Wednesday, November 28, 2012

A VISA TRIP- Day Two

In the morning, we slept in. We never, EVER get to sleep in and getting to do so was absolute bliss. My first class starts at 9:30 every weekday, and since rowing season ended I've gone from jumping out of bed at 5:30, to dragging myself out at 8:25. Of course Boyfriend is superman and goes for work outs or mountain runs or chinese classes or cycles to work before I get out of bed. Every Saturday and Sunday since March I've had either rowing practice or football practice before 10am. So when I realized it was 10-something am and the rain was still drizzling with grey skies outside and we were still in wrapped up in warm, fluffy sheets-I was a happy gal.

Unfortunately when we did get up, there was no where for breakfast and we needed wifi. Finally, we gave into Starbucks for food and I settled for their Toffee Nut Latte. Did I completely miss Pumpkin Spice season?! I rarely get Starbucks in Taiwan, actually I've kinda outgrown it since high school. At Oregon State, Corvallis there was Dutch Bros between the two blocks from my flat to campus and they were all I ever wanted. In Taiwan there is a franchise called Cama Cafe springing up everywhere that I never pass up. If I can't reach one in time for a mandatory coffee fix, I drop in to a City Cafe aka 7-11. We'll get into the 7-11 thing in Taiwan some other time. All this just to say, I am never excited to see a Starbucks unless I just want to feel like I'm in America.
We took the Star Ferry to Hong Kong Island, to cross it off our list. MTR trains go under the river and may be faster or more convenient for people needing to get to the other side for work or to pick up their VISA (like me), but the ferry is more scenic. It was chilly and wet, but luckily the ferry docks were only a few minutes walk from our hotel. Pictures taken from a Hong Kong ferry are my favorite.

When we landed, Boyfriend and I split again-him for work and me to pick up my VISA. I loitered about with his camera hanging around my neck for a while, taking pictures of crosswalks and random 'everything' stores and down escalators and of other tourists. I find the MTR system a piece of cake to navigate, but the DISTANCE that I have to walk to get from exit to platform is scandalous! I suspect that the time it takes to get to a platform might be longer than the actual riding time. I know it.
Oh, I stumbled upon a Forever 21. It was big and just, stood there. I got really excited at first to see a familiar clothing store and then I remembered I was just in one last month in Kuala Lumpur.
Our plan was to meet up around 4-5 and go up to Victoria's Peak to watch the sunset, but that fell through cause I showed up to our meeting spot late and the line to ride the Tram up was a couple hours long. We made it by taxi though, in time to see the Hong Kong skylines light up-this time from the other side of the river at night. There are two mall-like buildings with lookout points and I was bit confused on where to go, but after wandering up and down escalators and elevators we found some places outside and had dinner at a nice restaurant.

It was really nice, in fact Boyfriend and I speculated that some couples probably get engaged there. He's hopeless really-it will be pretty impossible for him to impress me if he takes me out to restaurants that fancy just to grab food while I'm wearing a Northface raincoat.

After dinner I insisted on taking a double decker bus down the mountain cause I thought it would be fun and it was on my checklist, so we did and I fell asleep and stayed asleep all the way back. THEN, we freshened up and headed out to the infamous Lan Kwai Fong district.
I think Lan Kwai Fong is where all the expats go to loosen up on the weekends and where tourists go to get action. We didn't bring a camera...I've had too many bad experiences getting too crazy on a night out and losing cameras haha. It's an area by Central, up on a hill where there are happenin' bars and a few clubs packed up next to each other on a few crowded blocks. They put up road blocks at night so no traffic goes by, and the streets get swarmed with rowdy foreigners fueled by beer and 80's music.

Oh I forgot to mention, during this whole trip I had been ill, and on this particular night I was particularly ill. Congested, hacking cough, and a pounding headache. Boyfriend soaked Lan Kwai Fong in, that foreigner, and totally enjoyed belting out some songs whilst I tried to not think about bed. In the end we had a couple beers and good time before calling it a relatively early night by 1am.

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