If you want to read about my trip to China...

...you probably want to start at the beginning. You can do that by clicking on the link for May 2nd at the top of the page. That will get you to the first entry about our trip.

Or you can scroll down to the bottom of this page and click on "Older Posts" a couple pages back to get to the May 2nd entry.

Day 12: Homeward Bound

The flight back to the U.S. was an hour shorter than the one going to Hong Kong. Still, it was a 14-hour flight and I couldn’t wait to get off the plane when we landed at O’Hare. We stood in line for a half hour going through U.S. Immigration. It seemed like hours. Customs was a breeze. We caught the tram to the main terminal, had a Chicago Dog and a local brew, and caught our last flight that would take us to MSP. Mary and Gordie were waiting for us at the baggage claim, and we were home within an hour.

It truly was a trip of a lifetime! I never thought I’d go to China or Hong Kong until a few months ago. If you, Dear Reader, ever are considering a trip to the places I’ve written about here, I’d be so happy to talk you into it! I walked a total of 223,406 steps on our 12-day trip. (I had my pedometer!)

Much of my travel the past decade has been to visit Wyatt wherever he is living. So my thanks go to Wyatt for having lived in such cool places that I would probably never have visited: New York City, Maine, Florida, and now Asia. And thanks, Wyatt, for arranging the trip to Beijing, and showing us a very good time. Also, thanks to Gordie and Mary for the rides to and from the MSP airport. Thanks to my mom for doing kitty, dog and fish feedings every day while we were gone (and for everything else you did!). Thanks to Kathy for being on-call for animal chores. Thanks to you, Dear Reader, for reading my blog.

Most of all, thanks to Larry for going to Hong Kong and China with me. I love how open you are to new experiences. A gal couldn’t ask for a better travel companion.

Day 11: Our Last Day in Hong Kong

Larry and I both woke up feeling tired and groggy on Thursday. The vacation was starting to catch up with us. Larry also had a cough and felt under the weather. We scrapped our plans to figure out Hong Kong’s bus system for a ride to the other side of the Island.

We went to Pacific Coffee for espressos.

During our second espresso Larry said, “Let’s go see the longest escalator in the world.” So we started walking west. We didn’t walk far until we found another one of those outdoor markets. This cheered us up – I don’t know why, except that the markets seemed to contain the unexpected. Larry bought a pocket watch with a picture of Chairman Mao on the face. Mao’s extended hand moved back and forth with the tick of each second.

About an hour, and a few purchases later we found another Pacific Coffee! Our mantra for the day, “Thank Buddha for Pacific Coffee!” We had another shot of caffeine and this one did the trick. We were raring to find the world’s longest escalator.

The escalator isn’t one long ride. It’s a series of escalators that go partway up one of the peaks in Hong Kong. It runs uphill most of the time (which is the way we rode it) and goes downhill during morning rush hour. It’s a total of 2,598 feet of escalator ride.

Larry was in the lead, going to each new level of escalator as we got off the preceding one. I followed, mumbling, “Ya know, we’re gonna have to walk all the way down…” When we finally got to the top, we walked along a few streets and found ourselves at the Hong Kong Zoo.

We meandered the zoo, had lunch, and eventually went back to our hotel. For our last night in Hong Kong we wanted find someplace special to eat supper. As we walked the streets of Hong Kong, we peaked in every restaurant we passed. Either the menu wasn’t in English, the seats looked uncomfortable, or the place just looked wrong.

Along Hennessy Road (one of the busier streets) Larry noticed a sign on a second story window that advertised a Korean barbecue restaurant. We checked it out and found that after loading up a plate of raw meat and veggies at the buffet, we would cook our food on a small grill in the middle of our table. Larry said, “Aww, we gotta do this!” It was a lot of fun. And our host, even though he didn’t speak English, was so helpful and made sure that I tried every dessert on the buffet table.

Our flight back to the U.S. was leaving in the morning. We were full, happy and exhausted. We went back to our hotel to pack and sleep.

