Spring 2015 - Day 32: China

Today was the day that I was going to see some SASers from my fall voyage. Jessi was getting up to eat breakfast with Byron and Erin but when I didn't set an alarm and so just woke up when I was ready. I was feeling weird and tired. I didn't really feel like getting off the ship at all and just wanted to hang around and blog. Around 9 I went to Jessi's room and she told me to get ready, we were going to Victoria's peak. 

 

In the moment it felt like she was yelling at me and was frustrated with me and I didn't understand why because I hadn't said I would be at breakfast and no one had even tried to wake me up. 

 

I went back to my room and had a letter on my door from Rebecca. I sat on my bed and just cried. I don't even know what I was feeling, just overwhelmed and sad. 

 

But I got ready and went back to their room and ended up being glad that I did. 

All of the girls were going to come with us. We got off the ship around 10 and Jessi and I hung around in the mall because that is where Byron said they would meet us when they were done with open ship tours. The other girls went down to McDonalds to get food and wifi. 

 

Eventually Jessi and I saw Byron and Erin walking on the ship towards the gangway. They were taking forever so we peeked our heads out through the door. They were right there and they were both crying. It was the last time either of them would ever be on the ship, ever. I had forgotten about that. If I was them I probably would have cried too. I will probably cry when it comes time for me to get off the ship. 

 

When everyone had gathered themselves back together the four of us went down to the McDonalds and got the girls. Then we headed to Shaleen's apartment. 

 

Shaleen also sailed on Fall '13 and lives in Hong Kong with his family. 

 

His apartment was about a 10 minute walk from the ship. We got in a teeny tiny elevator that dropped us off on a teeny tiny landing with only two doors. But the apartment itself was large and included a really, really nice terrace. 

 

When we had left for Shaleen's apartment Byron had called him and woke him up so he was still all sleepy when we got there but was still excited to see us! It was amazing to see Shaleen again, at that moment I was really glad I had gotten off the ship. 

 

For a moment Shaleen wasn't going to come out with us but we yelled at him and reminded him that this was his one chance to hangout with us so he changed his mind. 

 

We were going up Victoria's peak, which is a small mountain and the highest point in the city. There are three ways to get up it, hike, take the train, or take the bus. Our first choice was the train so we took the subway from the mainland over to Hong Kong island and then walked to where you catch the train. There was a huge line, a 2 and a half hour line. 

 

Not going to happen. 

 

So we opted for plan B, the bus. 

 

We walked for about 20 minutes, back down near the water, and caught a double decker bus that specifically goes to the peak. The walk wasn't bad because Hong Kong is beautiful and it was nice to see the city. 

 

It is the highest number of completed skyscrapers in the world at 305. New York city is number 3 with 235. 

 

Hong Kong is huge. 

 

The bus ride was interesting. We zoomed our way up curvy mountain roads on a double decker bus. It was precarious at some points. 

 

The top was less of a single point and more of a small village. A lot of people live on the peak and it is pretty populated and bustling. The biggest attraction is a mall and the observation decks on the roof of the mall. 

 

We all ooo-ed and ahh-ed at the city and then went down stairs to get lunch. We got noodles and dumpling soup. Yummy. 

 

After lunch we took a really nice walk along a scenic road. It went in an entire loop around the mountain but we only went a little ways because it was getting close to when we needed to head back. While we were on the trail Brian, another Fall '13 SASer, met up with us. He lives in Hong Kong as well and actually grew up there. After he joined us we took many group pictures of our little reunion. 

 

Around 2:00 we walked back to the mall where almost everyone got green tea ice cream from McDonalds. I don't like green tea so I passed and instead got Pocky from the 7-11. 

We then got back on the bus and headed back down the winding road. When we got off the bus we caught the ferry that went back across the river and dropped us off at the pier right next to the ship. 

 

We took more group pictures and I hugged everyone good bye. It was almost 3:30 and when it comes to getting back on the ship on time I am very low risk. Jessi was going to hang out with them a little more and walk back to Shaleen's apartment but after seeing what the line looked like in Japan I did not want to risk it. 

 

I got back on the ship by myself and unpacked all of my stuff until dinner time. On my way up to the 5th deck to eat I ran into Jessi who said that the other girls were going to eat on deck 7 at 6pm but she wanted to check out the normal food first. We went and looked at it, and were not impressed. Deck 7 it was! She wanted to hang out with some girls on deck 5 until 6 o'clock so I headed up to deck 7 and just sat and read my book and relaxed. 6 came and went and at 6:15 Jessi finally appeared. Apparently she had misunderstood and the girls were never going to eat on deck 7. But we were there and we were hungry so I got a cheeseburger and she got a veggie burger and it was amazingly delicious. Totally worth it. 

 

At 8 o'clock there was supposedly a laser light show that happened from on top of the buildings in the city. Around 8 we walked to the front of the ship to get a good view. It wasn't hard to do, from the ship we had an incredible view of the city. It is all along the water and stretches far in every direction. It is a beautiful city, very colorful and busy. 

 

Jessi and I knew that Erin, Byron, Shaleen, and Brian would be watching the ship sail away so we tried to find them. They ended up being on the port side of the ship where the gangway was, standing in the mall. We went down to deck 5 so that we could talk to them until the light show started. At 8 we waved goodbye to them and then went back to the other side and watched the show. 

 

It wasn't anything too exciting bit just sitting and watching the city was worth it. 

 

After the light show ended I pretty much just went to bed. I blogged a little but I was exhausted so I gave up quickly. I have to get up in the morning to go to the clinic to get more malaria meds for Cambodia. Blech. 

 

But I don't want to die of malaria so I guess it is worth it. 

 

Overall I really enjoyed China. I loved the food, it was very similar to the food we eat in the U.S when we get Chinese food. The culture and sights were amazing and beautiful. I didn't really like Shanghai, it was far too aggressive and I didn't really feel welcome there. I liked Beijing because of the history and culture. I loved Hong Kong and will definitely go back there.