I was able to got to Asia for work, and it was such an awesome experience. We left Friday, April 22, way before the sun was up, and arrived in Hong Kong Saturday evening. They are 14 hours ahead of us, so it felt pretty weird to lose an entire day.
When we got there, we dropped our belongings off at our hotel and went immediately to this little foot and leg massage place down the street. My feet and legs were so swollen from the flight, so it was so nice to get a massage
Sunday we did some sightseeing in Hong Kong. We took tram to one of the highest points in the city. What a beautiful view
Here's a picture of the tram we rode in to get to the top. I swear it was a 80% upgrade...at least!
This is a picture of the city on our way up in the tram.
Finally at the top. Wow!
Later that evening we went and did some barter shopping. Doing that gives me anxiety, so I made my boss do all the bartering for me. I got two purses for 130 Hong Kong dollars, which ended up being around $15 US dollars. Not bad.
Monday and Tuesday we went to the Canton Fair in Guangzhou, which was huge. I had such a great time there, and we found so many good ideas of things that we can sell (and things that I'm sure I need). It was so cool to see.
This is the view of the Canton fair buildings...it's massive, right?
This is the view of Guanghzou from our hotel room.
Too bad we didn't have time to go swimming.
This is us in the hotel lobby. Me, Melissa, and Alice (our helper/translater while we were there).
Monday night after dinner we went to another massage place- this time a 1-hour full body massage, and a 1-hour foot and leg massage. I was awake, but so relaxed I could have been sleeping. It was so nice- especially after walking for an entire day.
When we got back to Hong Kong on Tuesday night, we walked through this beautiful park. I could have stayed there for hours, it was so peaceful. In this picture is: Me, Melissa, and Tony.
After that we went and ate at this fun restaurant. I had to eat my noodles with chopsticks. It was difficult at first, but I think I got the hang of it.
After dinner a few of us went to H&M, which is my most favorite clothing store ever. We spent about an hour there, and I most definitely could have shopped for longer...had I had more money. J I bought a scarf, a vest, a dress, and a cardigan. I can’t wait to wear everything.
Wednesday we went to a tradeshow in Hong Kong. It was cool, but not as impressive as the Canton fair. We ate Greek Gyros for lunch that day and they were delicious!
Thursday we were in Shanghai. We were able to go to an actual factory of a company that we have worked with for years- it was so cool to see. People here would never work in these conditions:
We ate at a nice restaurant for lunch that day, which is owned by the company, with the rep from the company, Lucky. Again, there were only chopsticks, but at this point I was feeling pretty good about using them. The food was so good. We ordered some Lemon chicken, and it really tasted like creamy lemons- but good. I’m sure I ate way too much.
After lunch we went straight to the airport for Tokyo. It’s amazing the difference between the people of China and Japan. Before this trip, I thought they were all the same- but now I know that they are not. Japan people are very courteous and are way nicer and less scary drivers. I thought I was going to die a couple of times in those taxis in China.
Friday we went to this tradeshow in Japan from about 1030-330. After that show, we to this street that had tons of shopping and actual Pagodas. It was so cool! I bought a Japanese fan, which is already in my kitchen on top of the cupboards with my other amazing decorations, a samurai sword for dusty, and a sake set, because I thought it was so cool looking.
That night we found this really cool restaurant to eat at. We had to take off our shoes and then actually cook our own food in front of us. We ate this egg/pancake/meat thing (which was okay), some potatoes, and some noodles (which were amazing). I could have eaten way more noodles, but I was quite full at this point.
Me and Melissa ready to eat.
Kevin and Okura getting dinner ready.
The feast.
After eating we traveled to Tokyo tower. It was an amazing view, but I’m sure it would have been nicer during the day.
We walked around there for a bit, and then found this little shop with desserts.
Saturday, our last day there, was such a good day too. We got up at 7am to go to this Fish Market. It was really cool at first, but then all of the dead fish started getting to me. We stayed there about 20 minutes, and then I was done. It was cool, but that was definitely enough time.
Later on we went to the Imperial Palace and Gardens. The gardens were amazing. We walked around there for about an hour, but I could have stayed for 5. It was so beautiful.
Here we are pretending to open these huge doors. They people that watched us take this picture gave us a round of applause.
On our taxi ride back to the hotel, we decided to get some donuts before we left on our flight. We stopped at this delicious little bakery, which didn’t have donuts, but it was so much better. Melissa and I ordered a few desserts to share between us, and we ate every last bite.
The flight back to SFO was only 8.5 hours, so not bad at all. I made it back home around 4pm and was done packing by 8pm. All in all, I had an amazing trip. It was work, but it was so much fun as well. I LOVE my job!