Wikipedia on world's longest escalator:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central-Mid-Levels_escalator

Day 10: Back to Hong Kong

My brother and I have a little tradition when we part ways and won’t see each other for a long time. Actually, it’s my tradition – I cry. The morning Larry and I were to leave Shenzhen and go back to Hong Kong, I prepared by tearing up as soon as I got out of bed. Some traditions are too good to break.

Wyatt accompanied us to the border, which isn’t far from his apartment in Shenzhen. It took one bus ride, and two subways to get there. One curious thing about the bus -- instead of a meter into which the riders insert their fare, there’s a real, live person inside the door of the bus who takes the riders’ money. After we paid her our fare, she gave us a small ticket, I suppose, to show that we paid to ride. During our stay in China we noticed that humans do the kinds of jobs that in the U.S. are automated, such as the workmen in Beijing digging up the street instead of using a backhoe. Some of it is back-breaking, but it does provide jobs.

We arrived at the border. Crossing the border between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Hong Kong is done inside a large building that spans the Shenzhen River. The river runs between the PRC and Hong Kong territory with immigration desks to pass through on each side of the river. We started our ‘thank yous’ and ‘good-byes’ and right on cue, I cried. I’ve never failed at this. My record is perfect.

We managed the immigration desks, and the drug-sniffing dogs as we entered Hong Kong customs. I left the PRC with silk scarves, Sichuan pepper, tea, teacups, a silk duvet, chopsticks and a week’s worth of time with my brother. A half hour train ride brought us back to the bustle of Hong Kong for our last day and a half on the other side of the world.

Day 9: Back to Shenzhen

On Tuesday we left for the Beijing airport to fly back to Shenzhen. Since we left so early we didn’t have time for breakfast at the hotel, but had espresso and pastries at the “Kiss & Bake” snack counter at the airport. We didn’t see any kisses being sold, but perhaps we just weren’t there at the right time.

Our flight was booked with China Southern Airlines. As we boarded the plane, we were each given a newspaper in Chinese or English, I suppose depending on what we looked like. After reading several English newspapers in China and watching the news on CCTV, the major Chinese television station, I realized that all I was getting was good news. Sure, it was nice to hear only good news – but not very realistic. (We saw the Three Stooges on TV one night in Beijing – they were speaking Chinese, but their voices sounded exactly as they do in English!)

We had plenty of legroom on our China Southern airplane, plus a footrest. And a real meal on the 3.5 hour flight.

Once we got back to Shenzhen, Wyatt walked to work and we tagged along so we could see his office. He’s an editor for the Shenzhen Daily, one of the few English newspapers in China. Wyatt suggested several restaurants for Larry and I to find for lunch (without turtle). We found the Bruce Lee fast food restaurant and were greeted with “Good Morning” as we walked in that afternoon. The meal was less than spectacular, especially compared to the meals we had in the hutongs of Beijing, but the cheerful and helpful young people behind the counter made it a memorable meal.

Back at Wyatt’s apartment, his friend and neighbor Lin Yan Jia stopped by to drop off the key she had to Wyatt’s apartment. She had been cat-sitting Carl while we were in Beijing. We had a very pleasant chat with her.

After Wyatt got home from work, we walked to the Nine Sisters Northern Dumpling Restaurant for our evening meal. The menus didn’t have any English, so several young people tried to help us order. We had a lot of good food on this trip, and the dumplings were my favorite.

It was our last day with Wyatt. On Wednesday Larry and I went back to Hong Kong for the last day two days of our vacation.

More Great Wall Pictures

Day 8: The Great Wall

On Monday, April 20 I had two songs running through my head; Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall” and Simon & Garfunkle’s “Scarborough Fair”.

Larry and I had our buffet breakfast. At 7:30 we were catching a ride to Badaling, about an hour northeast of Beijing to see The Great Wall. Our tour guide, Magic, was a young man in his 20s, originally from the southern part of China. He moved to Beijing to attend college, and he also works as a tour guide. He speaks several dialects of Chinese in addition to English.

Our driver, Mr. Wu, didn’t say much. But his cell phone rang constantly. His ring tone? “Scarborough Fair”. We didn’t know if he had another business that he was running on the side as he drove us around, was talking to his bookie, or maybe he was just a very popular guy.

