Day 3 - Wednesday June 24, 2009

We slept from midnight (after watching some Taiwanese erectile dysfunction infomercials...we will just say they were much more risk-ay that their American counterparts) to seven am and had our first breakfast. I had a dumpling, a potsticker, some green noodle/pork meatball thing, OJ, coffee and toast. Geoff poured 'dog milk' on his cereal, CKE had scrambled eggs with corn in them and Danika was the only one to use chopsticks.

After our driver picked us up we were to the airport to catch our flight with EVA air to Hong Kong. The plane rocked! We were in elite class without even knowing it and our seats reclined and had foot rests. We had an awesome meal of beef something and rice. The flight was only about an hour long and then we got to the airport and cleared customs.

Then it was off to the Hostel. We had directions from the web and found our way to the A21 bus. We went up to the second level of the bus and, of course, sat behind a man with the worst BO I have ever wittnessed. Someone helped us get off at the correct stop and after wondering around the sensory overloaded street for a while someone else stopped us to ask if we needed help and he called the hostel for us to get better directions.

Once we arrived at the Dragon Hostel Hong Kong we all were able to get into one room and get a refun of some of our money, almost $400 HKD. The room was small but had 4 beds and air conditioning!

After we were settled we decided to do the You Ma Tei and Mong Kok walk out of my Frommer's travel guide. We went through the flower market - which was beautiful, the bird garden - which was noisy with birds flying everywhere, and a mystery park with basketball/volleyball/playgrounds/and walking and running paths. We also say the biggest snail ever here....the size of a small fist I bet. Afer taking refuge in a flower store with AC we went through part of the Ladies market and throught the fish market. We had dinner at the St. Alps Teahouse - Geoff, Christian, and I all got the crispy chicken on rice which was awesome. I also got a mixed berry smoothie and CKE got a 'chocolate shake,' which we found out is just chocolate milk on ice. The meal cost HK$56, which is a little under US$8.

After this we made our way to the Temple Street Night Market which CKE and I thought was just full of more junk. We found where we thought the Jade Market was supposed to be to find a closed up tent - it must just be open during the day. While looking for this we passed a street with fortune tellers, kareoke/wannabe opera singers (we weren't sure which), and what must have been the red light distrect of street markets. On our way back to the hostel we stopped at the Nathan Road Resting Park to see a herd of stray cats, some homeless people, and some more huge snails.

All in all it was a good first day in Hong Kong. It was hot, humid, and dirty, but interesting to see. No one seems to notice us even though I have seen few other Americans/white people around.