Hong Kong and 5 hours to go!

Time: 6pm on Sunday, March 15 (6am on March 15th in North Carolina/Ohio/home)

So I am sitting in the Hong Kong airport, which I must say is a lovely place. It's hardly crowded, very clean, and the people are friendly and helpful. I feel like a complete tourist, and it's wonderful. I started taking pictures of random signs the moment I set foot in the airport. It's kind of surreal - outside that window that I'm sitting next to is China. It's so awesome...I wish I could escape and skip Singapore for a couple days so I can go exploring. As we flew (for 14 hours!) I saw vast expanses of ice in the Arctic and vast expanses of snow and desert in Russia/China. It was so exciting to see on the monitor that we only had 1 hour till landing. I shall never wish to sit that long again! Luckily the flight to Singapore from here is only 4 hours, and when we come home in a couple weeks we'll be traveling with the great Jet Stream to aid us. I can't wait to get to Singapore! I am so excited that I'm not even feeling tired yet. Danny, Caro, and I also got coffees for 6 american dollars...haha. Everything is in characters and people around you speak some foreign tongue that doesn't remotely sound like anything you know. It's wonderful. It smells like China too, if that makes any sense. The moment I set foot out of the plane I could tell I was in a different country. I may never want to go back to the states! Why, when there are so many wonderful places to see and explore? I want to travel forever...maybe someday.

It's funny how people talk to each other when confined to the same space for an infinite amount of time. My seatmates were very friendly and asked me about Singapore and told me to make sure I don't litter or chew gum. I can't sit for very long, so I stood in the back and a very nice gentleman talked to me for quite some time about various things as we peered out the window from time to time and speculated what the terrain was doing as we followed it along. I am amazed sometimes at how genial people can actually be. Maybe it's the culture here? The majority of the people on the plane were of asian persuasion, and they were all very friendly. Maybe everything just looks better on the other side - the grass is greener, one might say. I get bored easily with things I know well, and I would gladly be away from the US for years if I could get away with it! I'm sure my mom wouldn't let that happen...haha.

Well, I shall probably write again when I arrive in Singapore, or perhaps tomorrow at any rate. I will look forward firstly to taking a long shower! Then on Monday my adventures truly begin. I can't wait.