Our first stop was the Ming Tombs, which aren’t very far out of Beijing. Magic, well versed in Chinese history, explained the displays and who was buried where. Next stop, a “shopping stop” at a jade workshop and the sales room.

It was very windy and chilly when we arrived at the part of The Great Wall we were going to see. There are several places in the Badaling area that give access to The Great Wall. Wyatt and Larry walked all the way to the top of wall as far as it was permitted. I went about 1/3 of the way up. The steps were very steep and big!

After we finished walking The Wall, we had lunch and were also treated to “shopping stops” at a cloisonné factory, and a silk processing workshop on the way home.

We discussed going to a part of The Great Wall that isn’t as popular with the tourists, and not rebuilt. That’s always an option (although not encouraged by the Chinese government), but it required a 2-3 hour ride.

It was our last day in Beijing, so after we got back to our hotel, we had one last walk through the hutongs. And I stopped to say “see you next time” to Alice in her Tea House.

Day 7: A Day in the Hutongs

After our day walking through the Forbidden City, we were ready for a day at a relaxed pace. Larry and I had the breakfast buffet again in our hotel. Part of me thought I should at least try a traditional Chinese breakfast (although I’m not sure what that would be). But I knew I needed a good breakfast with the amount of walking we were doing. When I’m hungry I still think about that breakfast buffet.

We walked down the street our hotel was on to an area that had also been occupied by hutongs when Wyatt was in Beijing in 2007. Now the hutongs were gone, and stores reminiscent of outlet stores in the U.S. were in their place. These shops were full of tourists. (Most of the tourists we saw in Beijing were Asian, not many Westerners.) As we walked further, we found more outlet-store-looking new construction that wasn't yet complete. It was depressing to see that this is what is replacing the hutongs. We eventually found our way back hotel and made our arrangements to see The Great Wall the next day.

I wanted to go back to Alice’s Tea House. Wyatt went off to do his own thing, so Larry went with me to Alice’s. When we arrived, Alice asked if we’d like to have tea with her. We sat at the table in her shop, and Alice served us many kinds of tea, explaining what each one was made of and the benefits of each. Each of the teas had a unique taste. My favorite also had pieces of fruit in it.

For me, Alice’s Tea House is one of the highlights of our trip. I enjoyed talking to her; she is wonderfully warm and hospitable.

The rest of the day we spent (surprise!) walking through more hutongs and finding new places to eat. The best meals we had on this entire trip were in small, probably family-owned cafes. My favorite dish was the dumplings and any of the vegetable dishes.

We did go out for one meal that was not at a small restaurant - Peking Duck at the Bei Jing Quan Ju De He Ping Men Roast Duck Restaurant. It was our one splurge on this trip, and it was delicious!

Our adventure for the next day -- The Great Wall!

Day 6: The Forbidden City & Alice’s Tea House

Tea House Alice and me.

It was Saturday morning, our first full day in Beijing. The first thing we needed was coffee, so Larry and I went to check out the restaurant at the Far East Hotel.

At the entrance of the restaurant was an aquarium of large goldfish – the kind with the fat cheeks. And just past the aquarium we found an honest-to-goodness Western-style breakfast buffet for $50 Chinese Yuan, or just over $7 U.S. dollars. I’d had a hard time finding any kind of milk in China that wasn’t thickened and sweetened. This buffet had real milk, and espresso! We were quite happy with all of that.

Our plan that day was to see Mao Tse-Tung's Tomb and the Forbidden City. The line to Mao’s Tomb was incredibly long. We decided to skip it even after one official (we think) was telling us that for a little cash, we could budge the line. I won’t write about the Forbidden City, except to say that the one thing I found very interesting was the Hall of Clocks and Watches that contained ornate clocks that were gifts to the emperors. The Forbidden City is huge and takes a long time to see.

It was a day of much walking, so we stopped for refreshments at the Sakura Bar/Restaurant/Hostel that was down the street from our hotel. A few beers and a small pizza later, we decided it was time for real food and found another small restaurant for our evening meal. As we sauntered back to our hotel we decided to check out a tea house that was still open. Inside, we were greeted with a “hello” and a smile from Alice, the proprietor of Alice’s Tea House. Her shop contains many kinds of tea, tea cups, handmade tea pots, and other items. In Beijing some of the shopkeepers know a little English, but Alice was very fluent. She was such a delight to talk with, and was so warm and welcoming that we stayed quite a while and chatted.

