Hong Kong, You're Ace

I know, I'm a terrible blogger/daughter/sister/niece/cousin/friend/acquaintence. But in my defense, I've been spending about two hours a day on the internet trying to find a sublet in NYC. So far, I have not been successful. How do people not already living in NYC ever find housing? Boo 'urns.

Anyways, the last time I wrote I was in Tibet. Now, I am in Hong Kong. I took the super new, awesome, fast train from Lhasa to Beijing. The train was 48 hours long. I don't know why I thought it would be cool to take a train for 48 hours, a train is just a train no matter how fancy. But the first half was really nice. The landscape was gorgeous and I got to see more of Tibet. The second day was not so interesting, but that's ok. I spent a couple days in Beijing and hung out with more Americans in one night than I have in the past nine months. I also saw my first Starbucks! That was another culture shock.

I find traveling in China extremely stressful. Everyone thinks traveling in India is hard, but it's super easy. Everyone speaks some English, signs are in English, and there are no rules, you just go and do. But in China, there are fifty rules if you want to do anything and there's no one who speaks English who will help you or explain the rules to you. Let's just give a "random example"...say you want to book a plane ticket to Hong Kong. Somehow, the travel agency can only hold your reservation for a day, but they can't print the ticket in the office (for some random reason) and they have to print it in another office. But the other office is already closed, so basically, you can't book your ticket and you have to wait on standby and just hope that a seat will open up on the day that your Chinese visa will expire. *deep breath* Yea, I was a little stressed out that day. I admire anyone traveling in China who does not speak Mandarin. But I'll come back and travel around China one day.

Now I'm in Hong Kong and it's nice to be back. At least I partially understand what people are saying and I can communicate somewhat. It has relieved some of the home sickness. I have five whole days here to myself and I don't know what I'll do. I guess eat, go shopping, and work on growing my hair out. Grow! Grow! You can do it! Right now, it's about an inch long and sticks up everywhere. I look like a Chia Pet. Ch-ch-ch-Chia! I don't really know what to do with it. But yea, I love Hong Kong. I don't care if people say there's no culture and it's just another city, or if there's a freaking roundabout every 500 m. Hong Kong has the best food, is super convenient, and has my grandmother. Hong Kong, you're ace.