Z is for Zig Zag

It seems like I should wrap up the A-Z blog challenge with some great thought but I feel like I've used up all my words in writing about Shanghai-Taipei-Hong Kong.

Well not all my words. Just all the words associated with my recent trip. I managed to stretch out two weeks of travel into a month's worth of blogging, and while I didn't post all of my 1000+ photos I did squeeze more than 250 into this challenge.

Z is for Zig Zag

'a course that proceeds by sharp turns in alternating directions'

Zig Zag Bridge, Shanghai China

Well that sounds pretty much like my blog everyday so how about a list of ten random zig zag thoughts to wrap up the A-Z?

1. I fretted a lot about the super long haul flights prior to my trip. I tried to commit them to prayer but more often than not it was fretting. We had two 15 hour flights plus two flights in country with checked luggage and pre-arranged airport pick ups. People spoke Mandarin, not English. Every single bit of this went off without a hitch. Why do I fret about stuff that may never happen?

2. The other side of the world feels like the other side of the world. There is a whole lot going on over there and we're a little bit oblivious to it from our side of the pond.

3. Travel is like opening a window just a crack. I want to push it open all the way. I want to see more.

4. The more you travel the more you realize how much of the world you will never see. There are not enough days in a year and years in a life to see all that I would love to see.

5. When it comes to traveling my hubs is a rock star.

6. I love the discipline of writing every day that the A-Z challenge presents. I might never have captured this trip with the level of detail I did had it not been for the A-Z.

7. There is something for everyone out there in the blogosphere. And I do mean everyone.

8. Writing two posts on Tuesdays and Wednesdays was a lot for me.

9. I enjoy having a theme for my A-Z posts. I'll bind these posts into their own little book and have a nice keepsake from our trip.

10. Hubs!! Where are we going next March? I'll be needing a theme for the 2013 A-Z blog challenge, ya know!

Y?

Here I go again...taking liberties with the letters, but it's Saturday and I don't normally blog on Saturdays. Plus my hubs just returned from a week in Argentina-Chile-Brazil and whenever he's on a flight landing stateside at o'dark thirty we go out to breakfast.

It's the law.

The A-Z challenge and the letter Y.

Or as some people would say-why?

Why is our pilot consulting a big ole paper map before boarding the plane? More than a little disconcerting to see since we were preparing to board that same plane.

For a fifteen hour flight home.

At least I hope we're going home.

He knows how to get there right?

He doesn't actually need to consult a paper map does he?

Can't planes practically fly themselves these days?

Just when you were thinking maybe you would like to travel with me.

Perhaps more worrisome was the fact that the agent behind the counter was doing all the pointing and talking.

I do not need to see stuff like this before I board a plane.

Hubs had to add that he's never seen it before and S and E agreed.

Ya know, I don't need to hear stuff like that either.

I'm certain there's a perfectly logical explanation.

There has to be, right?

In the meantime...

Business class.

Champagne, head phones, and a seat that goes alllllll the way back.

Wake me up when we get to New Jersey.

Or Timbuktu.

I might not like it but I sure wouldn't want to miss it either.

Gobsmacked

Today I'm going to tell you a story. It might be my favorite story from our whole entire trip. It's not a big story or a long story (although I'll likely make it so) but it is a true story and one that brings a smile to my heart.

W is for what are the odds?

On the last day of March the hubs and I were sitting in a little burger restaurant in the middle of Hong Kong with our friends G and A. We'd been out walking and talking and had taken the mid-level escalators into the central part of town. These escalators are a must-see if you're ever in Hong Kong.

Did you know Hong Kong is incredibly steep and hilly? Honestly the women here must all have great legs because you literally have to climb a mountain to get anywhere. Maybe you knew this about Hong Kong but I didn't. Since it is so steep and hilly someone had the brilliant idea to put a series of escalators and moving sidewalks smack dab in the middle of the city.

