My first night in Asia

         I got off of my direct flight from Toronto and was exhausted. As soon as I stepped out of the airport I felt almost completely refreshed. I had never been to Asia before and I was really excited. I had decided to go only twelve hours before my flight left (when we bought my ticket) and I was thrilled that I had decided to go. I was also really happy that I got to spend a night there on my own, before my father arrived the next day. I checked into my hotel and went out to see what Hong Kong was all about. I was immediately befriended by a really nice German guy on vacation from school. We wandered around the Kowloon side together and did some shopping. I was astounded by the ultra tall buildings and uber consumerism. I had thought that Hong Kong would be a lot like China, but once I got there I knew it couldn't be the case. It seemed to be a completely unique corner of the world, a place where east meets west and combines to form a completely distinct society. After wandering for a few hours, I then met up with a business associate of my father and we went out for dinner and drinks. I passed out around nine, completely exhausted.      The next morning I woke up feeling great. Jet lag has never really been much of a problem for me and I had slept very well the night before. I had planned to meet up with the German guy again the next day at eleven out front of my hotel. Before that, I had a lot to do. I picked up my passport with my visa for mainland China (I had dropped it off the day before) and I bought tickets for my Dad and I to travel to Zhuhai during the evening. The German and I, Antoine, I think his name was, headed across to the Hong Kong side on the ferry. It cost roughly thirty cents Canadian and took about 10 minutes. It's much cheaper than the subway, and obviously more scenic. I really recommend it.

    Once we got to the Hong Kong side we started wandering around trying to find the downtown area. It took us a while but once we did I was instantly overwhelmed. I had never been somewhere with so many people. It was insane. Everyone was shopping and the crowd was so thick I thought I would get taken away by it. I'm used to busy cities, especially living in Toronto, but this was something else entirely. Fun, but crazy. We stopped at McDonalds for some cheap food and then continued on. I had to leave early to meet my Dad at our hotel and get ready for our journey across to China.

    My Dad finally arrived and we immediately got onto the boat. I was feeling a little ill from the McDonalds and the waves, so I put my headphones on and shut my eyes. We arrived in very little time and met up with some other guys that were on this business trip with us. We checked into our hotel, which had the weirdest toilets ever, met up in the bar for a drink, then went to the strip where all the bars were. We drank a bunch of beer, ate some food that I didn't really like much, and played a really fun dice game. After a few hours we went and passed out.