Hello, Hong Kong!

After all the stress and responsibilities of the Kaohsiung CI, it was nice to switch gears to "vacation mode." Vacation mode meant we could dress more casual, take more pictures and eat interesting food from every food stand (that is if you are Tim). This day of site-seeing began with a delicious brunch at a restaurant in Hong Kong. (the name of this restaurant can be supplied by the aforesaid Tim =P) The first thing I noticed about the restaurant was the round tables with glass lazy susan turntables in the center. On these turn tables were tea pots of hot water and a big bowl both for sterilizing our dishes. Sterilizing one's own dishes became a tradition in Hong Kong after the SARS scare, many people wanted to make sure they would not get sick so they insisted on cleaning their own dishes. After washing our dishes, the waitresses brought us tea and began filling the table with little foods, which we shared with everyone at our table. The Chinese, Hong Kongian and Taiwanese people at my table had a "wonderful" way of not telling me what I was eating until after i tried it. Does anyone like fish eggs? I did, until i found out what they were. =(

After eating we took the ferry over to Llama Island. From there we walked past shops, restaurants, temples and banana trees to the beach. The beach was beautiful and we all enjoyed relaxing in the sunshine (pictures to follow =))

Like among energetic young people is never boring and today was no exception. One of the girls got a kick out of planting her barking dog alarm clock into the backpack of one of her unsuspecting teammates, Simon. It was perfect! The alarm clock went off during role call and everyone was staring at Simon's barking backpack. He was chagrinned. After that it was a big game among the CI team to slip the alarm clock into the bag/bag pack of anyone who was not paying attention. It definitely kept people on their toes.

We finished the wonderful day at the ladies market, which ironically is opened to all regardless of gender. It was a lot like the night market at Kaohsiung, except that it required a lot more bargaining. The prices were usually jacked up two or three times the actual worth of the items. It took some real skills to get anything at a good price. Some of us were better at it then others. I personally am going to have to wok on it or else I'll have Bethany or Jerry or David bargain for me.








Patricia Keller