Hong Kong

My sister and I were skyping today and she asked if I had looked at her blog. When I did look at it was very cute and had good information and was funny and I looked at mine and realized that I hadn't posted in a while. The reason being that I had no idea what to post about. After reading her blog I decided to pick one at random and talk about it. This is a long one...buckle up. 

Hong Kong is where I had to go to get my work visa. Before I just had a visitor visa but now I can legally work here. Yay! I was supposed to be there only three days to get my visa which seemed like not enough time to me. I was wrong. Here is how it went.

Getting There

When I arrived in China it was night. I had to find a way to go from the airport to my hotel and realized that my school had not arranged a car for me. I walked around aimlessly with my backpack, a gym bag, and my purse which were getting heavier by the minute. After walking down a flight of stairs and walking across the airport I found a bus service. When I asked if they could take me to my hotel they pointed me to the help desk. The help desk pointed me down another flight of stairs, the next help desk pointed me outside, where I found the ticket counter. My school had given me 5000 Hong Kong dollars but only in 1000 dollar bills. (I didn't know it was a thing either.) I handed the lady my money and she pointed to a sign that read, "We don't accept 1000 dollar bills." I paid with my American credit card. Why not my Chinese credit card? I couldn't tell you except that NO ONE ACCEPTS CHINESE CREDIT CARDS IN HONG KONG. It makes no sense to me since Hong Kong is technically China. We will get into that later. I get on the bus and go to my bus stop.
It seemed like it would be simple to walk from my bus stop to the hotel but it was not. I was lost for 20 minutes. I aimlessly walked around again. Hennessy Road was where I was headed but when I followed the signs they lead me to alley ways. Still lugging the bags, my phone not working (Chinese phone not working in technically China), I headed to McDonald's. The reason being that I was hungry and I knew there would be wifi. Bless McDonald's because that is how I found my directions to get to my hotel.

The Hotel

When you go to a hotel in Hong Kong you have to make a deposit first. The deposit for Ozo Wesley was 1500 which the school told me beforehand it would be that much. When you check out they will give the money back minus any expenses. They asked me if I wanted breakfast all three days and I said yes. Each meal was about 60 Hong Kong dollars. To put that into perspective it is 10 Hong Kong Dollar to one US dollar. That means each breakfast was all you can eat for $6. Yes please. The service was awesome there, they got me taxis, and gave me directions when needed. It was western style too but more British than American. The plugs were British and spelling was in the UK way. However, they don't accept Euros or pounds...only USD. I could not tell you why. 

The Visa

The visa office opens at 9:00 am and I was told to be there before then. So I came at 8:30 and there was a line and security. It wasn't a big deal. The big deal was, you guessed it, paperwork. I walk in and this woman in front of me asks if I know what I am doing. I tell her no. She shows me the forms on the side and tells me to take a few and fill them out since most people are told they fill them out incorrectly. I do so which takes maybe 40 minutes. Admittedly I had no idea what boxes to check for some so I left them blank thinking I could ask someone for help. This is not the thing to do. Next step is going up to these men who give you a ticket with a number. Once your number is called you can see a Visa representative. In order to get a ticket these men check out your form so I thought I was good as they looked over mine and even checked the boxes for me. That wasn't so bad I thought to myself. Next I waited for the 50 people in front of me to get their numbers called (not exaggerating it was literally 50 people). When it was about noon I got called up to the window, the representative looks over my form for two seconds and circles all the mistakes. There were a lot. She tells me how to fill it out very quickly and before I can ask her a question she calls the next number and I am back to square one. Naturally I call my school and I ask for help. I was supposed to put down an inviter, their address, how they knew me. Then I asked what box was I supposed to check, company employee or other? The representative told me I could only do single entry but what does that mean? (I still don't know.) I go up take another number and wait but here is the thing...during noon to two o'clock only one of twelve people are working. The place closes at four. I thought, there is no way I am going to make it. Of course when all twelve people are back at their stations it gets moving again and I do see a representative. 

She looks over the form for two seconds and says, "Would you like to pick up your visa tomorrow or the day after tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?"

"Okay it will be done by 3:00 pm." 

I walked away stunned. 

Next day at 3:00 I ask if I need a ticket. The men tell me no and point me to a window. I pay 1400 Hong Kong to get my visa and then I have it. In my hands. I walk out utterly amazed. 

Tourist Stuff

Near my hotel I decide to do a few fun things. According to the map the hotel gave me there is a temple and two parks and a zoo. I decide I can walk to them. For the temple I walked past it before realizing it was the Buddhist temple. It was very small and there were signs that said no pictures were allowed inside. I took them outside instead. 

