Just my luck.

For a while there...I didn't think I was ever going to here. FOURTEEN hours on a plane is enough to make you want to pluck your eyes out and learn to juggle blind.

I'll give you a the lowdown from my meltdown on Vancouver on.

So I get on the plane red faced and puffy eyed with much hesitation. My flight attendant directed me to my seat, which wasn't the one I had previously booked online. Thankfully though, it was an aisle seat, we tall people really enjoy being able to stick your legs into the aisleway from time to time. There were 2 seats, then an aisle, then 4 seats (I was on the end of one of the 4), then another aisle, then two more seats...got an idea? Luckily there was only one other person in my row of four and she was on the other end.

Alright, so as soon as we get on the plane I'm ready to take a little nap...all that crying really wore me out. As soon as I'm about to shut my eyes, one of the flight attendants suggested that I wait up a while for lunch. Fine, I'll stay up a while.. Turns out lunch wasn't served until almost 2 hours later and by then I was starving. I took half an Ambien right after dinner so that I could sleep right away (still nighttime in Hong Kong) and try to get on their schedule while still on the plane. The ambien didn't work all that great for me, I think I was still just too nervous. Well, that and the fact that my seat only reclined about 3 inches back from its original position..ugh! Oh well, I guess that's what I get for paying under $700 for the flight.

The plane had a few TV's, but nothing like on the plane that I took from LAX to Vancouver with each person having their own touch-screen TV in front of them. I didn't so much care for the first two movies, but watched "Definitely Maybe" which again made me think of mom. It was a good movie and came on toward the end of the flight, so it kept me awake which was important as I arrived in HK at 6:30 pm their time.

The Hong Kong airport is worth seeing in itself. That sucker is friggin AWESOME! Here's a fun fact for ya: the HK airport hardly uses any A/C, instead they created the building to have it's own natural airflow...cool eh? Customs went totally smooth, nothing like the pain in the butt when you come back to the US. As soon as I got to baggage claim I saw my luggage so that was great. In the baggage claim they have local phones that you can use for FREE, so I called Ka Wai to tell her I was about to leave baggage claim. Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself..let me go ahead and "introduce" you to Josh and Ka Wai as they will be talked about often.

Josh is a buddy of mine that I met last summer while living in Atlanta. When I decided that I wanted to move to Australia, I got on Facebook and looked to see if I had any friends down there...and sure enough he was there! He decided to move down there back in December for a year, similar to what I'm doing. He is also the one who talked me into backpacking SE Asia with him. As far as personality goes, he's very laid back (sometimes too laid back) and quite a smartass at times...oh, and he's SUPER A-D-D.

Ka Wai is Josh's friend and former co-worker that we are staying with in Hong Kong. Although she lives in Syndey now, she is back at home for a few weeks which worked out perfectly for us. She is really outgoing, energetic, funny, and an incredible pastry chef!

Ok, so Ka Wai tells me that she'll be there in a few minutes and before I know it, this little asian girl is running up to me with her arms wide open! I wrap my arms around her with a big hug; what a great welcome! We hop into her car (a BMW, mind you) and head to her house. As we're driving, you begin to see TONS of skyscrapers in the distance. I begin to take my camera out and she chuckles at me "this is just the countryside...we're nowhere near the city." WHAAAT!?!? Countryside!? She later explains to me that all of those buildings are residential. Most people in HK live in apartments, it's rare to have a home. We finally arrive to her house 30ish minutes later. it's 4 stories high, but not very wide. The house is perfectly clean (they have a live in maid) and quite modern inside. She shows me to my room but suggests that I leave my luggage and backpack in the living room...good idea. The room is no more than 10x10 with TWO beds side by side. Ah, the luxuries that we have back in the states...I'm not used to such cramped quarters quite yet. We sit down and visit for a bit as we wait for Josh to call us and pick him up from the Ferry. By this time, all I want to do is go to BED, but I do my best to keep my eyes open. Josh FINALLY calls at 9:30 and tells us to come pick him up at the ferry. What ferry you may ask? Instead of flying directly into HK, Josh flew into Macau (the Vegas of East) which is just across Victoria bay...around an hour ride. We hop in the car and take another 30 min drive over to get him and then wait another half hour before he finally shows up. By this point, it's taking all that I have to keep my darn eyes open and I'm starting not to make any sense in what I'm saying. We get back to the house and have a late supper and I finally get to bed around midnight.

One more thing I forgot to add.. Ka Wai's house is LITERALLY 5 minutes away from the 2008 Olympic Equestrian Games! As we were driving past her house, I saw this huge stadium from the distance that was all lit up. When she told me what it was, I thought I was going to lose it! I haven't been following the Olympics like I usually due, due to all of my traveling; so I had no idea that the equestrian part was even here! Once we got to her house, we looked up the schedule and wouldn't you know it...last night was the final night. I was really hoping to get tickets to one of the events. Oh well.

Oh, one more thing...Ka Wai casually mentioned that a typhoon was headed our way, but not to worry because it was just a level 3.

I wake up around 5:30 this morning to howling winds and tree branches hitting my window. For some reason, I can't fall back asleep so I go downstairs and turn on the TV (they have a few english channels here). Turns out that level 3 has turned into a level 8! All schools, offices, and public transport has been completelty SHUT DOWN. What the heck! I'm in a foriegn country halfway across the world and now I have to deal with a hurricane?!? I thought I wouldn't have to worry about this crap once I left Louisiana! I finally got back to sleep around 8 and woke up again around 10:30.

We've stayed inside the house all day today, which sucks because Hong Kong looks like a really interesting place. I was able to get my backpack all situated for my trip, as well as make a more details interary. Turns out that we're probably not going to pack in as much as we had hoped. I'm pretty alright with it though, as I'll most likely go back to that area before returning to the States.

My nerves aren't nearly as bad now that I'm finally here (even with this typhoon whirling around us at this very moment.)

Oh, and it's been moved up to a level NINE!


Wade