McDonalds Tastes like McDonalds (7/10/05)

We just got McDonald's for breakfast and we were SO thrilled that McD's tastes exactelly like home...uhh yum!!! "I'm Lovin' It"

A Few Words from Matt (7/10/05)

Just to be sure this is an unbiased blog so I decided to post a few comments.
#1. The number of stars to rank hotels varies greatly from country to country and city to city. The Regal at the airport, very nice. The Marco Polo is supposed to be 4 star, I'd say closer to an old (unupdated) Holiday Inn. Although at least this hotel has hot water, not sure what was up with that.

#2. Speaking of stars, I would give Hong Kong a 2 1/2 out of 5 stars for places I'd return to. It blends the smell of New Orleans and the noise and people of New York. I prefer quiet cornfields, but this his how we grow....or go completely insane.

#3 It looks like I will be able to survive on power bars and crackers, at least I did for 3 days.

#4 In a monster mall with over 200 stores, why can't I find a sweatshirt? I am going to move to China and open, Matt's Monster House of Sweatshirts, and make a fortune.

#5 Jet lag sucks!

In summary, I am not a good "tourist", and I'm ready to go get Maggie.

Matt

Early Morning Day 2 in Hong Kong (7/10/05)

Early Morning Day 2 in Hong Kong

Good Afternoon!

I just woke up! It is 4 am but I did get about 8 hours sleep! Yes, I did wake up at midnight wide awake and decided to take one of Matt's happy pills. I am so glad I did.

The smells in Hong Kong at times can be quite over powering. We drove by beaches and saw families swimming and then we saw all the garbage in the water. It was very gross!

Driving through the city we saw all the housing. It was so interesting! All the windows had laundry hanging out to dry and it was pouring down rain. All the bamboo scaffolding is so weird. It also appears that they erect buildings and then do no maintence on them at all. Mold appeared to growing on a lot of buildings.

When we went to the mall in the afternoon, the place was wall to wall people. The noise was incredible. We saw some soccer promotion in the mall. It was very funny! They had a big blown up character running around. Some sort of promotion. It was fun! I made the comment about to Matt, "How many people do you think are here?" Matt said, "Everyone!"

The landscaping is so pretty all the lush greenery everywhere. Our taxi driver did say that this is monsoon (sp) season.

The people are very polite and friendly. We really don't feel the culture shock yet. I know tomorrow we will! It will be very interesting to see the differences from Hong Kong and Changsha.

I am very excited about meeting Maggie! I just can not believe we are leaving today! Tonight she will go to bed like any other day in her life and tomorrow everything will be shaken up! I am praying for a smooth transition for her and preparing myself for a rocky one.

I can only imagine what tomorrow will be like. I keep dreaming of her and what the moment will be like and tomorrow I will be living it.

Amy
Love you Luke!

Day 1 (7/09/05)

Well woke up at 3:30 am and got up and surfed the web. We got down to breakfast at about 6 am. It was ok. We wandered around the airport and converted some cash. We really liked the Regal Hotel. It is very nice. Flat screen tv, comfy bed, and we did find English television programs.

After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and took a cab to downtown Hong Kong. I would love to say we have great pictures of it but it was pouring down rain! The mountains meeting the bay are beautiful! After we got checked in at the Marco Polo, we took the #273 bus down to Stanley Market. When we arrived it looked like the weather was clearing. We even saw blue skies. When we got into the market we wandered around and bought a couple of things. Susie we got Christy’s name for you. Then, the weather let loose! Buckets of water falling from the sky! We then bought another umbrella. I did buy two light weight tops for a total of $5.50.

We left Stanley market at about 2 pm and realized we hadn’t had anything to eat since 6 am. An hour on the bus and we decided that we were not going to be adventurous on our meal. We went down to the hotel restaurant, Gripps American Restaurant. We had cheeseburgers and fries. We aren’t sure if the meal was really good or if we were just so hunger that anything would taste good. We did find two things that are made in the US- mustard and hot sauce.

We came back to our room to hang out for a little bit and to regroup. I laid down and started to fall asleep. Matt made me get up and told me to work on the computer and then he laid down and fell asleep. Ginny, from the ISS, called to check on us and to confirm the time we would meet at the airport tomorrow afternoon. I let Matt sleep for 20 minutes and then we when to the Harbor City Mall. It is huge! There was easily over 200 shops, restaurants plus our hotel.

Tonight we are going to go down to watch the light show on the harbor. Matt has said no way to the Star Ferry! If we go to Kowloon it will be through the underground tunnel by taxi or shuttle.

One thing I have noticed is that the air quality is not very good. Lots and Lots of exshaust from all the buses and cars. I have notice that sometimes it is hard to breathe.

We are very tired and are hoping that we can get a good night sleep tonight! I would love to sleep until at least 5 or 6 am. Tomorrow we leave for Hunan! I can't wait until Monday! Our Maggie Day! We will be posting pictures tonight!

We Made It! (7/08/05)

Hi All! We made it at 9:25 pm on July 8th. What a long day! Over all not that bad! The internet is working and we are beat! Tomorrow we will get up when we get up and go to the Marco Polo Hotel and site see in the afternoon!

Hi Luke, by now you have two presents. I hope you like them we miss you so much! Be good!

We posted pictures. Just look to the left side of the site.

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Amy and Matt

Today! (7/07/05)

Today, the day we have been waiting for is finally here! We are at the airport and we have free internet access! We are such geeks! It will take us 27 hours to get to our final destination! Tomorrow when you all get to up we will still be traveling.

Look out Maggie Mommy and Daddy are coming! We love you and miss you already Luke! Be good for Jama and Papa Edwards!

Been a long time...

WOW! I can't believe I haven't posted since April. What a slacker I am! Well, for the next few weeks I am going to be posting all of my posts from when we traveled three years ago to China to adopt our Princess Buttercup! I hope you will enjoy the Journey to Maggie again.

Amy