Hello Hong Kong! Goodbye China?

We got up and got ready to catch the train for Hong Kong.  I tried to pack my bag with the new souvenirs, but there wasn't room for everything, so I left a pair of pants that were too big anyway since I've lost so much weight.  We got the suitcase packed, but it took both of us.  The train was uneventful with pretty scenery.  

We had to process through immigration twice.  From mainland China to an administrative area of China, we processed immigration twice.  The last time, I got a little paper square for entering Hong Kong.  They didn't even staple it in.  I had to keep up with it and staple it in when I got home.  Getting a taxi to the hotel took a little work, too.  By the time we got to the hotel, it was 11:00 p.m, and I was really beat.  I was also starting to feel some twinges in a tendon in my right foot.  My companion was wanting to walk along the waterfront, and we were right there, but I just couldn't do it.  This time, she didn't go out without me.

We got up the next morning and had breakfast downstairs.  Fancy restaurant with multiple choices, but the Holiday Inn in Xi'an was better - both the room and the food.  We got the room for the view of the harbor (which was non-existent) and proximity to the Kowloon West Train Station (close enough we could have walked if not for the bags).  We checked our bags in with ALLWAYS, a company that does luggage from the hotel to the airport.  Our tour guide called and came to walk us to the tour bus - which was waiting for us at the Holiday Inn a few blocks away.  Maybe we should have stayed there!  It was a nice tour, but I was underimpressed with the guide and the way the tour was put together.  I don't think this was because I was tired and hurting a bit.  She was a conspiracy theorist who believed the "rock people" of Xi'an (the Terra Cotta Warriors) aren't real.  She did tell us that Hong Kong increases the size of the islands by cutting the tops off some of the mountains and adding shoreline or connecting islands.  I looked it up, and that is, in fact, how Hong Kong increases their area.  Soon after passing the police station that was in one of the Rush Hour movies, we got to the cable car.  We had opted for the crystal car, and we had a skip the line pass.  It was a very nice ride, though it was cloudy.

Our first look at the Big Buddha was pretty hazy.

Once we got to the top of the cable car ride, while we were waiting for everybody else and having our break, ALLWAYS called me and said we had not left our luggage for them.  I had to send them a copy of the receipt I got for our bags.  They went to the wrong hotel.  After the mild panic, it all worked out.  They got it and took it to the airport.  After the "free time", we all met and stood at the public bus stop waiting for our turn to board a public bus to the fishing village of Tai O.  We took a boat ride around that little harbor and up into the waters around the houses.

We were told that the sewage just gets released into the water.  But don't worry because they only eat the fish that are caught in the China Sea.

On our way back up the river, another boat crashed into us.  I never had that happen before.  It didn't cause any damage, and we just pushed the boats apart and carried on our merry ways.

The people on the draw bridge enjoyed watching it, though.

We walked around the little alleys of the village for a while.

And I found some dude fishing - on the river - where the sewage just gets dumped.

Right before lunch.  I passed on the fish, but everything was very good.  

After lunch, we were given more free time to wander the area.  Those of us who had already wandered pretty much all of it stayed in the restaurant and chatted.  Then we left the stilt-building part of the village and lined up at another public bus stop to go back to the Big Buddha.

There's a promenade going up to the Big Buddha that has statues of various Chinese mythological figures.

We finally made it to the Big Buddha.  It's pretty impressive.  Far too many stairs for me to take with my foot hurting and the limited time we had before we had to leave to catch our plane.  I must come back to Hong Kong.  I really want to climb those steps, spend more time around this area, and see other things that I wasn't able to do this trip.

This was my last good look at the Big Buddha on the way back down the cable cars.

We made it to the airport, retrieved our luggage, and got checked in for our flight to Taiwan.  My companion and I said our goodbyes in Taiwan, where we caught our respective flights to our respective homes.  All in all, an excellent trip, and as expected, I had a flare soon after I arrived home.  Not quite enough to need a walker, but it came close.  I was still flaring when I saw my dermatologist, who decided to tentatively diagnose me with Psoriatic Arthritis.  Finally, after about 30 years of various symptoms (starting with my hands), over 10 of those years negatively impacting my ability to walk, I may actually get a diagnosis that explains my inability to walk, my need to stop playing the keyboard/piano, and problems with hand coordination, instead of just diagnosing and treating pain.  While there's no cure, there are real treatments that do more than just manage symptoms.  Wish me luck getting an appointment with a rheumatologist!