July 18-19, 2009 – Day 205-206 – Hong Kong
Well, we slept most of the day away due to our apparent aversion to fixing our jetlagged bobyclocks. Otherwise, we regret to report a rather dull day of rain and also planning our first month in China and little else. More eating and sleeping…Hmm… pretty typical stuff. But hey—we leave for mainland on Monday!
Just a rainy workday/night
July 17, 2009 – Day 204 – Hong Kong
Still intensely jet-lagged. Can’t seem to get to bed til 3am and can’t seem to wake up til noon or 1pm. But, the good news: we got our Chinese visas today! It was incredibly easy, much to our relief, but cost a little bit extra.
The view down our block
July 16, 2009 – Day 203 – Hong Kong
Somehow we got up before noon today and dropped off our visa applications at the visa agency. They seem to know what they are doing so hopefully everything will go smoothly and we can pick them up tomorrow.
A Junk (seriously that's what it's called) in the harbor
July 15, 2009 – Day 202 – Hong Kong
After a confusing morning of more attempts to find the Mirador Mansion with both a faulty map and utterly incorrect directions (written by the hostel!), we finally had success thanks to Saben’s mad navigational skills that are borderline freakish. We spent our day wandering around the city, exploring the endless shopping malls, seeking a cheap barber for Saben’s chia-beard, and finally, phase one of chopstick mastery. There was no fork option and we were eating noodles in soup though they were nice enough to provide everyone with a ladel.
Complicated with chopsticks
July 14, 2009 – Day 201 – Hong Kong
Whoa, talk about a great day! After a rather uncomfortable 12 hours in the Beijing airport, we were terribly eager to get on our flight to Hong Kong. To our great surprise, the airline made a mistake and overbooked our seats with another couple. To remedy the situation, we were bumped to first class! We were as giggly as two schoolgirls the entire flight!
Ahh... the easy life
July 13, 2009 – Day 200 – In transit (Budapest to Beijing)
Very, very long flight to Beijing where we have a very, very long layover (12 hours in the airport doing nothing) before continuing on to Hong Kong. Why you may ask? Because it was much cheaper than flying straight there! Tomorrow will land in Hong Kong…
Ahh Eastern Europe you beautiful oasis between two foriegn lands. We had a great time in Eastern Europe even though it was shorter than we would have liked and probably longer than our budget can afford. We watched the waves roll in on the beach, climed castle walls, indulged in all things western, walked the streets of Sarajevo, and best of all we were able to spend time with Lindsey’s younger brother.
There really isn’t much that can be said against our time in the region, although I dont think anyone would complain if Croatia either instilled a diet/workout ethic or made some of the beaches a bit more “clothed”…
(Don’t forget to check out the Eastern Europe Photo Gallery here)
July 12, 2009 – Day 199 – Budapest, Hungary
Last day in Budapest. And what a lucky day! Our favorite bakery was closed (not so lucky) so we had pizza for breakfast(ish) and happened upon a huge music and food festival (very lucky) happening around and across one whole (huge) bridge over the Danube.
On the bridge
July 8-11, 2009 – Day 195-198 – Budapest, Hungary
We have been taking it pretty easy in Budapest so instead of boring you to tears with 3 sentence long dreadfully boring daily posts we have lumped them into one medium sized boring post! Budapest has fit our needs very nicely. Turns out our flight from here to Hong Kong (flying out Monday) will be pretty cheap and it gives us a chance to enjoy some western comforts before jumping into China.
What are you lookin' at?
July 7, 2009 – Day 194 – Budapest, Hungary
Well, it was time to leave Bosnia last night on the train. We chose Budapest because we need a good hub to fly into Hong Kong from and this seems to be a good place. It was a long ride and we spent a very frustrating 2 hours trying to find any hostels which at first didn’t seem to exist. Then, once we began to find some, were all fully booked. Finally, we found a seasonal dorm (one of the college dorms that rents out as a hostel in the summer months) for a whopping US$19 for a 4 bed dorm. We got dinner and a large bottle of wine. The plan: Play cards and drink until no longer sober.
Taxi Rides = 123
Boat Rides = 35
Motorcycle Rides = 10
Plane Rides = 16
Bus Rides =330
Train Rides = 124
Rickshaw Rides = 98
Truck Bed Rides = 25
Rainy Days = 42
Current Rummy Score
Lin 10950, Saben 12435
