Hello! This week was a little crazy with a bunch of work drama. It didn’t really involve or effect me, no worries, but still added a little chaos. But it kept things interesting! Besides picking up some extra shifts to keep things smooth at work, Kevin and I still managed to have a bit of fun. After my work gig at the park on Saturday (pics to come!) we went to a club with friends from his work. They were having a Titanic themed night.. so everyone was dressed like sailors and there were buoys hanging from the ceiling. And a bunch of performances on the stage with varying degrees of relevance to the plot/theme. And of course an epic Celine Dion remix or two. Anyway, it was a little strange but made for a really fun night and a good end to the week.

I’m already dreading this week because I volunteered to work doubles everyday for the next 2 weeks in addition to all the other tutoring and being tutored that we have going on. However, I’m excited to have some extra money to send home to the bank! I can’t turn down these extra shifts when they’re offered because they’re relatively easy/convenient/good money but they do make the week feel long. And these kids are even older than the class I took over last month. They’re actually kindergarten age (imagine that!), so this will be a whole new ballgame. Ayayay.

So anyway, I covered most of my trip to Hong Kong but there’s just one more day that I wanted to squeeze in. On Thursday I picked up my visa and was ready to head back, but I wanted to fit in one last trip to the beach. The whole day was a bit hectic because I wanted to get in some more sightseeing while juggling picking up my visa and being in contact with my boss via email so he could book me a flight home. My phone didn’t work in HK, which was annoying, but luckily Kevin let me bring his iPad so I had email and Skype.

Anyhow, I decided to head to Aberdeen first thing in the morning and then take a bus from there to one of the beaches that dot the non-city side of HK island. Aberdeen is a little town on the other side of Hong Kong island that the guidebook mentioned was a nice place to bum around. It was a pretty little harbor where you can eat at one of the floating restaurants or take a boat tour. But, I decided I didn’t really want to do either of these things and was pretty much done checking out the area within an hour.

Floating restaurants

From Aberdeen I was not able for the life of me to find the right bus to continue onto the beaches. Once again, the guidebook made it sound easy, but neither of the bus stops I tried were correct. I even asked several people! Annoyingly, as soon as I gave up and boarded a bus heading back to Central I saw the bus I was looking for stopping on a different street. Argh! No big deal, though. I grabbed some lunch and my visa and then hopped on another bus directly to Repulse Bay.

There are a couple of beaches in this area, including Stanley Beach which may be more popular, but you can see each of them from the others and pass them along the way. I got the impression that they were all pretty much the same deal. I love the water so I was happy to walk up and down the beach for a bit, take some pictures, and then head back. I wish I lived in a city with a beach! Made for a nice, free day (most of my days were — HK is a great city for just walking around!) before I had to head back.

My trip ended with a bunch of fumbled communication and me actually staying until Friday, which I was happy about because it allowed me to eat a few more meals before I took off. Then, I ended up missing my plane, which I was extremely unhappy about, because the line at immigration for foreigners took about an hour. That was a pain in the neck, and I had to pay for a new flight, but it was kind of okay considering how much I enjoyed the trip and that the whole thing was practically free. And the paid work week that I missed while I was gone. So, I don’t feel like I lost out even though it wasn’t as free as it could have been if I had left myself 4 hours instead of 3 to make it back to the airport. Oh well. Aaaand that’s a wrap on the HK trip! Much more talk about Chengdu coming up