Keep in mind Hong Kong is positively teeming with people so their escalator system helps with the flow of foot traffic up and down the slopes. The mid-level escalators run downhill from 6- 10 in the morning to help with commuters traveling to work and then switch to uphill mode from 10:30 until midnight. The system consists of 20 escalators and 3 moving sidewalks with a vertical climb that's close to 450 feet. They're the longest covered escalators in the world and if you rode from beginning to end it would take you about 25 minutes.

Super cool.

But nearly impossible to capture in a photograph.

So I didn't.

Besides helping commuters get around, the central escalators are also a pretty big tourist attraction. Running all along the street beside the escalators are restaurants, bars, and shops. It was in one such little burger place that we found ourselves on this sunny Sunday afternoon at the end of March.

The little burger place had a glass front that faced the central escalators so we planted ourselves on four stools in front of the window to watch the world go by. There are more than 8 million people living in this city so there is plenty to see. Hubs hopped outside to snap a few photos and we were enjoying our french fries and chit chat when A asks, "Hey, do you think there's anybody in this city that we know?" Hmmm...good question.

As we're mulling the thought over in our heads G points to the escalator platform outside our window and says, "Well do you know that guy because he definitely acts like he knows you?"

We glance over and see two tall men standing on the platform looking back at us. Hubs noticed the taller of the two first and while he was wracking his brain trying to decide if he knew this man thru work I shouted, "Oh my goodness-that's PJ!!" which of course is not his real name but that's what he'll be called here.

PJ just so happens to be one of my most favorite boy people in all the world. He went to high school in England with my girls and spent a lot of time with daughter1 especially. My girls knew whenever his name came up I could be counted on to start talking about the beauty of arranged marriages. Other mothers do that too, right?

He happened to be in Hong Kong for the weekend and I'm wondering what are the odds that in a city of more than 8 million people on the other side of the world we'd be sitting in that little restaurant, right in front of the window, at the exact moment he passed by and happened to look over? The odds have got to be something like a thousandmillionhundred to one don't you think?

Now I'm going to insert the super freaky crazy bit here and hope he doesn't read my blog. Because even to me it sounds a little nuts and I'm the one telling it.

We haven't seen PJ in more than five years nor have we been in touch with his family, BUT...about four days prior to seeing him on the street in Hong Kong I had a dream and he was in it. In my dream he was running around Hong Kong with daughter1. Daughter1 who at this very moment is probably wishing her mother didn't blog but hey, if I can't talk about the crazy here then tell me where I can. Because this was ca-razy.

I actually woke up from that dream and sent daughter1 a text message telling her about it in that 'haha guess what kind of crazy dream I had last night' sort of way. Four days later, and here we are...standing in the middle of Hong Kong catching up face to face.

There's a word they use in England that fits nicely here and that word is gobsmacked. It means astounded... flabbergasted. It comes from the word gob meaning mouth and smacked meaning clapping the hand over in surprise.

Yep. We were all gobsmacked.

Not so much so that we didn't get a picture but gobsmacked nonetheless.

V is for Victoria Peak

If you're looking for the Wednesday Hodgepodge you'll find it here.

Let me put it this way-Hong Kong has a lot going on. Its a crazy busy city and a person could get a crick in their neck walking around here.

My word this city is high.

Which is why it was nice to get above it all and look down for a change. Victoria Peak is the highest mountain on the island proper but not the highest mountain in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong geography is slightly confusing, isn't it?

I went up to the top two different days while I was in town. Our first day in HK hubs and his colleague S went off to work so E and I rode the funicular railway up to the top of Victoria Peak. Have I mentioned how steep this city is? Once it started climbing our railroad car was almost vertical. But it is attached to a track and not hanging over a canyon by a thread so I'm game.

A funicular is also known as a cliff railway. Physics was never my best subject but essentially this means two cars are permanently attached to one another via a cable and this cable runs thru a pulley at the top of an incline. The two cars are counterbalanced so that one is going up while the other is coming down. Easy peasy. The Peak Tram opened in 1888 and was the first funicular in Asia.

All this to say, if you ever get to Hong Kong riding the funicular to the top of the mountain is a must-do. The views are stunning. When E and I went up the skies were a little bit hazy. Still, gorgeous. I read somewhere that Hong Kong has the world's largest number of skyscrapers and I think that must be true.

