CHINA!
Super long time since
I've updated, but we've had some time off and we actually have
something
cool to blog about...
HONG KONG!
After a 15 hour flight of movies, sleep and snacks, I arrived in Hong Kong to a surprisingly large amount of English speaking advertisements and shops. It made getting around so easy.
That being said, first thing we did was hop on a train to head to the Po Lin Temple...
This temple is a large Buddha that sits on top of the hills of Hong Kong that are surrounded by a village of shops and eateries in China's traditional customs. The most famous way to even get to this attraction is via a large cable car that can fit up to 14 people that travels about 5.7km from its base to the village.
The cable cars offered breathtaking views of the rolling mountains, Hong Kong airport, and
waterfalls all the way to the top of the hill. They even took pictures of us in the cable car. I definitely splurged on items from this temple because the view from the top as well as the eerie sense of calmness among lots of people made this one of the coolest places I've visited.
As we climbed to
the Buddha, we counted the stairs at
390 steps one way. At the top of the stairs there was a level of
female statues, three
each way. It took two levels higher of stairs to get to the base of the main Buddha. They didn't want us to touch or take pictures of anything inside.
After we hiked down and enjoyed the cable car in
the opposite direction back to the subway... we went to the new Hong Kong Disneyland. Unfortunately we didn't arrive there until 6:30pm, so we were arriving during their Halloween nighttime festivities. I didn't mind it but I wanted the classic Disney feel.
Also, they didn't have a bunch of my favorite rides (like Indiana, Haunted mansion, Pirates, etc) Although they had space
mountain an
d made it devilish for
Halloween as well. I
definitely don't recommend making a trip out to Hong Kong JUST for their
Disneyland... but if you are here, it is definitely interesting to see their treehouse and other stuff made to the Chinese culture.
The following day, Rachael and I took a 30 min cab ride down
to the streets of China where they set up street vending shops and sell things and dirt cheap prices. Similar to downtown LA, you can bargain and deal with the vendors to get your price of choice. They even offer to take you to their "showroom" where you can get either stolen goods or illegal business happens. We were to told be weary of these places because they take you to alleys or private rooms to show the goods... and dangerous things can happen. Rachael and I soon learned that you don't even need to go to these places to feel like your life is being threatened... As we were looking at a top, the vendor lady pulled it off the rack and proceeded to type numbers into a calculator repeating "good deal" over and over again. We kept trying to tell her we weren't even sure if we wanted it to begin with, let alone start bargaining the price... we finally lost interest quick and told her no thank you... it was then that she grabbed my arm violently and continued to ask "what price, what price??" Rach and I looked at her like she was crazy and kept trying to leave... she followed us for a bit, bet then returned to her stand. I love China, but those vendors are relentless about it. They wanted to make a sale no matter what.
Now, I'm writing from the venue in Auckland New Zealand going through production rehearsals for our opening night tomorrow night. New Zealand is beautiful and green, raining one moment, bright and sunny the next. I'll update soon on the shows and any adventures in this country :)
