Goodbye Guangzhou, Hello Hong Kong

Today we went to the Six Banyan Buddhist Temple. We here also there during Mason's first visit, and definitely wanted to return.



Everything was the same as last time, except maybe it seemed a bit smaller. As usual, it was amazing to get off the narrow, busy street and step through the gate into a quiet, peaceful area. We could have been outside the city for all we knew.



We burned incense at three different areas - probably Mason's highlight this time around, as I let him light them up. We had the blessing of the baby in the main temple room where three large Buddha's looked on: one for Past, Present, and Future. We kept it short and sweet, and were back at the hotel by 11 for a leisurely final packing of everything.

A little before 2pm I ran to McDonalds to get everyone a bite to eat before we checked out at 2:30. Low and behold I saw the Comfort family grabbing some food, too! They were eating there, and I don't know how they keep all 4 kids happy at any given time. The dad was back in line to get a second round of food for some kids, the oldest one was sitting in a tiny booth with food in one hand and his laptop open for the other (He always has to be online whenever possible). And his second oldest was clarifying exactly how his order should go.

At 2:30 we were all checked out. The Comfort family had four monster bags, and we had 3 monster bags packed. Our guide took us to the train station for our 2 hour trip to Hong Kong. He warned us what to expect, but it was definitely a crazy 10 minutes. We hopped out in the middle of the street (as close as we could get to the curb) and put our three suitcases and 4 backpacks in a pile on the sidewalk, while the Comforts did the same with their bags and four kids. We were instantly harangued by the porters. Apparently they confiscate all the carts in the area, and then charge about $70 per suitcase to cart it to your departure gate. We all said No, but they kept asking, even trying to make friends with the kids. Mason wasn't having it. I had to physically get in between them and calm Mason down. It took some time to get everyone's bags from the middle of the street to our curb, attracting at least 6 porters.

Then we started wheeling everything. We were told it would take a solid 5 minutes. I think we all started with our own suitcase, but eventually Mason's arms gave out, Weston started crying and Heather had to use both arms. In the end I was wheeling 3 suitcases, 2 stacked on each other, one being pushed (doesn't steer well). There was a huge sense of urgency, 100's of people around us, cutting in front of us, multiple escalators to go up, Mason crying that his backpack was too heavy, I also ended up wearing 3 backpacks. The Comfort family was faring no better, as the dad also ended up being the pack mule by the end. We then got to a huge line at security, held everything up there while we had so much to get scanned. Then we sat for 25 minutes, and the people disappeared and the security line was non-existant. Not sure where all that urgency came from!!

We sat here because this is where our guide left us to go to the US Embassy again to pick up our child's Passport and newly issued USA VISA. Nothing like the last minute. I don't know what we would have done if there was a hiccup. But as promised (and probably done 100's of time before) our guide came back and handed us our final piece of paperwork. NO MORE GUIDE here on out!

We then walked from security to our gate and waited to board (one hour). Then walked a long ways again to the train. Just a shorter version of what happened earlier. The way people were rushing to the train and cutting in, I was beginning to wonder if we were fighting for standing room vs. riding on the roof! Comfort family was in Car 8, we were in Car 2. We finally got on the train, and everything was fine. Big seats, lots of room above for our luggage, and not crouded at all. Thankfully Heather had the final say of when we got off, because I would have gotten off way too early at Donggguan, then again at Shenzhen, and a few other stops in between. It was dark before we got there. To pass the time, Mason and I put Star War stickers in their guide magazine, trying to make it look real. I like the thought of someone seeing an ad for a hotel with a monster in the hotel swimming pool, and Yoda attacking a chef in a restaurant's ad.






A little confusion once we got there. First, I had to convert half our Chinese Yuan to US Dollars and the other half to Hong Kong Dollars. Got a horrible rate at the bus station. Then, we only had the English address to our Marriot Hotel. Two different areas to get on a taxi, both with important yet indecipherable signs showing how different they were. Luckily the Visitor area had someone who could write the address in Cantonese. I think it was a literal translation, though, because the driver had a problem understanding it. Handed the sheet to the Comfort family for them to use on the 2nd cab.

The drive was awesome. (Almost got in the driver's seat, as this was a British colony once, and the cars & roads are different here). Traffic wasn't killer, lots of city street night life. Very modern city. Quite a mix of nationalities here. This is where I'd want to do business. We eventually crossed miles of bridges, saw huge ships in the Sea, and lots of skyscrapers. Too bad it was so dark!

247 Hong Kong Dollars later we arrived at the right hotel. Comfort family showed up pretty quickly and talked nothing but the nachos at the Bar & Grill restaurant, so we met them there. This was our last chance to talk, as their flight was 9 am, and ours was 11 am. We can't believe they had one more stop & day in New York City. Even talked about maybe seeing the Statue of Liberty. I wish them luck on that - I just wanted to get home and sleep. While we waited, Mason got his 3rd wind, and got goofy, and danced to the loud music. It was about 9:30 pm. I don't think we left there til about 11pm due to slow service.



Mason said he wasn't tired, wanted a story, so I started telling him what we did that day and what we'd be doing the next....ZZZZzzzzz. He was out quick.