There's more going on up top than just the views. There's a mall of course because this is Hong Kong and in Hong Kong we shop. There are homes and apartments sprinkled here and there all the way up the mountain so it makes sense there'd be a small market, a petrol station, offices and a preschool. There's even a shout out to the Big Apple-

We did not sample so I cannot speak to the accuracy of 'New York' style.

There are lots of walking trails and paths around the mountain so E and I decided we'd take the scenic route and walk down. When I say down I mean straight down. Oh my achin' calves.

It took about an hour to walk down and we were mostly in the rain forest but every now and then we'd have to walk on the road aka take your chances with cars coming around blind curves, and you with no where to go but into the wall or over the side. Good times.

Actually it was.

How'd you like to be operating this crane perched on the literal edge of the mountain? It is high. HIGH! Really really HIGH! Yes I'm shouting. I'm just not sure the photos do it justice.

The hubs and I returned to the top of Victoria Peak with our friends G and A. We took a taxi up though because it was a holiday weekend in China and the queues for the funicular were ridicular. Ha.

We took pictures and laughed a lot. Earlier in the day we'd seen some models posing for a photo shoot-

Not to be outdone...they needed to re-create the shoot.

So fun having friends to hang out with high above the harbour.

The back side of the mountain leads to the wide open sea and the islands that comprise the rest of Hong Kong.

Shall I take your picture?

Absolutely-

Hong Kong on the first day of April was kinda picture perfect.

T is for Harbour Town aka Hong Kong

The end of April is just around the corner and you know what that means. It means we're almost to the end of the alphabet. We're not there yet, but almost...just six more posts and this A-Z blog challenge will be nothing more than a happy memory. I still have one whole entire amazing city to squeeze into those six posts so I best get started.

T is for Harbour Town

Hong Kong is special...it was here we met up with old friends and on top of that we experienced one of our very best 'it's a small small world' encounters ever. Those events will get their own post before the challenge is over.

I thought I'd kick things off in Hong Kong by introducing you to the star of the show-

Her name is Victoria Harbour and wow.

Just wow.

The harbour is situated on the South China Sea between Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula in Hong Kong. I found the two sides a little confusing at first...isn't it all Hong Kong? In a word, yes. Well then, is Hong Kong a city or a country? Hong Kong is a city in China, but their government is different than China's. It's not a country but operates sort of like it is.

All you need to know right now is that on one side of Victoria Harbor sits Hong Kong Island and on the other side sits Kowloon. There are 260+ islands that are also part of Hong Kong but we won't worry about them today.

Both Kowloon and Hong Kong Island are jam packed full of tall buildings and more tall buildings. The International Commerce center, at 108 stories is currently the 4th tallest building in the world.

I'm not sure you could work in this city if you had a fear of heights. I know for sure I wouldn't want to be a window washer in Hong Kong. Or a construction worker. Or a ferry boat captain but that's a story for another day.

Besides the tall buildings and the taller buildings you'll also find hundreds, if not thousands, of restaurants along with shops whose number I couldn't even begin to guess.

From the street market stalls to the highest end designer shops plus everything in between you quickly discover that shopping is a hobby, a pastime, a literal art form in this city.

Hubs had some shirts made while we were here because that's just what you do when you're in Hong Kong.

We stayed on the Kowloon side of the Harbour since that's where he was working and I loved the location. You could be on the Hong Kong Island side in less than ten minutes via ferry or subway and we be-bopped back and forth every day.

We stayed in the Sheraton Hong Kong Towers and they had this amazing space on the 18th floor...a bar/restaurant overlooking Victoria Harbor. We sat up there almost every night with co-workers and friends and our last night in town just the two of us. The view is positively spectacular.

More than 40 buildings take part in a permanent laser light and sound show on the harbor at 8 pm each evening. You'll see a great show from either side of the harbor. We watched it one night from the Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade which is a walkway running along the riverfront on the Kowloon side.

