Hong Kong, China March 10, 2007

We will have to go back to Hong Kong. We arrived late/early in the wee hours of the morning in Hong Kong from Xi'an. We got to bed around 2:30a.m. We had a huge problem to deal with. Nicholas' whole trivia team was leaving at Hong Kong and they would have to leave the ship around 9:00a.m. Nicholas wanted to tell them goodbye of course, so we all got up at 7:00a.m. to make a 7:30a.m. breakfast goodbye! We were tired and sad. This is a picture of Nicholas' favorite person on his team and the ship for that matter. This is Stew. He is from NYC and Nicholas is already plannig a trip to visit him. Stew's grandfather was from Alabama so he felt a connection to us at first sight! Stew is back in New York now. I want to tell him how much he meant to us all while he was on the ship with us. He laughed at all the kids jokes, taught them some napkin tricks, always had a positive comment for us all. Stew, you are greatly missed already. We hope to see you in Alabama or in NYC soon!! Keep up with us!! Nicholas still has not found a replacement team but he is trying everyday!
We were also on an 8:30a.m. tour!! We could barely keep our eyes open and we were off to see all Hong Kong had to offer! Guess what they didn't have?? Blue Skies! The sun never came out for 2 days we were there! It was cold and rainy. This is a picture of a lovely Chinese home but I was so tired, I could not tell you who lives in it!

There is a huge incline, much like a cablecar but it pulls you straight up the mountain to get a beautiful look at the harbor below. Kind of scary.
This is what we saw. A fw buildings sort of out of the mist and many buildings covered in mist! LOTS of high rise buildings but we could barely see them.
The ride to the harbor to go on a sanpam boat. Lots of cloudy shots, sorry.

I think you can tell by looking at these photos that we should have told the trivia team goodbye and then gone back to bed! We could not enjoy the boat ride. Look at Nicholas' face! If pictures could talk this one would say "I can't believe I have to go look at another fishing village and smell it too."

One picture turned out half decent. Hong Kong is a very forward thinking city. The gangway from the ship to shore went straight into a mall! Kathleen has turned into a shopper and was all about that on day two. No more pictures to show you. I guess we were too tired to take any. Charles did buy a new camera in Hong Kong, so you will get the benefit of it when we get to Vietnam!! Hong Kong has only been part of minland China for 10 years. It is still considered by most Chinese as a stepchild, but they are probably just jealous. It is clean and has everything and more than you could ever want to see. That is why we need to go back becasue we only had one eye open!