Are We There Yet?

Talk about adventure.  We had to get all that luggage from the Hong Kong hotel to the Huizhou Hotel…doesn’t sound too complicated….right?  Well problem #1: the Hong Kong driver can’t cross the border into China and the Huizhou driver can’t cross the border into Hong Kong.  Which led us to Plan #1 take a taxi to the border, walk through customs then meet the driver on the other side…again…simple.  Which brings us to problem #2: We found out from the lady at the hotel that a driver can’t take us to the border and we would have to take the train, and problem #3: The train station wasn’t close.  Plan #2: Take a Taxi from the hotel to the train station and take the train to the border crossing then meet the driver.  Problem #4:

This was the taxi that took us to the hotel in Hong Kong

Adam called one of his coworkers that lives in Hong Kong to get his advice and he offered to take the trip with us and help with the luggage…THANK GOODNESS!  I felt bad at first and thought we could do it on our own…but Adam was right to worry!  We met YC at the train station, had a guy take our luggage on a cart to the inside of the train station…but he couldn’t help us beyond the ticket point. 

Think about it…two people that stand out anyway with all that luggage on the day that everyone goes back to work after Chinese New Year.  YC helped us buy tickets to the right destination (sigh of relief) and helped us find the right train (there were 2 trains the same color going to 2 different border crossings).  Once we were on the train all we had to do was make sure the bags didn’t roll away as the train shook.  Getting from the train through customs was a different story.  It wasn’t like any airport customs I have ever been to.  We had to walk pretty far before we got to the point where we show our passport… walk further to check your recent health history…walk more to the place where you put all your luggage through an x-ray machine…walk again to get your temperature taken…walk some more to turn in your entry paper…keep going where we met the driver!  He held up this sign…

Thank goodness he had a van! 
At this point we were totally overwhelmed and Adam was soaked with sweat! 

The long trip to Huizhou from the border was exactly what we needed!

I’m still not sure but I think our driver got lost…he kept stopping in the middle of the road (stopping traffic) to talk to people in a frustrated manor.  
WE MADE IT!

Hong Kong

Today our goal: STAY AWAKE!!!
First things first…CAFFINE!

We got to the local shopping area around 9:30 and nothing was open, and it wasn’t too crazy, we went to the top floor (there were 11) and worked our way down.  There were tons of electronic stores (cue Adam with the LED TV)

and lots of designer stores.  It was so cool to see all the Chinese New Year decorations still up.  We went to a place called Happy Face Noodle and it was delicious!  When we left the mall the streets were PACKED!  It was crazy! 

We took some time to stop at a park.  It must have been the place to be because we saw tons of women eating lunch on the ground. They laid out mats and plastic took off their shoes and sat and chatted.  The park had a fair going on and we had a great time.  We took lots of pictures and even tried a snack…it was not fried dough!

Then we took the subway (MTR) to Kowloon, another area of Hong Kong. 

At this point we were exhausted and didn’t want to do anything but sleep, but we kept on truckin’.  There aren’t many pictures from this part of the day…I was too tired to take out the camera.  We tried to stay out until 6:00 eat dinner then head back to the hotel…we thought 8:00 would be an appropriate bed time.  We made it until about 4:30 took the train back and went up to the hotel room (where I posted all the pictures and Adam struggled to stay awake).  We tried to get to a sushi place that we read about in our travel book but couldn’t find it; instead we ate at a Shanghinese restaurant.  It was delicious! 
We were asleep before 9:00! 

Planes Trains and Automobiles!

We began our adventure at the RDU airport…after paying extra four our overweight luggage and the extra suitcase we were ready to go!

We arrived in Toronto and had to pick up our luggage, not usually a big deal but we had a lot of luggage and we had to take it from one terminal to another.  This also required to walk, take an elevator up, walk some more, take another elevator up, take a train, take an elevator down, walk some more, take another elevator down and walk all the way to the end of the terminal and go through check in all over again.  Adam pushed the card with most of our luggage and carried his backpack; I wheeled the largest suitcase with the med. suitcase strapped to it and carried 2 bags.

The girl behind the counter said “why didn’t you just go through the transfer line?”  Only because everyone we asked sent us on our little mini trip through the Toronto airport.  Next time we dish out the cash for 2 carts! 

From there on out we were in business class so it was the best airplane trip I have ever been on.  As an employee kid who wasn’t supposed to ask for assistance or expect special treatment…this was wonderful.   We watched the Olympics in the lounge with all the free food and drink we could want.  Then we made our way to the front of the line (where the important people board…why should we have to wait like everyone else) and sat down in our lounge chairs watching everyone walk back to coach.  This, my friend, is the only way to fly!

We got to Hong Kong at 4:30 am

made our way through the airport and found a cab that was willing to take us and the luggage to the hotel!

One small huccup in an otherwise uneventful move...

Packing sure is a job! I packed starting on Wednesday night. Our bedroom became the “packing room”

I made sure to include all the essentials!

I continued packing in the morning (after finishing 3 loads of laundry) and…it didn’t fit! So I took everything out re-organized, rolled, and crammed (and even added a suitcase) until YAY I finally got everything in a suitcase.

With time to spare I decide to start clearing out the stuff my parents are taking and discovered this in the downstairs closet:

In my mind I had 2 options…leave our shoes (and my really cute bag) or find a bigger suitcase. I took my last trip to Target and got this:

Finally it fit!

Still SOOOOO Much To Do!

The movers did their part...now it's my turn! I tried to make sure everything went to the right place and everything was prepared to be packed. I have mixed feeling about having professionals move us, I hated that I sat there all day while they did all the work...but I love knowing that everything is packed well. I mean they individually wrapped empty DVD cases!

Here is the before:

Now everything is in nice neat boxes!

I will post 1 more time from the USA complete with pictures of an empty house (compliments of my new amazing camera).

No Longer the Newbie

Today Jodie and I met a new expat wife who just moved to Huizhou.  She and her husband have lived all over and she is used to being forced to put yourself out there to meet new people (something I have had to learn).  It’s survival of the fittest.  You have a choice to put yourself out there and talk to every foreigner you see walking down the street (which isn’t many) or you can sit inside and mope all day long.  I have to admit I have done the latter a couple times but we are all allowed our gloomy days.  It’s not to difficult to put yourself out there since every foreigner you see is in the same boat.  Anyway Judi e-mailed me through the Huizhou Expat group and we decided to go to lunch today.  Judi brought her Bulgarian friend.  We talked about what it is like living away from the familiar and they shared their experiences in other countries.  Judi talked about organizing a group of women when she lived in Hong Kong.  They went on trips together, they met for lunch, and they did volunteer work and went to the spa together.  She suggested planning activities like that for us…UM…OK!!!!!

The Final Countdown

It seems like yesterday we had a month to go, but now we have a week and 2 days! Next Friday at 6:30 pm we will be on a plane to Toronto, then after a small layover, we will be off to Hong Kong. I went from being excited about moving to a new country and experiencing the culture to being passionate about Chinese culture in just 12 hours of emersion class. I now have motivation to finish lesson 1 of the Rosetta Stone and read books about China (as if moving to China shouldn?t be enough of a motivation). We went through a brief history and saw different world events from a Chinese perspective. I have a feeling the next few days will feel sooooo long, but the next week will go by in no time.