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Hurrying in Hong Kong

As soon as we landed at Hong Kong International Airport, you might say we hit the ground running, literally. We had done our assignments the week before; downloaded a map of the city redmarked with our way to the hotel, memorized some important Chinese phrases both in Cantonese and Mandarin, bought a few hundred dollars worth of Hong Kong dollars, and tagged each of the three smaller kids with their own ID's, in case they get lost. We even downloaded a five-day weather forecast of Hong Kong; the number of days we would be staying in this Pearl City of the Orient.

We bought an "octopus card" for each individual at the airport and a quick hop on the A21 bus brought us to our hotel on Nathan Road. This street that winds down to the harbor on Kowloon island is lined with shops that would make any shopaholic drool. There are bargains everywhere; and in between some shops you'll see some wonderful finds that are a bit exotic but more expensive. Big-name stores are all here in Hong Kong; Prada, LV, Gucci, Ferrari, Maserati...they're all here!

After leaving our bags at the hotel, we grabbed a quick lunch at a corner restaurant and soon we were on the train headed for Victoria Peak, the highest bit of land in the city. There was a slight drizzle while we were walking towards the subway, and now as we were buying tickets for the tram that would take us up the mountain, it started to really pour. Still, we were excited as bees and getting a little wet certainly wouldn't deter us from exploring the top. Naturally when we got there all you can see from the glass windows was fog and rain. No worries, though. We entered Madame Tussaud's wax museum and had a blast posing with the madame's statues. They are so life-like. There were lots of tourists milling around the figures, chattering animatedly in different languages. On the way down, the rain started to let up to a sprinkle, until it finally stopped altogether. Meanwhile we were getting lost in the maze of shops and buildings. After grabbing some food that we called dinner, we weren't done for the day yet. While on the plane, we had already mapped out where the Ladies' Night market was located, and that's where we headed next.

The Ladies' Night Market is a regular street by day that transforms into a sort of flea market by nightfall. All kinds of women stuff are sold there at a bargain...bags, shoes, blouses and pants and dresses, trinkets and gewgaws. Over at nearby Fa Yuen street all

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