For those of you who don't know, every time you leave Hong Kong and cross into mainland you have to go through customs. Most of the time the entire ordeal only takes about 15 to 20 minutes depending on your mode of transportation. Over the last few days I have crossed the border via foot, plane, train and hired car.
Crossing the border on foot is by far the worst. First, you stand in line and wait for the Hong Kong immigration officer to check your paperwork. If everything looks ok, he stamps your passport and you're on your way. Then, you walk a few feet, fill out more paperwork and then wait in line again for a China immigration officer. You have to repeat this entire process when you leave mainland as well.
Of course we chose to walk across the border on the first day of a Chinese holiday. Fantastic.
Good thing I'm not claustrophobic.
About to enter China... along with half on Hong Kong.
After we actually made it into mainland things only got worse. Since the line to book train tickets was days long, we ended up hiring a driver from the Shangri-La hotel to drive us the 2 hours to Guangzhou for a factory visit. It should have only taken us 2 hours to get there, but our total travel time was over 6 hours!
We had the following 2 days "off" to do a little sightseeing.
On Saturday, we ventured to Ngong Ping to visit the big Buddha.
In order to get to the big Buddha you have to travel up a mountain on a gondola. We opted for the "Crystal Cabin" which had a glass bottom.
Glass bottom with trees and ocean below.
Not the best gondola weather.
THE big Buddha
There are also several shops, some restaurants and even a monetary at the top of the mountain.
Part of the monestary
No alcohol or meat on monastery property. Don't think I'll be staying.
The next series of pictures depicts my favorite part of the day...
All of a sudden several cows appeared on the property.
I think I saw 8 total. This little family was my fav.
Of course, I felt the need to pet the cows...
and pose with the cows...
But then... out of nowhere... this happened...
Yes, I was nearly gored by a cow.
As exciting as my near death by cow experience was, Easter Sunday brought a new milestone in my life.
I know this may come as a shock, by I'm mildly obsessed with Disney. As of Sunday, I have visited Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disneyland Paris AND Hong Kong Disneyland... all over the last 10 months. I'm hoping to make it to Tokyo Disney sometime before I leave in August... well, if they get that whole radiation thing under control.
I'm adapting to Asian culture quite well.
M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E
Space Mountain amidst the mountains of Hong Kong.
Chinese Donald Duck
The park is really beautiful. It's completely surrounded by mountains. You really become immersed in the "Disney experience." The only disappointing this was the food. It was waaay too Asian for my taste.
I passed on the Korean squid and opted for a Mickey Premium Bar.
After Disney, we returned to my apartment for a not so traditional Easter dinner.
Notice the cheese? Turns out there IS cheese in China! Well, at least in Hong Kong. Too bad I can't afford any more while I'm here.
The weather on Easter was amazing. I finally managed to get a few really good pictures of the view from my place. I know, can you believe the view gets better?
You can finally see the mountains in the distance.
Well, that about does it for now. As of tomorrow evening I'll be all by myself here in Hong Kong. Here's to hoping I can do this on my own!
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