If you go to Beijing: Alice’s Tea House, or Tea House Alice, is 50 meters east of the Far East Hotel. Her address is: 93 Tie Shu Xie Jie Xuan Wu District.

Wyatt was working on scheduling a trip to the Great Wall, but we were exhausted from our day at the Forbidden City. Tomorrow: A play day in the hutongs!

https://www.facebook.com/TeaHouseAlice

Day 5: A flight to Beijing - or - How I Fell in Love with the Hutongs

There was one part of our trip that Larry had not been told about until the train ride from Hong Kong to Shenzhen. That’s when he learned that we were flying to Beijing the next day, the fifth day of our trip. We had another wild taxi ride to the Shenzhen airport. The documents Wyatt got from the currier who delivered our plane tickets said that we should catch our flight on Shenzhen Airlines in Terminal 1 of the Shenzhen airport. When we got to the airport, we were told we needed to go to Terminal 2 to catch our flight.

The good news is that Terminal 2 was within easy walking distance, but lack of sleep and general disorientation set my mind to producing anxiety about catching this flight. It was in this mindset that we got our boarding passes, went through security and were walking to our gate when a man ran past us, obviously late for his flight. (In China you must check in at least 45 minutes before your flight leaves, and be ready to board at the gate 15 minutes before your flight leaves. If you are late, you very well might not get on the plane.) Wyatt lives much more on the edge of life than I do, and is a much bigger risk-taker. When the man ran past us, Wyatt said, “I hate feeling like that guy.” I said, “When I travel with you, I always feel like that guy!”

The plane ride on Shenzhen Airlines was the most pleasant one I’ve had in many, many years. There’s enough legroom for legs. A real honest-to-goodness meal was served on the 3.5 hour flight. The flight attendants were engaged with the passengers, and even conducted a stretching exercise session for us to participate in before we landed in Beijing. And we all got a breath mint just before we landed. We suspect that the employees aren’t paid very well, and that’s why the airline can afford to make flying a pleasure.

We got our luggage and found a cab. Wyatt discovered the cab had no meter, not an uncommon thing. The problem with that is, there’s no way to verify that we’re not getting ripped off. So Wyatt and the cabbie haggled over the price. They decided on 100 Chinese Yuan. Then as we started to drive away, the price went up to 150 Yuan. More haggling. The price agreed on was 110 Yuan.

It was another wild cab ride. Do you see a theme with our cab rides? After passing by many blocks of the largest and most unattractive hotels I’ve ever seen (we called it Hotel Alley) that were built for the 2008 Olympics, I was surprised to see we were on the street between Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. We took a left on the street that runs west of Tiananmen Square, and shortly we were at our hotel. Wyatt had booked us at the Far East Hotel, which is in the historical district of Beijing.

If you ever go to Beijing, I would recommend this hotel. It’s within walking distance to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. They take credit cards. It’s very affordable. It’s also has a hostel if you want to go that route. What I loved the most about it is that’s in the heart of an accumulation of hutongs.

The hutongs are narrow alleys that wind and weave throughout a neighborhood. They contain dwellings, restaurants, retail stores, laundries, barbershops, and any other establishment that make up a community. I was struck by the intimacy of the hutongs. They are so narrow and the buildings all touch each other.

We went for a walk after we got settled in. We walked to Tiananmen Square where the two groups of young people were quite taken with Larry’s beard; they wanted their picture with Larry. He, of course, cheerfully obliged.

After we left Tiananmen Square, we headed down one of the hutongs. The smells of the hutongs were the first impression I had of them. First, the public toilet. And there were a lot of them. Not such a good smell. Then a laundry. A better smell. And someone cooking on an outdoor grill. A much better smell.

We wandered the hutongs for a long time before we realized that we really weren’t sure where we were. We knew we hadn’t crossed the narrow street where our hotel was located. But the hutongs turn and weave. We weren’t sure what direction we were heading.

