Hop on the Dragons back for a world of adventure

Well once again I've failed to update for several days and many important things have happened in those days. Today we had the day off of camp because they couldn't book the venue so Jon and I went hiking up dragons back in Shek O ( yeah I was pretty shocked as well that I went hiking to so try and close your mouths after reading that... because the big news is that I enjoyed the hike amidst the 90 degree heat plus added humidity.) There was beautiful scenery and although there were some very frustrating false peaks it was amazing. So before proceeding onward let us hop on the dragon's back and take a ride back a few days to the adventure of the asian movie expierience as well as a day in Macau.

Last week we enjoyed a luxurious evening at the movies ( although the movie was in Cantanese and seriously bizaare ). It was a thriller action murder suspense filled movie and lets in the end it ends up being the man who is suspected all alongs son who's actually his long lost brother with an aging disorder( talk about a whacked out movie. I'm really hoping that I don't have any long lost siblings who are going to come back to frame me for murder.. although the likely hood of having one with an aging disorder seems highly unlikely.) Also last weekend we enjoyed a rainy but still fascinating trip to Macau. Macau is this great little island that either still is or used to be owned by the portuguese and highly influenced by both Portuguese and Chinese culture (It's like like the esscence of Eurasia- a bit of European influence a bit of Asian influence and you get Macau) We spent the day sight seeing eating tastey Portuguese food and of course taking lots of pictures( it's an unwritten rule that if you're not from that area you must take pictures so to fit in with the crowds of people with cameras perminantly attached to their hands we also perminantly attached our cameras to our hands and snapped the living daylights out of those pictures...)

On Sunday I went to the airport to pick up Jon ( for those of you who don't know Jon he was easy to pick out being as he stood a solid foot above most other people ) Jon stopped by Hong Kong for a 2 day visit on his way back from a year in Cambodia. So we took all his stuff to his hotel ( the famous Chung King mansion- via recommendation of Don- despite my friends who live here saying they would never recommend that someone stay there. But it did turn out to be nicer than expected although my change in opinion may have been swayed by the free pair of slippers they offered. And also proof that it wasn't so bad was that Jon showed up alive the next morning and then also Tuesday afternoon when we met up after I got done with program.) Anyways Monday morning we met up around 8 and after some delicious dim sum( at the russ' of dim sum restaurants we decided- it's mainly filled with older people and is inexpensive yet sooooo good) we headed to Stanley Market to wander around there for a while. After we'd had our fill of wandering ( and of course a stop at my favorite shop to visit the man who sells rugby shirts) we headed to the library to do a bit of research on how to get to this hike called dragon's back( you see as Jon quickly discovered i'm not much of a directionally oriented person. I get myself places usually by just walking there and taking some side streets following some signs and some how I end up there... Maybe a miracle maybe just plain dumb luck, maybe i'm secretly gifted with directions and that's how I get places- yeah the last one is seriously unlikely i'd say one of the first 2 is far more likely all I know is I get where I need to go and I usually have to wander a bit I don't usually think about having to give directions to other people) So although i've been here about a month and a half and know my way around quite well Jon rapidly became the owner of a Hong Kong map( and i'm pretty sure he might have studied it the night before for fear that I would get us lost the next day) after I had accidently taken us the wrong way while we were dragging around all his luggage the first night. At the library we looked at some books and found the hike we wanted so we jumped on a bus where we got dropped off and decided to go explore some random stairs mean while we missed our bus so we waited for a half our finally a minibus stopped and told us they would take us to where we wanted to go( it was a red minibus they told us never to trust the red minibus but we were a bit desperate we were in the middle of no where and our bus had passed and me missed it and we hadn't seen one pass since) ... we ended up at a bus station and got on another bus finally ending up at the park to start our hike after a bit of backwoodsin it ( following a dried up river bed because we couldn't find the trail) we finally ran into the path and we hiked up to the dragons b ack and along the dragon's back. It was quite the hike with amazing scenery. ( No panda or dragon sightings but we saw bamboo and we hiked on the dragon's back so i'm pretty sure we just weren't far enough away to actually see him...) After hiking down we jumped on a bus to Shek-o beach and while Jon went swimming I rented the most relaxing beach chair in the world and parked it in the sand along with a diet coke ( i'm pretty sure they were the 2 best purchases i've made this trip. that may be because i was exhausted or maybe because it was nice to just relax but either way it was simply amazing to sit and relax. ) So while Jon went swimming I took a nice nap in the shade. later that night Laura Lisa Maggie our friend Winnie Jon and myself all went to this thing called Drum Jam it was at the Fringe Club ( as the guy next to me - who please note was a drummer for belly dancers- informed me the Fringe Club is basically a hangout for hippies and flower children and other artsy folk but they put on some pretty great things that people can get really into.) The Drum Jam was basically like they had allll diffferent kinds of drums everything from tamberines to bongos to practice drum pads to bells mostly they were bongos and those kind of drums but any ways sometimes there was a rhythm we would follow by the leader or we would get quieter or louder or you just follow your heart whatever your soul tells you to do ( yeah I guess that would lead towards a hippy-esk sort of thing) It was sooooooooo fun though and actually we met some people peole who are interning here for the summer who are from Detroit. Which is fun because it's rare to find people who have heard of Michigan much less live there! Anyways it's fun to have found people who are familiar with our home...

Tuesday it was back to work with another day at camp and then I met up with Jon again after that. Jon and Maggie and I headed to the Time Square of Hong Kong ( yes there is a Time Square in Hong Kong and the first time we visited it I I asked people here which came first and they were appalled at the concept that the one in New York would've come first and they weren't even familiar with it either...) We also opened Jon's eyes to one of Hong Kong's most tastey treats the pineapple bun.. so we sat in a park and people watched for a while and then headed up to the peak ( where we ran into some interesting Brittish people techno dancing... I wish I had had more time to pick up some of their moves they would've been a real crowd winner at a wedding or something i'm pretty sure.) Finally we ended the evening at Lan quai Fong where we sat for a while and listend to everything from Michael Jackson to the Eagles to Usher to Justin Timberlake and the Blackeyed Peas....Very little consistency to their music selection here. It wasn't just oldies or just new music. Not simply slow jams or upbeat tunes just this massive mixture with a foot in every genre of music and a hand in each era.... very interesting....

Today was outting day in program so we headed to The Museum of Costal Defense followed by lunch at Helena May and then finished the day off by a visit to the peak ( that's right this was my 2nd time to to the peak in 2 days and my 3rd time over all but keep in mind it was my first time during the day so I mean lets just count it as my first then because it's like seeing it in a whole new way... ) After a long weekend I'm simply exhausted and ready for another weekend! Tomorrow is our last day of program and then Friday we're touring the mother's choice facilities and meeting with people from all the services offered. I will attempt to put up pictures in next day or so of Macau and Jon's visit. ALSO HARRY POTTER- That's my plan for tonight! Although it might be a bit odd with Cantanese subtitles I DON"T CARE! Hope everyones doing well!

Cheers
Tina