and ducks with heads, prawns, crabs, shark fins, incense, medicinal herbs, platters, trinkets, antiques, books with quotes from communist leaders, brand name knock-off handbags and sunglasses, wallets, rollerblades, coin purses, cameras, birdcages, and many, many unidentified food objects (UFOs). And that's just the beginning of what I saw today! Best part of it all? It's all in Hong Kong, most of it comes in bulk, and it's probably on sale. (Sadly, there were no thimbles to be found. I thought at the beginning of the trip it would be fun to add to Grandma's collection on my wall, but I think that thimbles are a thing of the past as I haven't seen one yet.)

Today's travels took me on a walking tour through the Western District where I saw few tourists. Instead, I found shop after shop of wholesalers selling all sorts of things I could not identify. What surprises me is that there aren't just one or two things I can't identify, it's pretty much entire stores filled with bags of these food items. It is clear from the size of the bags, not just in one store, but in many stores, that these unidentified objects for me are in high demand here. I took some pictures so I can ask Sarah to help me ID them when I get home. Sheesh. If I lived here I'd have to find a different place to shop. Even if I knew what these things were, I wouldn't have the first clue what to do with them. I'd probably end up having soup every night (and I suspect that soup would end up being fish flavored). It occurred to me while passing by all of these strange foods that even though I haven't ever considered it before, in global terms, I'm probably a picky eater.

This group made me feel better--seeds!

One of my favorite parts about China so far is that the people have an affinity for red. :) If they could just get the dessert thing down, we could be great friends.

The afternoon was spent at the Hong Kong Museum of History where I was shocked to discover they had on display an exhibit about the French Revolutions. Seems like a pretty progressive topic for a communist country... maybe it's one of those "only in Hong Kong" things.

Tonight I headed back to the night market to pick up an item I wanted for my downstairs bathroom. Come visit me and you can see what it is. :)

Hong Kong has been great and tomorrow I'm headed to my last stop, Beijing. Hopefully I'll have good internet access there, too, but I'm not holding my breath. Hong Kong is much more modern and Western than I expect Beijing will be. Who knows, though... maybe I'll be surprised. It definitely wouldn't be the first time this trip.

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Quintessential China

Today was a textbook cultural education and I loved every bit of it. Many of my favorite parts of today were surprises, fun "finds" that I had not planned, but was thrilled to discover.

I intended for the day to start at the Yuen Po Street Bird Garden, but I ran into this on the way:

It's the flower market, and since I missed seeing the one in Bangkok closeup, I diverted my path so I could look at all the different kinds of orchids. They are amazing! I have never seen so many different shades and designs, just of orchids. I wish Arizona were the type of place where they grew well. I'd have dozens of pots on my back patio.

Right where the flower market ended was the entrance to the bird garden. Perfect! This garden is where little old Chinese men (and some not so little and some not so old) gather with their songbirds to share with each other. It was truly a delight to watch them show off thier birds--they take great pride in them. I was curious to see what was going on when I saw a crowd of them, so I walked over to see and an older gentleman was examining a bird in one of the cages, as if to be somehow deciphering the fortune of the owner from the health or movements of the bird. I have no idea if that's what he was actually doing, but I thought it was interesting to watch the interaction anyhow. The bird garden is a popular place--lots of people and LOTS of birds, all of them singing to and with each other. Some of them were really beautiful:


Yeah, sorry about the video being sideways...haven't figured out yet how to rotate videos. The wooden bird cages were ornate and it was neat to see their tiny porcelain water and food dishes. I also got a kick out of some of the things vendors were selling:

In case you can't tell, those are live grasshoppers. :)

Across the street on the other side of the bird garden was a local market, which I checked out and found fish of all kinds:

Tasty! :)

I grabbed something (else) to eat and then took a walk through the park, only to find a Kung Fu performance, complete with a Chinese dragon! (and a man who is the Chinese equivalent of Richard Simmons, complete with big hair and wristbands--pictures to come later.)

The rest of the Kung Fu team did routines, some in pairs with sticks and blades. It was fun to watch along with all of the old Chinese men in the park.

After the Kung Fu, I exited the park and prompty stumbled across the 24th Annual HK Koi Show where they had huge plastic tubs of fish (all of which had aerators, which I noticed...Allison, you would've noticed too...some things are hard to forget.) Some of the koi were absolutely enormous. I thought this was funny....who pets fish???

After the koi show, I walked through several streets lined with vendors setting up for the night market and ended up at the Jade market, where they sell all shapes, sizes, and shades of Jade (and pearls, too.) Then I headed south, hoping to figure out what time it was (a watch would be the one thing I didn't pack and actually wished that I had) and ran into another market where a gentleman was painting name signs in calligraphy:

By that time, the sun was going down.

I walked along the harbor for awhile, enjoyed the full moon and the city lights, and ended up on a Star Ferry Tour that was supposed to be a great place for watching the nightly light show, but that was actually a disappointment, both the tour and the light show. But, after a day like today, who can complain? (As a side note, while on the harbor tour, I saw the fireworks from Hong Kong Disneyland and smiled.)

Wow, what a perfect day!

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