Day 49: February 21, 2103 Hong Kong by Day

      This morning we all got up, showered, and packed up our things. Luckily the hostel was nice enough to let us leave our things in the office and just come grab them before we headed to the airport. With that we headed downstairs and started our morning with a little Indian snack of samosas that were really good. None of us except John had ever really had Indian food so we decided that we would try to get some while we were here. Not really feeling Indian for breakfast, we headed to a nearby bakery for some pastries and then headed over to the Andy Warhol exhibit that we were all really excited for. Unfortunately, the exhibit is closed on Wednesdays so we had to find something else to do. There was a Space Museum next door so we decided to check that out, but it didn’t open until 1:00 so we decided to head over into Hong Kong and find something for lunch.

 

     We walked around for a while before deciding on this little Vietnamese sandwich place. We went a little risky on our orders and got the Deluxe Sandwich that had pate, Vietnamese ham, pork knuckle, and shredded chicken on it. It turned out to be delicious and for a really good price.

   After lunch we headed back over to Kowloon to check out the skyline in the daytime and then got some ice cream for dessert. 

Jackie Chan!

      All full, we headed into the Space Museum, which was basically a museum about the U.S. and a little bit of Russia since China really has no history in space. It was pretty funny that they would have such a museum but nevertheless is was still pretty cool and was only $1.50. Adam and I weren’t as intrigued as John and Bryan so we headed out to go sit outside since it was a gorgeous day. We said we would meet them at the corner, which we later realized was a really vague term. I assumed they meant the corner by the water where we kept checking out the skyline but Adam thought they meant the corner right outside of the museum so we got a little nervous considering our cell phones don’t work in Hong Kong. We stayed by the water in the sun for a while and then made our way back towards the museum and somehow John and Bryan just came out of nowhere. Apparently I was right about my definition of the corner but we still ended up finding them so all was well.

     With that, it was about time to head back to the hostel and grab our stuff. We decided to grab some Indian food for dinner before we left and figured the best way to find some would be to ask one of the hundreds in our building. We asked for the best Indian food and the first restaurant we got told about was closed but our friend Jimmy ended up hooking us up with another. We all got different things and everyone loved what they got, but mine was definitely the favorite. It was called Butter Chicken and was basically chicken in this spicy and creamy red tomato sauce with a little bit of butter on top. We all got naan with our dishes which was perfect to dip in the left over sauce. We were all a little “lit up” by the spice but it was definitely one of my favorite meals since I’ve been in China. The guys were a little nervous to get on a plane after eating Indian food but I think they all survived without too much trouble.

Delicious Indian cuisine

      After we finished eating we grabbed our bags from the hostel with much appreciation and then caught about an hour-long bus to the airport. We once again sat on the top level of a double-decker at the front so we attempted another time lapse with the sunset which may have turned out a little cooler than the first. Once we got to the airport we had to wait in line to get our boarding passes and John saw a guy behind us wearing an Ohio sweatshirt so he asked if he was from there. The guy turned out to be from France but had just bought the shirt since he had been here. His name was Quinton and he actually goes to school at Xiamen University so he was really helpful in telling us what to do while we were in Xiamen. He wrote some stuff down in Chinese characters for us, which turned out to be pretty helpful. After talking to him for a while, he told us that he had been in China since he was 17, now working on his MBA, which we all thought was pretty crazy since he was our age. After a good talk with him at the gate, we boarded the flight and were on our way. 

Double-decker bus

Crazy Hong Kong Airport

    After the short flight Quinton told us the secret to getting a cab was to go up a few floors in the airport and then catch one versus waiting in the giant line downstairs. We took his advice and we had a cab within minutes and he told the driver where to take us. The driver didn’t know exactly where it was but he eventually got us to where we needed to go which was basically a sketchy ally. Our hostel was about 500 meters off of a main road through sketchy back allies that were no wider than 3 ft wide. Not only was it sketchy, but it was definitely not the cleanest place I’ve ever been as a mouse ran right by my foot in the first few minutes. After a while of wandering around looking for the right number, we ended up calling the hostel and they got us the rest of the way there. 

Alley to hostel

     Right upon arrival, the man who answered the door straight called us out. He was asking who Elizabeth was, since I made the reservations, and then he proceeded to call me out saying that I obviously don’t like to answer emails or texts. I was pretty confused considering we have had limited internet access for the last 2 weeks and our cell phones hadn’t worked in days since we were in Hong Kong and Macau. After telling him that, he still l didn’t seem very happy but told us to leave our bags downstairs and come up to the third floor to check in. I was legitimately concerned because this guy was pretty sketchy but we went up anyway and met the guy’s Japanese friend who was really nice. She checked us in while he took our passports and he proceeded to hand them back while telling us how contagious he was, which was pretty disgusting while looking at his filthy appearance and hideous grimy teeth.

     As soon as we were cleared I got out of there and made my way to the room. Luckily the door locked, so we felt a little better but we were definitely all a little sketched out. We all decided it was time for bed since we were getting up early in the morning but it was pretty distracting with all of the cat sounds coming into our room from who knows where. I then walked outside to check it out and the Japanese lady was lighting insense on a shrine, which was weird in itself, but there were no cats to be found. She then told me to wear the different slippers in each room like in Japanese culture, which was pretty strange but I just went along with it. After that we all just locked ourselves in our room and got some sleep.