Next was Wan Chai park which was super cute. They had a place to donate clothes and food, a workout jungle gym for the elderly, tennis courts, and a pond designed for racing boats in. I do not know of any other park that caters to so many people's needs. Not to mention it was handicap friendly, in fact almost every single building, park, and street was handicap friendly. The doors don't have those crazy blocks, cross walks had beepers for blind pedestrians, and even park/road signs had braille written on them! I have not even seen that in America. 

Look how cool the paintings are for trash and the different types of recycling?!?

Day two I decided to go to Stanley Market as it came up as TOP TEN THINGS TO DO IN HONG KONG on several websites. I decide to take a taxi there since it is a 20 minute ride. I did not realize it would be so expensive and that they don't accept credit cards so I used my company money to pay the taxis (I paid my school back). It was not until the final day that I learned there was a subway that goes through the entirety of Hong Kong Island and even under the water to main land China. My taxi was 150 Hong Kong one way and a one way subway ticket is 5 Hong Kong. *Jim from The Office stares into camera*

Anyways, the taxi driver drops me off and I am stumped. I get dropped off at these shacks with these sweaty barely dressed people with bad teeth. One is selling art but doesn't accept cards (I was not going to spend company money on souvenirs) and the other is selling coconuts to drink (I did use company money to buy that). I am dumbstruck because this place is awful then I turn a corner and...it is magical. The people speak English, they are nice, and the stuff is stupid cheap! I buy two paintings and a bunch of souvenirs because they all accept American credit cards, baby! Never been in the area and not knowing where I was going I wonder to Stanley Market Pier which was beautiful. They have a Buddhist temple on the bay and restaurants which were cheap and yummy. I eat dim sum for the first time and it comes with beer for only 16 USD. I buy lychee iceream and get a taxi home. 10/10 would do again. 

Me and my coconut. It was delicious. Worth company money.

The pier! You can see the flags that belong to the temple.

The final place where I went that was nearby was Hong Kong Park. On the map it looked far away so I had planned on taking a taxi but when I asked the hotel worker he told me it only a five minute walk. Sure enough it was! There was a tea museum, a children's conservatory, restaurant, and aviary in the park plus a lot more. It is 20 acres big. 

One thing to note is that when I was in the tea museum it was a bit eerie. It doesn't look Chinese because it isn't. It was built by British forces and was where all the British officers would hang out and in the 1980s (not that long ago!) they made it into a tea museum. If you know your history you will know that the British owned Hong Kong until the 1990s and gave it back to China. Technically Hong Kong is China but Hong Kong considers themselves to be their own country. They have their own money, different customs, and most people speak English. This is why Chinese phones don't work there, why you don't need a VPN, and why they only accept Hong Kong dollars...and US dollars. Again I have no idea why that is. 

There was a competition a few years ago to design the most unique tea pots and cups. These are some of the samples. Yes even the creepy clown is a working tea pot. 

All teapots and cups. 

The Way Home

Immediately after the museum I had lunch at a pretty nice restaurant in the park and headed to the hotel to get my bags and check out. I ask if I can get a taxi and the hotel worker tells me there is a subway DIRECTLY BEHIND THE HOTEL which can take me there. A ticket to go from the hotel to the stop to get to the airport was 5 Hong Kong dollars. It cost 115 Hong Kong dollars to take me from the stop to the airport. I thought it was dumb but regardless. I get off the subway and head to the airport. I get to the correct gate to print off my boarding pass (that is a thing here and maybe in big airports IDK I flew out of Omaha, Nebraska). The boarding passes will not print so I go to the help desk, I check tube that my paintings were stored in, and considered if I should check my other bags. I decide not to which was a mistake because they were big, heavy, and at a few points the gym bag zipper burst open due to the weight and I had to realign the zipper. If I checked it, it probably would have burst open when they throw the luggage onto the plane but if I checked my heavy backpack my awkwardness and weight would have been much improved. I get through all three (yes three) points of security and across the entire airport to my gate barely on time. From there a bus takes us to the plane and we board by walking up a flight of stairs onto the plane. 

So on the plane they play a movie for us but you can't turn it off or even hear it, so you rely on the tiny closed captions to see what is going on. I am all about movies but they played a rated R film on the plane called Battle of Memories. I mean, there were literally kids sitting behind me and it got so graphic that I had to look away. I am squeamish so maybe that doesn't mean anything but the guy literally swallowed a razor blade so...I think I was justified. However, it was an interesting plot and I didn't see how it ended (because the plane landed) and I might want to finish it later. 

Overall, Hong Kong is a cool place. I would like to go back to the places I couldn't visit like the Jade Market or Victoria Park. Here's to next time!