Of All Days to Forget my Hand Sanitizer

was today and I think we crossed the path of at least 2.3 million people. Maybe that says something great about how far I've come with my germ obsession or maybe I'm just jet lagged. Either way, every store owner looked at me like I was crazy when I asked for hand sanitizer. Must be an American thing.

Hong Kong is just like you picture it would be. Buildings, tall ones, everywhere. People EVERYWHERE. Cars everywhere. But what you don't expect is how clean it is. And it's so well organized. Everything has a place and it stays there.

We took the train from our island to Hong Kong island. The first stop was the Peak Tram where you take this tram up to the top of the island. The slope is something crazy like 45 degrees. It's nutty. The shoreline of Hong Kong is flat and full of all the buildings you see and then in the back ground you see this huge tropical mountian...thing Hawaii. It's a weird mix. So we get to the top of Hong Kong and the first thing we see is a McDonalds and a Starbucks. Figures.

After that we just headed back down to walk around the city. It's weird because Hong Kong was under British rule until 1997 so all the streets are named Salisbury or Nathan or Ashley Street but there are very Chinese people walking on them. The streets are lined with businessmen in Wall Street and high, hing-end stores: Hermes, Etro, Dunhill, Lacoste, Louis Vuitton. Every car you pass is a Lexus or Mercedes or Bentley. I guess if you have money to have a car here you have a lot of money.

We then went to Kowloon Island which is the bigger island right across from Hong Kong Island. Still nice but a step down. Then you go further into Kowloon Island and we hit the Ladies Market. Ugh. Nightmare. I thought I would love it but it was like 1 million flea markets connected with duck on a stick stands. I mean, glad we saw it, but no thanks for going back.

Tomorrow we are going to see the giant Budda and the monestary. Should be interesting. It's the giant Budda you see in all the pictures of China. Oh, forgot the most interesting thing we saw today. So Jerod and I head down to the "subway" thinking we are going to find a train. We keep walking and never see a train. All they have are these flat escalators that quickly take you under the road to the other side. Well, come to find out, that is the subway. Just a bunch of moving walkways taking you underground. So weird.

Anyway, we are pooped. Hope to sleep through the night again. Until tomorrow!