Hong Kong Day 2--Getting the hang of things

Rusty was up at the crack of dawn on Wednesday because he was focused on getting our paperwork turned in. We still didn't have the paper that we needed so we walked a few doors down from the hotel and got Rusty some new passport photos. By this point I was scared that something else would go wrong and keep us from turning in our paperwork. Pawn was in contact with the lawyer's office trying to coordinate with them so that they would email the document. They said they would email it between 9 and 10, but Hong Kong is an hour later so we were starting to get a bit stressed. We still had to get it printed and travel to the consulate.

The document arrived, and the hotel printed it for us for free. We made it to the consulate, and the man at the front desk helped get our paperwork together and told me to attach my photo to my application. I was nervous about that since my picture was 7 months old (Rusty's was too which was why I wanted him to get new ones), but I attached it anyway. At first the girl at the window wouldn't let me go with Rusty; she said I needed my own number. The woman at my window wanted to know why I didn't have copies of Rusty's papers so I told her he was at the other window. They finally put us together and turned in our paperwork. All we had to do was wait and return at 9:30 the next morning. This culture seems to be more straight forward and to the point.

After we finished at the consulate we grabbed a quick hot dog for lunch and decided to try to go to Noah's Ark. We headed off to the pier to catch the Noah's Ark ferry. As we were walking we passed by this:

I didn't know Rusty has had a side business all of these years. :)

We continued on to the pier to find it pretty much deserted. I noticed a lady stacking cases of drinks and decided to ask about the ferry. It turns out she's from Thailand--from Amnat Charoen to be exact which is where we do our summer ESL camp each year. She had been married to a man from Texas so she even knew a good Mexican restaurant to recommend. She did not, however, recommend Noah's Ark. She said there wasn't anything to do there. We like to listen to other people's opinions, but going to Noah's Ark was on my must-see list. Unfortunately the ferry wouldn't come until 3:30 so we decided to do it another day. We returned to the MTR station to go to some of the markets.

The first market was Ladies Market. From the name it sounds like a great shopping place for purses, shoes, and clothes, and it really is that. But there's so much more! They have textiles, home products, craft supplies, and just about everything else. These men were playing some serious games of checkers on the corner.

We found a fresh market down another street. I was amazed at how many lemons they have here rather than limes. They also have Driscoll's berries way cheaper than we can get them in Chiang Mai.

When you need a snack you look for the busiest street food stands. I found this one that had french fries with different kinds of sauces. I got us a mango iced tea with french fries with honey mustard sauce. The owner/manager took my order in English, but then I noticed they were calling out the order numbers in Chinese. I just stood around with everyone else until they called out a number and nobody moved. Unfortunately that wasn't my order, but I kept waiting until they finally called mine and motioned to me. Thankful for all of the help!

We kept walking until we made it back to the MTR station where I spotted another line for food. This time we ended up with a triple chocolate cream puff. This was probably the best dessert we had while we were in Hong Kong!

Before we traveled on to the night market I decided we needed to top up our Octopus cards. If you don't know what you're doing, someone will reach over your shoulder and finish your transaction for you. Like I said Hong Kong is really fast, and people don't have time wait. It's easier for the man behind you to make sure your money goes in and that he hits the confirm button. :) It's nothing to get upset about; I guess everyone has to learn.

The night market is a lot like the night market in Chiang Mai. You can buy just about any brand of purse, watch, or shoes, and there are men who will take you to their place so you can see their whole inventory. I can't believe one of the men made fun of my pink bag I use when we're traveling. Considering the classiness of Hong Kong I might have to step it up a bit the next time we're there and look a bit more fashionable rather than functional.

We ended the night with another meal at McDonald's. It can be very frustrating finding food in a new city. We kept going to Cantonese restaurants because of the prices on the windows only to be given English menus inside that were three times the price. This even happened at a street stall in a back alley so we just went to McD's which was cheaper than the menu prices we were being given. Oh well, the next day was a new day and hopefully we would be able to find some good food.

*Take away from day 2--Bargaining is fun. You can get things for about 40% off of the asking price--anything to make you feel like you're getting a good deal!