Hong Kong and China

My brother and I flew into Hong Kong a few days ago and are leaving today to go to mainland China to explore and visit our friend Ryan Knight who is studying abroad there. We are going to a city called Chengdu which I did not hear of until Ryan told me where he was going to study this year. Our trip so far has been pretty relaxing, with a few late nights our around Hong Kong.

My favorite thing that we have had the chance to do is meet up with my friend Jason Lam. I met him at San Jose State in a class we had together. We were both sitting near each other in my class and he was singing a song. I asked him what he was singing, and he said a hymn. After that we started to talk more and then ended up becoming good friends. A few nights ago we went over to his house for dinner and met his sister, dad, and mom. Dad and mom could not speak any English, so there was a lot of pointing and smiling. They made a great meal with fish, shrimp, soup, some different vegetables, beef, and a few other things. We also had the chance to meet with him for a few other meals. I am starting to realize more that the most important thing for me on a trip is to be able to spend time with friends and the people I am with, not to do the most amazing sightseeing. I like to travel differently than most, so if you ever have the chance to travel with me make sure you know me well first.

We were going to take a train to Chengdu from Hong Kong which would take a total of 36 hours, but we decided that we would fly instead and save the train for a shorter trip. We found that buying the flights from an American website would cost around $200-$300 dollars one way, while purchasing the tickets through a Chinese website would cost under a $100. Next time you travel make sure to look into buying flights through a website used by the people in the country your going to.

Will try to put up some pics soon of Hong Kong and keep you amazing people updated with Chengdu.

peace,

Steele