So we kept walking. It was getting dark. Suddenly we were on our street, in front of a restaurant about 100 yards from our hotel. Wyatt said, “Let’s eat here.”

I think that’s when I fell in love with the hutongs.

Wikipedia on hutongs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutong

The best web site I can find that references the Far East Hotel:
http://www.sinohotelguide.com/detail_index.php?Hotel_ID=BJAH0094&City_ID=BJA&City_Cname=Bei%20Jing&City_Lname=beijing

Day 4: Shenzhen...and Restaurant Adventures

Our fourth day of vacation began like most of the others – a quick trip to Pacific Coffee for espresso and check our email. My brother, Wyatt, was set to arrive at our hotel at 11 a.m. to help us through the bureaucracy while we crossed the border into the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

We waited.

At about 11:25 -- a knock at the door. I opened it, and Wyatt flew into our hotel room. (Those of you who know Wyatt can picture it.) “It took a little longer to get to Hong Kong than I expected. I want to get a cab to Admiralty [subway] Station, while you get checked out. We’d better go!”

The trip to Shenzhen was a flurry of taxi, subway, transfer to second subway, and the half-hour train ride to the border. Shenzhen is just within the PRC, at the border of Hong Kong. Thirty years ago Shenzhen barely existed, now it’s a city of 8 to 9 million residents. Its phenomenal growth was the result of Hong Kong’s imminent transfer back to China in 1997. It’s a new city, devoid of old architecture, but with many trees and parks.

When we arrived at the Hong Kong/PRC border we had to go through Hong Kong’s immigration, then the PRC’s immigration, then the PRC’s Customs. It took a lot less time than one would think. We hopped into another taxi, and had a wild ride to Wyatt’s apartment, took the elevator to the 26th floor and dropped our luggage. Wyatt had to be to work in 15 minutes, but fortunately, he only has a 10 minute walk to work. He said, “You probably want lunch, and there’s nothing in the apartment.” He threw some Chinese dollars in our direction and pointed out a building just down the block, “The restaurant over there has pictures on its menu. Maybe you want to go there to grab some lunch.”

As we walked up the stairs to the restaurant on the second story, the young employees said, “Good morning.” (That seemed to be the general greeting in Shenzhen no matter what time of day.) The place was empty. We were given a table.

The first thing I learned about China is that more often than not, the wait staff at a restaurant will stand at the table as the decision of what to eat is made. Perhaps it was because we were obviously not Chinese and might have questions about the menu. The young waiter tried to get us to order a certain thing – I think he was trying to tell us it was chicken. But we picked another thing, from the pictures on the menu, which, of course, was in Chinese.

What we ordered finally arrived. This is what I sent to in an email to family and some friends about an hour later:

We arrived at Wyatt's place just in time for him to leave for work, so Larry and I went to a restaurant by ourselves. The menu had pictures of the dishes they served, so that's how we decided what to order. We have no idea what we ate, but the veggie dish was wonderful. The other dish might have been oxtail, but we really don't know. I took one of the meat pieces home to ask Wyatt if he can identify it. I think the piece is part of a whole critter, myself -- not a part of an ox tail. I only ate a half a piece.

After the mystery meal we went back to Wyatt’s apartment to relax. After the past three days, we were ready for a day off. We had TV, internet and Wyatt’s black kitty, Carl, to keep us happy. When Wyatt got home from work at 7 p.m. we went to a Muslim restaurant. Wyatt took care of the ordering. We were grateful.

Before we went to the Muslim restaurant, we asked Wyatt about the piece of meat we brought home from our lunch. The moment Wyatt looked at it and responded, it occurred to me what it was.

It was a turtle foot.

Day 3: Kowloon

Larry and I started out Day 3 at Pacific Coffee for espresso and a quick email to our moms. We decided that this was the day to explore Hong Kong’s subway system.

Once we got the process of ticket purchases figured out (it’s an automated touch-screen!) we were on our way to Kowloon, the area just north of Hong Kong Island that is actually on the Asian continent. We disembarked the subway at the Prince Edward station, which was north beyond our map. We used our compass to find out which way was south, and began walking south back toward Hong Kong along Nathan Road.

