Does anyone in China speak English?

The view through the ship’s windows of the skyscrapers of Hong Kong was like pulling into New York City’s harbor. You could immediately tell that it was a city booming with economic stability, a home for businesses, and a glamorous couture fashion capital. The gangway from the ship to the land went directly into a shopping mall. It was very convenient for the girls. However, we soon learned that the shopping in Hong Kong was only for those who could afford to spend thousands of dollars on a dress or a coat. It was fun to window shop, though. One of my friends on the ship, Jenny, was going to meet up with some family friends whom she had never met before. They were Hong Kong natives and had a few young boys our age that we could hang out with. We met up with Kathy, Paul and their nephew, Steven at the Longham Hotel. It was one of the most glamorous hotels that I have seen in a while. I definitely couldn’t afford a room, much less a soda, in that place. It was all gold, black, red and green. Very beautiful. We met the family in the lobby and expected to go to unch somewhere on the street. Instead, we were led up a flight of spiral staircases to the third floor, led down a hallway with many closed doors on either side and to a back private room. This is where we ate lunch. There was a table set for 8 and once we sat down, the food did not cease. It was course after course of amazingly delicious food- true Chinese food. We all left that room stuffed like Thanksgiving turkeys and ready to see the sights of Hong Kong, hoping to walk off at least part of our lunch feast. Paul and Kathy ordered a driver to take us around the city and Steven would act as tour guide (even though he had only been in HK for 4 days). We went to HK park which was really beautiful, walked through an aviary, explored a child’s playground, and rode the tram up to the top of Victoria Peak where you could see all of HK peninsula and island.It was time to head back to the ship to get ready for dinner and the rest of our night. We ate at CPK in the mall and headed off for the ferry that would take us to the island where we met up with another of my friend’s friend, Tim. He invited us to his apartment to hang out and then he would take us to LFK street which was apparently the best bar scene in town. Needless to say, the night was long, but extremely fun.The next day, Friday, was the day we left for Beijing. We had a few hours to spare before our bus ride to Shenzhen, a city just outside of Hong Kong, so we spent it shopping in the mall. I picked up a few things, including a 3-dimensional Hello, Kitty puzzle.After clearing customs in Shenzhen, we got onto our plane for the three hour journey to Beijing. I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep a bit on the plane.We arrived in Beijing at around 10pm. Luckily, we already found and booked a hotel- The Marriot right next to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. We didn’t have much more energy to expel past finding dinner and watching a movie before groggily falling asleep. We had a busy day ahead of us, tomorrow.Saturday we decided to see all the touristy sights of Beijing. This included Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, other temples nearby, and the 2008 Olympic buildings. We left the hotel at around 9am. Since there were 5 of us traveling together, we had to split up between two cabs. Dan and I took one and Jenny, Maggie, and Darcy were in the other. When Dan and I arrived at Tiananmen Square we quickly realized that the other girls were no where in sight. We stood in the middle of Tiananmen Square for about 20 minutes, and when they didn’t show up, we proceeded into the Forbidden City, assuming the girls had done the same and we’d see them inside. Well, the City was more crowded than Disneyland on a weekend. We finally gave up hope of ever finding them in the City and we’d somehow meet up with them at the hotel later that night. The Forbidden City was awesome- so many pagoda-topped buildings painted in reds, gold, and greens. It took Dan and I about two or so hours to see it all. Then we wandered around the surrounding area before heading back to the area around the hotel. We met up with some other SASers and had dinner at a really good noodle and rice restaurant in the mall attached to the Marriot. The Forbidden City took a lot out of us so we napped for an hour or so before meeting back up with the girls.That night we went to see the Olympic buildings all lit up. It was really cool to see the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube after watching it on TV this past summer. I saw where Michael Phelps won all those gold medals and where the opening ceremonies took place! It was an awesome end to a great day.Sunday was the day to do the Great Wall and Ming Tombs. Our group was joining another so we had 11 people in our travel group now. The van picked us up at 8am and we had many stops on our agenda. We saw three factories that produce traditional Chinese knick-knacks: first, a clossanaise workshop(pretty porcelain vases); next, a jade manufacturer and market; and lastly, a pearl shop. The Ming Tombs was our last stop before we climbed the Great Wall. It was pretty cool and in a beautiful location- right in the middle of fields of fruit trees.We spent two hours at the Great Wall, scaling the stairs which were extremely steep. The sight from the top, though, took our breath away, both figuratively and literally. I have plenty of pictures to show everyone when I get home.That night was pizza night and it was delicious! We were all pretty tired, but it was our last night in Beijing so we had to go out. We went to a few bars with a bunch of people before calling it a night.We had to get up super early on Monday because our flight from Beijing to Shanghai was at 8am. When we arrived at the dock where the boat was supposed to be, around 11am, we soon found out that it wasn’t there. Apparently, due to rough seas and a storm, the boat was going to be late- by 7 hours. All of us, with all of our luggage had to wait until 3pm to get one the boat. We left our bags at a nearby hotel and went off to get lunch and walk around a little to waste time before going back to the ship. We went shopping in People’s Square and had lunch at great Chinese restaurant. By the time we were finished with that, the ship had arrived in Shanghai Harbor. We wanted to rest for a few hours before venturing out again to find dinner and entertainment for the night. After a much-needed cat nap, Dan picked me up at my cabin (how romantic, right? Haha) to take me out to dinner. He had asked me out on a date about a month or so before and we were just now getting around to it. We went to Yuyuan Gardens which was a really pretty area of Shanghai. The pagoda-esque buildings were all decorated with Christmas lights which made it so beautiful. We walked through the gardens and across the nine bridges that wove their way between the buildings. We ended up finding a great little hole-in-the-wall noodle place for dinner. If was a good first date- noodles in Shanghai, I don’t know if any of my previous dates with other boys can top that.We ended the night by meeting up with friends at Bar Rouge for drinks. What a good way to end China!Unfortunately, there was a heavy damper put on our China experience. One of our friends and fellow classmates on the ship was killed by a drunk driver in Hong Kong the first night of our travels in China. We all learned of this terrible tragedy on Saturday morning. It was hard to react to the news because very few of us were close with Kurt. He was a super quite guy, but very nice and good-hearted. I only knew him because he was on my trip to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. When we got back to the ship and sailed away from Shanghai, the Deans of the ship called a meeting with the entire shipboard community where we could discuss what happened. It was an emotional meeting for all of us. We were still all so shocked that we had lost a member of our community.Just the other night, we had a memorial service honoring Kurt’s life. It was beautiful, emotional, touching, and inspiring. Even though I did not know him well, his friends’ words and memories made me cry and feel like I had known him just as well. We threw flowers off the aft of the ship and all said our goodbyes. It’s still hard to think that someone my age died in such an unfortunate accident. Kurt will be missed, that’s for sure, and he was definitely loved by all who knew him.I know that our families and friends back home, and even us on the ship, are praying for our safe return back to Miami. Keep us all in your prayers.
Love and peace,Amber