Amanda Takes Off...

Well. I went to Hong Kong to visit Heidi. Everyone's got to have one screaming disaster of a vacation/international trip. Until this weekend, I had lucked out. Who knew that such a short trip could go so wrong?

Reasons This Trip Was a Screaming Disaster
1) I spent twice as much money as needed on a room because my "friend" didn't tell me that where I was staying was very, very dangerous until after I got there. Gee, couldn't've told me that beforehand?
2) Trying to find a new room at 1 am was exciting.
3) Going back to the first place and finding myself locked out of my room (and thus only in possession of my passport, wallet, camera, and clothes on my back) was nice.
4) Being followed by a creepy guy in the middle of the day was freaky.
5) Being followed to the 14th floor of a building at 2:30 am by another scary guy, who then stands behind some doors at the elevator, thus necessitating a stair escape...that was terrifying.
6) Being seen with a woman dropping the f-bomb left and right in public was embarrassing.
7) Being accused of flirting with one of the guys your friend is dating is ridiculous when a) your friend is too sloppy drunk to be kind to the guy and b) you're just making ex-pat fellow-nationality small talk with said guy.
8) Getting yelled at—in the middle of the street—by a drunken 25 year old woman who was having a temper tantrum was...amusing, actually. I had to wonder, "am I in a movie?" as well as, "now I know what dating her must feel like." I haven't seen a girl act like that since I was in seventh grade. And I went to a women's college! And I teach kindergarten students!

Cool Things About the Screaming Disaster Trip to Hong Kong
1) Eating a bird's nest fruit jelly drink thing. Yep, now I can say I've had bird's nest! (Nope, I didn't know about all of the bad politics behind it when I ate it.)
2) Hong Kong at night was gorgeous when seen from The Peak. The view was clear, the weather was nice, and the moon (although you can't see it in this photo) was a flaming red-orange.

3) Clothing was cheap, and usually-expensive Jurlique makeup was a steal. Hello, Arnica Cream for my taekwondo bruises.
4) Being the only Western guest and speaking Korean with the ajumma at my Korean-owned hotel was most amusing! "You speak Korean! Where did you learn Korean?" (I had said, "This is my friend's bag. She got sick last night. She lives in Hong Kong. I don't know where her house is and I am going to this airport. This is her phone number.")
5) The food was a delicious change from Korean food.
6) Passing Elyse Sewell, second-runner up (and my personal fave) from America's Next Top Model: Season One on the streets of Hong Kong was neat. (Having to stop Heidi from running up to her and asking to take a picture was not neat.)

Related Thoughts
1) I was rocking my purple framed glasses. And look! My hair is just long enough to pull back into an octopus clip!

2) Forgetting to order vegetarian meals on the airplane stinks.
3) Better to find out now rather than later what kind of person Heidi is.
4) She claims she's going to come back to the studio to practice taekwondo. I certainly hope not.
5) I have no idea what I'm going to say to Master when he asks how the trip was. Perhaps I'll simply say, "interesting."
6) I still want to go to mainland China. I wasn't going to count this as a trip to China, but it was such a memorable trip that it's going to count.
7) For a few weeks, I've been thinking about my breathing more. I realized, while falling asleep in my clothes, that I'm breathing from the diaphragm rather than the chest. Good.
8) It amuses airline check-in people when your response to "window or aisle?" is "I don't want to sit next to anyone."
9) I don't like pretentious, over-priced, snooty bars no matter which country they're in.
10) The number of used passport pages PLUS the number of varied countries and continents marked MULTIPLIED by the number of visas DIVIDED by some (unknown to Traveler) risk-factor based on number of bags Traveler has EQUALS the amount of hassling Traveler get at the airport.
11) Traveling solo (or with Mark) is best for me.