You know how in movies about Hong Kong there are street scenes with signs all over the middle of the road? Kowloon is like that. The streets are full of signs in Chinese and English for products, services, hotels, and restaurants. My favorite sign was for a hotel that rented room by the night, or for two hours.

The best parts of this vast city’s street life are its markets. There are street markets everywhere. I don’t know if they move daily, or stay in the same place for a few days. The ones we saw took up the entire street, and sold anything you can imagine. Many of them sell silk items, but there’s also clothing, knock-off designer purses, chopsticks, jewelry. In Kowloon we walked through the Ladies Market and the Jade Market, where we were given a brief tutorial on the quality of jade by one of the vendors. She clanged one jade bracelet of an inferior quality with another piece of jade. Then she clanged on jade bracelet made of a better quality jade. There was quite a difference in the sound. As we perused the jade market, we could hear the jade quality demonstration all the way to the far side of the market.

The wet markets are what gave us a bit of culture shock. They sell every kind of meat imaginable; much of it is still alive. We knew we were getting close to a wet market from the smell. The variety of seafood at the wet markets is what we found the most interesting – shrimp, octopus, and fish we’d never seen before, all still alive.

By the afternoon we’d walked all the way to the southern tip of Kowloon, still on Nathan Road (with a long diversion through Kowloon Park). This part of Nathan Road, called The Golden Mile, looks like the Champs-Élysées in Paris, with a wide boulevard and upscale shops.

We eventually ended up on the Sea Walk at the very southern tip of Kowloon. In movies when you see the shot of Hong Kong’s skyline with Victoria Harbour in the foreground, those shots are taken from Kowloon looking south toward Hong Kong Island. I’ve always had the image in my head that those shots are looking north.

The joke of the day: Larry said he must be terribly dressed – he had so many offers to get a tailored suit!

This was a long day that ended up with us getting lost in the rain very close to our hotel. (We would have been fine if we’d consulted our compass, but we were tired and had forgotten we had it along!) The streets were very crowded with umbrellas carried by people all shorter than us, so the umbrellas were hitting us in the face. When we finally found our hotel, we immediately went to the lounge for a beer and another beer. It was our last night in Hong Kong for a week. The next day, we were off to the People’s Republic of China.

Day 2: Hong Kong

Day 2: Hong Kong

When we finally woke up on Tuesday morning, we knew the first thing we needed to do was find a Pacific Coffee for espresso and free internet. Wyatt had so cleverly emailed me the link that listed every Pacific Coffee in the vicinity of our hotel, so I’d already mapped out where a few were located. Our espresso cost $51 Hong Kong dollars, about $6.50 U.S. dollars.

After a breakfast at an outdoor café called The Big Apple, we started to wander. Hong Kong is very pedestrian-friendly. It’s an easy city to explore on foot. But they drive on the other side of the road, like Great Britain, so it took a certain amount of concentration to cross the street!

Our wanderings brought us to the Peak Tram. The Tram dates back to 1888 and takes passengers to The Peak (I never found out any other name for this hill except “The Peak”). At The Peak there are historical displays, a stunning view of Hong Kong, restaurants, and oh, yes, shopping. We had lunch at a restaurant that hung out over The Peak.

After we took the tram back down The Peak, we found our way to Hong Kong Park. Hong Kong Park was opened in 1991 and was formerly a garrison of the British Armed Forces named Victoria Barracks. It now houses a walk-through aviary, ponds, and conservatory. It also had a memorial garden to the medical personnel who died fighting SARS in 2003.

It was getting pretty warm and humid at the park, and we found ourselves in the middle of a martial arts movie that was being filmed at the Park. We decided that it was time to go back to the hotel and regroup (take a nap).

What we were discovering about Hong Kong is that there doesn’t seem to be organization to the streets or buildings. There are “districts” (and I use the term loosely) of goods – an area that has many stores that sell plumbing supplies, and another area that sells stationery. And the wandering and circuitous streets make St. Paul look like it was designed by a Prussian.