Near the walkway is something called the Avenue of the Stars which in essence is a Hollywood Walk of fame for Hong Kong.

Chinese film celebrities have their names and hand prints in the cement here and its a fun place to walk and admire the harbour view. Again.

Every city I've ever been in seems to have its own unique personality and Hong Kong is no different. It's old world British colony meets new world China. It's a cacophony of sights, sounds and smells. It's skyscrapers and alleys. Its steep hills and people everywhere. The bankers, the shoppers, and the vendors selling produce all share the same air and sidewalk space. It is bustling, crowded, loud.

In the middle of all this noise there is a harbor.

It's magnificent.

The harbor is why someone on a business trip with her husband falls in love with a noisy-busy city called Hong Kong.

S is for 'Sun'

Time to wrap up Taipei so I can move on to the last leg of our trek across Asia-Hong Kong. Hubs had a couple hours of free time on our last day in Taipei and since it was gorgeous and sunny we hit the streets.

Literally. There was a little neighborhood market just across the highway and thru the alley opposite our hotel...mind the motorcyclists!

Told you foreign travel wasn't for the faint of heart.

As we wandered thru this market I pondered things like why we're paranoid about setting a whole chicken, frozen solid, on a plastic cutting board reserved solely for poultry, in an air conditioned house, for so much as a minute, and here they put raw fish and chicken pieces on wooden boards in the sunshiny out of doors yet don't keel over from salmonella. Run on sentence I know but it was a run on thought.

This sweet man took a liking to me and wanted us to take a picture together. I know this because a lovely Taiwanese woman who spoke English stopped by on her bicycle to interpret. For some reason he wanted me to hold random vegetables from his stall.

He also wanted hubs and I to take a picture together and a few more random vegetables were added for good measure.

Insert travel mantra here.

In case you've forgotten my travel mantra it's- 'Just go with the flow people.'

S is for Sun Yat-sen

Here we are posing together-

Technically it's me with a statue of Sun Yat-sen who is known as the founding father of the Republic of China. Also ROC's first president so he warrants a memorial in Taipei too.

Not quite as elaborate as the Chaing Kai-shek Memorial I told you about yesterday, but not too shabby either.

There's also a changing of the guard at the Sun Yat-sen memorial so hubs did get to see that.

No blinking here either.

Speaking of the Chaing Kai-shek Memorial we wandered back by since it's a do-not-miss attraction, and hubs wanted to see it too. He was working while I was playing when I visited the first time.

While we were admiring the memorial a man approached and I thought he wanted me to take a picture of him with his wife. My big fancy camera always throws people. They think I know how to take pictures. Anyway, we did the whole pantomime thing and since I had my hands full of stuff I called the hubs over to take the photo.

Can you tell its warm?

Turns out pantomime isn't 100% effective as a communication tool because the gentleman began shaking his head no no no. What he was trying to ask was if I'd get in a picture with his wife. Blue eyes make you something of a celebrity here. Perhaps I should have removed my sunglasses?

I told hubs to get in a picture with the Mister too just because.

Now for a word about face masks. They were everywhere in Taiwan, and Shanghai too. We didn't see as many in Hong Kong but in Taiwan nearly everyone wore a mask on the subways and out and about town. They're worn primarily to protect the wear-er from germs and potential pandemics and the like but their effectiveness is questionable.

These kids were awfully cute in theirs though...I love the little cheeky one in back who's waving at us.

We spent a little time wandering thru the garden before getting back on the subway. Got a hankering for some peanut soup? No worries....the vending machine's got you covered.

We passed a bride and groom on their way to have some pictures taken. Gotta love her creative footwear!

We exited the subway close to the hotel about the time school was letting out for the day. We were surrounded by school children of all ages and watched the safety patrol in action.

When the pole is vertical it's safe to cross. When she holds the pole horizontally the kids know to stop. This is a very busy street.

We meandered thru a little park where artists were hard at work. Play? Whatever...they were quite good.

There's Taipei 101 which means we're almost home.

By home you know I mean the hotel, right?

Just in time to collect our bags and head to the airport.

Hong Kong here we come!