Hong Kong!

So we've been back from the great place of Hong Kong for awhile, but I am finally getting around to writing about it!
Instead of flying directly into Hong Kong, we flew into Shenzhen, which was 1/4th of the cost. Because we flew into the neighboring city, we had quite a way to go. It ended up taking like 3 1/2 hours to get to our hotel from the airport, taking trains, but it was a good way to get into the city and thankfully it wasn't too crazy. We had to do customs in the middle of a train station, and that went smoothly as well.
When we got the place with tons of hotels, we were pretty tired. (Side note: we had already booked a hotel for Sunday/Monday, but our boss said that we could get it cheaper if we just showed up and bargained with them. So that is what we did for Friday/Saturday.) Since we didn't have a place to stay, we were kind of confused. The place we were at was called the Chungking Mansions. It was really really crowded and there were tons of "knock-off" stores selling random things. Everyone wanted to know if we wanted a cell phone, purse, suit, etc. We talked to a few people but none of them were as cheap as our boss said we could get. So, one man was pretty cheap so we decided to follow him up to the 6th floor to see the hotel. It was not very nice, but we took it. It was a place where you wake up, and you just feel dirty. Oh well. Thankfully Hong Kong is an exciting city, so you don't hang out in your hotel room.

View from the boardwalk.

Saturday morning came, and I had already made plans to meet up with  Sally Carlson, a girl that i was friends with in Middle School, but hadn't seen since. So Brady and I walked on the board walk. It was really pretty and relaxing. When we met up with Sally and it was really fun! We went out to a nice lunch and then went to a huge market where they sold a bunch of random stuff. I got a new pair of sunglasses. They are the same pattern that mom always wears, I like them. After that we just kind of walked around town and had a good time.

Sally and I. It is so fun she lives here!

View from Victoria peak

Sunday Brady was sick in the morning, so we didn't do too much. I slept in, which I appreciated. We also changed hotels to the one that I booked online, and it was so great! There actually really wasn't anything remarkable about it, but it was clean and had a great view, so I was happy. Sunday afternoon we went to check out a computer store, walked around, had subway for dinner. I really appreciated having a "western meal" it hit the spot. The super cool thing that we did on sunday was go up to "Victoria peak." It is the highest point in Hong Kong and it has a huge roof where you can see so far. It is fun to see everything during the day, and beautiful at night.

View from the other side of Victoria Peak

Monday: The reason we came here. We had to go apply for our work visa! We got up pretty early, and went to get in line at the visa place so we didn't have to be with a huge number of people. I think we were like the 16/17th people in there, we had all our documents that our boss gave us, and we were ready. They call my number, I go up there, and the lady was like "where is your medical report? You have to have a medical report." and I was like, "Oh it must be in there. My boss prepared all the documents and I got the medical exam, so it should be there." "Nope, you have until noon to get your documents faxed here, otherwise you can come back tomorrow." Brady was also missing his medical report. This is semi humorous because another teacher that went to Hong Kong 2 weeks before was also missing something. I figured since that teacher had to delay his trip by a day that my boss would make sure all our stuff was together. Nope. Right before I left, I went to his office, at the request of the secretary, and asked if he wanted to double check the documents. "He said no, no it is all there, I promise."

Bruce Lee: loved by all asians.

Praise the Lord that the other teacher had given us an international sim card to call the office. The only problem was the secretary and my boss were gone. So, with a lot of people's help, I got my document faxed to the visa place at 11:56, and Brady got his shortly after.
It was a stressful morning, but it all worked out!
That afternoon we ate lunch in a park, and then just walked around the Island. We went to a nice dinner and just hung out.
Tuesday, we went to pick up our visa, went on  a hunt for a bakery at the request of our boss, and got on the train to go back to Shenzhen. Our flight was delayed by an hour and a half, so we got back to the school around 11:30 pm. It was a long trip, but definitely an enjoyable city.