Surprises

We've made it halfway across the world, still in one piece and still liking each other.  I think we'll count that as an accomplishment.

So far, it's been uneventful and a perfectly normal trip (as much normal as one can have when she is traveling so far away from home).  We've definitely had a few suprises along the way though.

Surprise #1
Our flight from Chicago to Hong Kong actually was an Arctic flight.  We flew north through Canada and acrced up so we were actually north of Anchorage, Alaska then across parts of Russia and down to Hong Kong.  The sun never set aside from perfectly layered ribbons of pink, red, and orange which was a lovely thing.

Surpise #2
Upon arriving in Hong Kong, we headed to our hotel room and found that our room lights were actually dependent upon our hotel passcard.   It was very dark in the hallway and we entered a dark hotel room so it took some fumbling around to discover that you have to insert your passcard into a slot in the wall and leave it in order to switch the lights on in the room.

Suprise #3
The hotel in Hong Kong was actually sandwiched between the coast and the mountains.  It was a very unique setting, just tucked under the mountain.  When we arrived, it was dark in Hong Kong and while things were lit up, we did not see exactly where we were until morning.  When we pulled back the curtains in the morning, the sun was not quite up yet so things were a bit hazy but we could make out the outline of the mountain and had that feeling of wondering how we could have missed something so large.

Suprise #4
Photo taking is apparently not allowed at Hong Kong public gardens.  Or maybe it is and we just were discovered by a grouchy park woman.  We had a few hours on Sunday morning so we took advantage of the easy layout surrounding the hotel and walked around.  The hotel was next to a huge outlet mall (Kate Spade, Adidas, Coach, etc.) but also provided easy access to sidewalks and nearby parks.  Lots of people out and about shopping, walking, and exercising.  The local parks are set up with great walking paths, fixed exercise equipment, and tai chi gardens.  The first park was also home to basketball and volleyball courts and an all weather turf soccer field.  There was a handful of people about at the first park exercising and we were of course not photographing people.  (Just a photo of D by the soccer field and then a couple of photos of a Bird of Paradise plant that was blooming.)  However upon taking the last photo, a woman park employee politely told us no photos.  And so we stopped.














Suprise #5
Someone may or may not have paid $30 for a large package of dried mango and a large package of Chinese candy when converting Hong Kong dollars to US dollars in her head.  Needless to say, we will savor the dried mangoes as if they were the most delicious thing we've ever eaten.

Suprises are just part of travel, just part of the letting go of being able to control every thing that happens.  Today will be no exception.  We'll be meeting Zeke so I'm sure we'll encounter some suprises along the way.