That evening we ate at Curry House, in the Causeway district, not too far from our hotel. We spent the rest of the evening walking around the markets (yes, they’re open into the evening), and realized that, like many cities, Hong Kong truly comes to life later in the day, and into the night. And that goes for the outdoor markets, as well as the upscale shopping arcades. We were learning that Hong Kong is about shopping. We also learned that every shopping arcade had public restrooms, which we hadn’t read in any of our travel literature.

http://www.pacificcoffee.com/eng/home.php

http://www.thepeak.com.hk/en/home.asp

Currency Calculator web site: http://www.x-rates.com/calculator.html

Day 1: Sunday and Monday, April 12 &13, Flying

We had a 2 hour layover in Chicago, which we spend walking around O’Hare Airport, since we’d be sitting for 15+ hours on the plane to Hong Kong. The plane ride to HK was blessedly uneventful, except for the passengers in the rows in front of us who had to move to balance the weight of the plane. Two of the passengers got irate, and I could only think, “But we gotta balance the weight so WE DON’T CRASH.”

Our flight took us far north, above Alaska and over Russia. Larry had a window seat, and for hours all he saw below was ice and snow. The monitors would occasionally show our progress, speed and other information. The outside air temperature was -76F.

Finally, after two lunches and a snack provided by United, and ham sandwiches that we were so glad we had packed, and four movies we couldn’t hear because the plane’s audio system wasn’t working, our pilot said, “We’ll be landing in 50 minutes”. I checked my watch. Sixty minutes went by and we were still in the air, and not making the final approach. I must have been really ready to get off that plane, because I found myself getting rather irate. At an hour and ten minutes, we landed.

This hike to the luggage pick up area seemed to be about a mile from the gate where we disembarked the plane. Maybe they do that on purpose. People really need to walk after a 15 hour flight.

We got our luggage. I decided we should ask a customs agent about the beef jerky we’d brought with, since the signs around the luggage carrel said that meat was a restricted item to bring into Honk Kong. We found the friendliest customs agent I’ve ever met, who told us it was fine to bring smoked meat into Honk Kong.

By this time it was almost 7 p.m. on Monday in Hong Kong. We caught a cab and even though it was getting dark, we could see that Hong Kong is built around the foot of large hills or mountains, with very little except trees on the hills. Our cab cost us $470 Hong Kong dollars, or about $60 U.S. dollars. (We later found out we probably got ripped off.) But he did deliver us to our hotel, the Charterhouse Hotel in downtown Hong Kong. Once in our room on the 20th floor, we sunk into the bed and passed out.

http://www.charterhouse.com

Why China?

In 2005 Larry surprised me with a cruise to celebrate my 50th birthday. In January of this year Larry turned 50 and the pressure was on me to surprise him with a trip. I chose China for a couple of reasons. My brother, Wyatt, lives in Shenzhen, China, which is very close to Hong Kong, just within the border of the People's Republic of China (PRC). I also wanted to spend some time in Hong Kong after hearing from Wyatt and my mom (she visited Wyatt in the PRC in 2007) what a great city it is.

I had never bought plane tickets online before. In February I learned how to to do that. I surfed the web to find a service that would go to the Chinese embassy to secure our visas. I booked our hotel in Hong Kong online. Before long, I was an emotional wreak -- I was spending a lot of money via the internet, hoping I really was buying plane tickets, visas and booking a hotel. Through all of this, I kept the secret from Larry, although he knew we were going "somewhere". My brother helped and encouraged me via email from the other side of the world, and reminded me: "Just remember that the very thing that makes travel frustrating is what makes it fun -- getting out of the routine". I was definitely getting outside my comfort zone.

About a month before we left I told Larry that we were going to China, and no more than that. It was such a big trip, and long airplane ride, it seemed he would need to mentally gear up for it. And he needed to sign the form for his visa. It was a relief for me to tell him, because traveling to China was a very hard secret to keep!

Early on April 12, Easter Sunday, with plane tickets, visas, passports and hotel reservation in hand, we rode with Larry's mom, Mary, and her friend, Gordie, to the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport to board the United Airlines plane that would take us to O'Hare, where we would catch our plane to Hong Kong.

DD's World

This is a blog about my trip to China in April 2009. Comments are welcome.