My new No Touching Rule

1-23-06

Chinese people don’t really want Americans on their turf. Mainland Chinese, anyway. Everyone else in the world gets to visit China for 200 HKD. Dirty Americans like us get to pay triple that. It works out to just around $75.

We tackled the number one HK tourist destination today – Victoria Peak. The view was a little cloudy due to a combination of smog and overcast weather, but I enjoyed the view. The tram ride up is entertaining. Basically, you ride in a trolley car up the side of a mountain. My favorite part of the trip was enjoying drinks at the restaurant on the top. Another one of those times when you step back and think how lucky you are. This Hallmark moment is courtesy of Meg, but I really enjoyed hearing how happy she was at that moment and how lucky she felt to share it with Kevin and me. We are lucky people. The good photo was taken by my classmate Morten. The bad picture was taken by me. You probably could have guessed that!

Post Hallmark Moment - I reached my breaking point on the street in Lan Kuai Fong today. I yelled at the crazy restaurant people. I can promise that I will NEVER eat at that end of the street EVER. Three or four people surrounded us and started trying to pull us into their restaurants. Meg and I both yelled NO, NO, NO and walked away. Thirty minutes later, my Pho distracted me enough to calm me down.

Today’s Food – Pho (not a new food for me, but absolutely excellent). A word to the wise – the chili peppers in HK are about 40 times stronger than in the states. Ouch.