Out and about in the city

After the activities of the weekend, Monday was a day of rest. I woke up around two and sat by the pool for a few hours with Dana, before embarking on my day. Then Dana, Jessica, and I took the shuttle into town for a nighttime excursion!

Since we were starting dance classes (that's right - dance classes - offered by our child wrangler, Chrissy) on Tuesday, we needed to get some new shoes first. We went to the only dance store we were able to find, which happened to be a few blocks from the theatre. As we walked there, we found ourselves falling back into mainland China. It's amazing how Hong Kong seems so much more European, like a real city, and we forget what it was like in China until we turn the corner and are on a cramped smelly street again. We arrived, and walked past people eating smelly "thousand-year eggs" on the curb, up the rickety staircase to the dance store. When we got there, we found a tiny room full of boxes and Asian people. Everyone was trying on shoes and chatting, so we sat down and waited our turn.

I haven't been able to buy a single pair of shoes in Asia, due to my huge feet, but imagine my surprise when they showed me the men's shoes and they fit! A few minutes later the three of us had gotten some new shoes, and made some new friends of the owners, who are coming to see the show next week. We headed down the stairs and out to dinner. We hit up the 'Spaghetti House' for some pizza and lasagna, and then caught the famous STAR Ferry to Kowloon (another part of Hong Kong). Every night in Hong Kong there is a special laser light show along the water, and the eight o'clock ferry takes you right along the coast. We got on at just the right time, and got to watch this amazing phenomenon. All my books said it was worth seeing, but it turned out to be some buildings lighting up as a few green laser beams shot off the tops. We sat captivated (ha ha) until we reached the other shore.

All of this traveling culminated eventually (after a long walk and a trip on the subway) at the famous Temple Street Night Market. In Taipei we often went to night markets, but this is the first time since we've been on this leg of the tour. This market turned out to be a ton of fun. It was over a mile long, and filled with people buying and selling, tourists and locals, all wandering under the generator's humming lights. We wandered down the long street, buying sunglasses, watches, jewelry, and purses. I got some original art, and saw some amazing replicas of famous artwork done my the masters. There were t-shirts, and electronics, and tons of food. Chinese antiques, and vintage kids toys, and adult toys too. We could have spent hours there! We wandered for two and were finally overwhelmed with exhaustion. I'm definitely going back to get my palm read by the ancient Chinese seers.