Hello everyone!

Hannah here,with a slightly belated post on our activities during the last few days.  Meghan has already told you about the bullet train, so I won't bore you with more details, but suffice to say it was a very pleasant traveling experience.

One of the most exciting things about being in Hong Kong for many of us is having a lot of free time to explore, so all of our experiences differ greatly.  Unfortunately, you guys will only get a small picture of all of the activities we did, because everyone isn't blogging every day.  Adventure waits around every corner in this city, and with the help of a well-designed metro system (known as the MTR), we are able to explore it all.

Here is a picture of Rebecca (left) and I in the lobby of our hotel on the first afternoon.  So much excitement!

The first evening,due to the hours of rest I had on the bullet train, I was antsy to explore.  A few friends and I took the bus to the MTR station, which we rode to the popular Jordan district.  Sidenote: the juxtaposition of English and Cantonese names is very intriguing.  As an example with sequential MTR stops: Nam Cheong, Olympic, Kowloon, Hong Kong, Central.

Anyway, once we arrived, we wandered for a few minutes before settling on a moderately busy hole-in-the-wall restaurant.  I have a few food allergies, so traveling is sort of like a less deadly game of Russian roulette, but I have been very pleasantly surprised by my experience this trip; I've tried a lot of things and had no ill reactions yet!  Hong Kong is no exception; I have been able to find a delicious rice noodle soup almost everywhere that causes no problems.

After a delicious dinner, the group broke into smaller groups to wander the city.  My friend Jonny and I walked around the district we were in for a few hours, and stumbled upon many attractions such as the renowned Temple Street Night Market, a temple, and some huge malls.  We also encountered my favorite thing about Hong Kong: the smoothie vendor Hui Lau Shan (http://www.hkhls.com/).  So delicious!  My personal favorite is H1, which is mango juice, coconut juice, chunks of fresh mango, and sweet rice balls called sago that resemble boba.  There's only one in the US, in San Francisco, so I might need to move there after graduation.

There is a poor-quality (sorry!) phone photo of my favorite drink.  Highly recommended.

Anyway, that is an example of a typical day in Hong Kong.  Other typical adventures include amusement parks, seeing the city fromVictoria Peak, shopping for all sorts of things, and wandering around parks and museums.  We are having a great time.