Hong Kong!

I’m supposed to be putting in massive work today on my inventory for next Saturday’s craft show, but my mind is abuzz with thoughts of Hong Kong. Last night we booked our hotel for our upcoming trip (April 5-13): we’ll be staying at the Salisbury YMCA, which is very well reviewed and across the street from the fanciest hotel in the territory. The Salisbury costs a little bit more than we’d hoped to pay (it comes out to $200 more over the duration of the trip), but after looking at page after page of dismal cheap rooms, we were prepared to spend more for a more comfortable stay.

Digression: However, the often hilariously descriptive reviews on Asiarooms.com need to be shared. My favorites were a New Delhi man who wrote of a tiny-roomed establishment, “I want hotel, not cage for pigeon,” and a lengthy review from a Filipina lady which began, “Oh! it is very horrible! terribly horrible!!!!… its almost 9am when we arrived at the hotel. nobody there except a fat cat who greet us with his meow,meow…” And do not go to asianrooms.com; there’s only a one-letter difference but it’s a quite different kind of site…

I’m not super-thrilled that we’re going to be staying in what a guidebook calls the “tourist ghetto” of Hong Kong, but on the other hand, there’s no denying it’s a convenient location. And perhaps, being forced into the tourist ghetto, we’ll see some things we would otherwise have avoided (for better or worse!). On the other hand, we can take high tea at the Peninsula across the street, which I understand is quite an experience. And, strange but true, since we’re staying at a YMCA, we’ll have access to a climbing wall. Heh.

I guess our trip, my first proper international one, feels much more real to me now that we have a “home base” for the trip, with an actual address and Google Street View photos and everything. Well, I can’t think about it now… I’ve got some binder dividers to make!

Back to work!