Getting Around Hong Kong......Sort Of

I'm back!!!! And I have eaten ate Ruby Tuesdays. And yes, the salad was amazing, but I have decided that it will be more economical to actually go to the grocery store and buy food to cook for myself. Wish me luck because I don't think I have ever cooked anything more complicated than pasta and quesadillas. This week, I will attempt to make vegetable stir-fry with fried tofu. It's not that hard, but it is a start.

In other news, I did get to go to the temple of 10,000 Buddhas which was amazing. There were literally 10,000 Buddhas, but most of them were really small. However, the quarter-mile stair walk up to and down from the temple were lined with life-size images of different Buddhas. And because some of my friends are getting mad at me for not putting up pictures, I'll try to see if I can post them in this entry.

Friday was probably the most exciting part of this week. The day started off with my morning Chinese class which included a test (yuck) that I did pretty well in (hurray!). After finishing and getting out of class early, some friends and I decided to have a day out on the town. The first stop was to get Indian food in an area of Hong Kong called Tsim Sha Tsui, which is right across the harbor from the central part of the city. The restaurant was in this covered market center that was completely occupied by Africans and Indians selling food and other goods. The food was delicious, especially the samosas. I did see some good bollywood movies, but when I asked the stall owner about them, he said that they didn't have English subtitles. Better luck next time.

We then headed over to the Walk of Stars, which is basically a Chinese version of Hollywood's Walk of Fame. It was cool though because I managed to find the Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee stars. There was even a Bruce Lee statue. The Cat Street antique market was next, where the goods may or may not have been actual antiques. Everything was interesting though over priced for the quality and very little bargaining was possible. If I had enough time, I could have found some pretty interesting pieces that were actual antiques, so I highly recommend Cat Street if you just want to do a little market shopping.

Church today was great, although it was an adventure to try to find it since the woman who took me there the first time decided to attend her church today. The hour long MTR ride was fine, it was the mini bus that was the problem. In order to get to Hong Kong Adventist College, it's necessary to take a mini bus that has a route, but, to my recent knowledge, no set bus stops. Added on to this, I didn't quite remember how far I had to take the bus to get to the church. By the time I got anywhere close to the college, I was the only one on the bus. The bus passed the entrance to the college, but I didn't say anything because I was lead to believe that there was a bus stop shortly after the church road. No such thing. I must have rode the bus for another mile before the bus drive stopped and basically told me to get off. So I walked until I found another bus stop, but no bus came. So I learned a new and valuable skill, how to hail a taxi. Granted, this was a half hour after church started, but I got a taxi and that's the point. While in the taxi with a driver who couldn't speak English, I practiced another life skill, the art of gesturing. With these two skills, I was able to make it to church. After church was even better because I participated in a Bible study and met about 30 college students who either attended the school, or commuted to the church. This means that I have 30 new friends! After Bible study, we went to a church member's house and had haystacks, the Adventist staple mean which is basically a taco salad. This was a great week over all, and I'm finally able to recognize where I am in Hong Kong.

While I was at church, some friends went across the border to Shen Zhen in mainland China and returned with stories of cheap bags and other goods. And I thought that things couldn't get any cheaper than they were in Hong Kong. I'm super excited to make a trip of my own. I'll keep you guys updated about that, and maybe post more often.