Week 8

Week 8

Where We Went: Guilin + Hong Kong

Funniest Thing We Saw:  Our Chinese tour guide Gary performed a special martial arts show for us on the top of the sightseeing tour boat on the Li River…out of nowhere.  His stretching to prepare for the performance was the funniest part.  His hilarity began when we got out of our tour van after driving to the pier and he repeatedly said, “I cannot feel my leg” in astonishment.  It had fallen asleep.

​Craziest Thing We Did:  Take the tram up to “The Peak” in Hong Kong.  Chelsea distracted herself the whole time as this train/tram scaled the steepest cliffs at a 27% grade.  

Best Thing We Did:  The Li River cruise and the Hong Kong skyline from Victoria Harbor on the Star Ferry

Tastiest Thing We Did:  Eat Chinese food at the Irish Pub in Guilin.  Kung pao chicken, sweet and sour pork and fried green beans.

Dumbest Thing We Did:  Not have enough cash to pay the bill at a restaurant when it didn’t accept credit cards and then continue the stupidity by sitting and drink long island ice teas while Adam ran around town trying to get cash out of ATMs.  

Biggest Surprise:  Hong Kong loves horse racing.  There is a huge racecourse in the center of the city and it’s PACKED and so fun!

Mystery Solved:  250k+ deaths on the road per year.  Twice as many as the US per capita.  Now it makes sense.

Coolest thing we Learned:  Hong Kong is the 4th most densely populated place in the world.  Also one of the biggest income discrepancies.

Other Updates:

• Met some Canadian and Aussie/UK folks on the Li River tour, had some beers with them in Yangshoe on a rooftop bar.
• Met a couple on their honeymoon and had lunch with them at The Peak, in Hong Kong
• Went to the Maritime Museum to learn all about Victoria Harbor’s influence on trade
• Took the double decker bus tour through Hong Kong
• Cubs won game 2 of the world series!!!
• We are no longer phased by Asia, the crazy is our new normal.
• Got stuck in construction traffic going to Guilin until a lady got out of a bus and started directing things
• Hong Kong beat out Tokyo for smallest aribnb we stayed in