Chapter 21

This is the last morning in Asia. And I'm very ready to come home.

Yesterday afternoon, my mom and I had one more "cultural enrichment" experience in Hong Kong. We decided we were going to go to the Jade Market. Looking at where it was located relative to our hotel, we could very well have walked there, but after walking all over Hong Kong Island yesterday morning, we felt that taking a taxi there was a far more attractive option.

We were dropped off, and it was like landing in a whole different planet. There were very VERY few non asian people walking around the streets, and the Jade Market consisted of two covered pavillions where there were individual booths set up selling jade. While the souvenir hawkers in China were persistent, these Hong Kongers were relentless. In fact at one point, a woman had a jade (whether we know if it was true jade or not we don't know) bracelet on my mom faster than you could shake a stick at.

We then decided that we'd had enough, and started walking to find a cab to take us back to the hotel. Well, we had to walk several blocks through a less than desirable area of Hong Kong, where we saw all kinds of unusual food things like pressed duck, mystery meat, we walked briefly (like 15 seconds) through the Temple Night Market (before the smells caught up with us), and found the first cab. We showed the driver the card where we needed to be taken, which was printed in Chinese (Cantonese) and English. Even WITH the address and directions in multiple language, he still didn't have a clue, so we shooed him off.

We then got another cab, and the man knew where to go. We made it back to the hotel, and got ready for dinner. We ate dinner, came back to the room, and then started getting everything packed for our journey home. I guess we did have a lot of extra stuff with us, and we certainly needed the extra suitcase.

We had an early night, and this morning, we're up bright and early. We're getting things all ready to go, and are waiting for our driver to take us to the Hong Kong International Airport, and look forward to making it to Chicago at about 2:30 p.m.

It's been a great time here in Asia, but I am ready to be able to sleep in my own bed, not have to worry about packing, repacking, and living out of a suitcase, and looking forward to having my "noodle girl" Dixie curled up next to me on the sofa, or getting lots of wet kisses by my "big lur" Dillon when I get home.

And....I don't think I'll be eating any Asian food for a while. I think a nice big greasy hamburger and french fries sounds FANTASTIC right about now......

Anyhow....see y'all back in the States!