Seattle to Bohol, Philippines

Wow, what an ending of the school year! My last school day was Friday, June 19th. With my teaching partner, we quickly cleaned up (stuffing things into cupboards to be organized later) and left school by 3 (the kids left at 11). Running 8 last minute errands proved to take longer than anticipated as my cell phone decided to die that morning. So one errand was getting a new cell phone. The previous night I had dinner with my family and it was there my dad made the frightening realization (only to him) that I would be traveling and vacationing in Hong Kong by myself. Even the family that I would be staying with would not be there. So, to ease my father's mind and have a little more sense of security myself, I upgraded to a cell phone with international capabilities... so the phone dying was actually a blessing, right Dad?

As per my previous blog, I didn't get much sleep that night. It always takes longer than anticipated to pack to be gone for a month, making sure I'm packing the necessary toiletries. Three hours of sleep was alright though, as I had a 3 hour flight to San Francisco and a 14 hour flight to Hong Kong. Every international plane in the past few years has had individual TVs on the back of each seat so you can pick from the plethora of movies and shows. When I got on the plane in San Francisco I was bummed as this plane did not have individual TVs, therefore I'd have to succumb to the schedule of the airlines to watch movies, like back in the old days.... 20 years ago. Then the captain made this announcement: "Ladies and gentleman, we are prepared to leave soon for the 14 hour flight to Hong Kong. We don't anticipate any weather issues until we come closer to Hong Kong. Right now they are experiencing a typhoon and we hope that it smooths out prior to our arrival." YIKES! Yah, I pray that it smooths out! It did. I arrived with the sun out and a little wind and a lot of humidity.

I arrived in the new Hong Kong airport. Remembering 20 years ago, an old, dirty, dark, non-air-conditioned typical Chinese grey building in which we landed for all our flights... I was amazed at the new airport. It was built on a man-made island, built for the airport as Hong Kong already doesn't have a lot of extra land. It was beautiful! Twenty years ago, we would stand in that concrete walled room for hours waiting to go through customs. I was dreading it. It took me 15 minutes and the reason it took so long was because I had to walk to get my bag, which was waiting there, and then walk to customs and then declaration. It was clean, air-conditioned, bright, new, and VERY organized! I've never experienced a more smooth process of going through customs.

I took the Airport Shuttle (train) to Hong Kong Island and again, was amazed at the process of it all. I went to the money changer directly after customs and as I changed my money to Hong Kong dollars, I was able to buy a round-trip ticket for the shuttle. I walked out and there it was: clean, fast, and air-conditioned. I arrived on Hong Kong Island in 27 minutes and from there walked out to get a taxi while recovering from the initial humidity blast from walking outside. Those of you who have been to Hong Kong know what this is... walking from air-conditioning outside you get blasted with thick, humid, and pollution filled air... it almost takes your breath away. The taxi took me to my friends house which is on the southern side of The Peak. We basically drove behind all the tall skyscrapers on the island and then drove switch-backs up The Peak to get to their house. I arrived and had wonderful conversation with the family as well as four other Consulate workers who were there for dinner. In Hong Kong, it's the expectation that people have "helpers" who cook and clean for them, like a maid. This family, the Shulls, have a helper named Lilet, who is actually from the Philippines. When I return to Hong Kong in July, the Shulls will actually be in the States. But I was thankful that Lilet was going to be here for one day when I come back. After a full night of fun conversation and catching up on 20 years, I fell asleep hard.

My flight was an early one, so I headed out as soon as I could in the morning. With the short taxi drive to the Airport Shuttle I did make one interesting comparison from 20 years ago. Hong Kong has McDonald's everywhere and as a 12 year old, loved that! However, in that 15 minutes I did not see any McDonald's... but I did see three Starbucks! There was even a Starbucks in the airport, imagine that?! I love that! I flew from Hong Kong to Manila and had a 4 hour layover there. My snack every year in the Manila airport is hum bow, a sweet bread filled with a sweet pork... they are so yummy! I also splurged and got a 1/2 hour massage for $5... little more expensive than the Bohol beaches, but definitely worth it!

I then flew from Manila to Bohol, which took an hour, where Joshua, the team leader, picked me up and drove me to the house. I found the team eating dinner, pancit - my favorite! After a full day of travel I was exhausted. We had a team meeting and I floated off to bed. Tomorrow was going to be a full day, a long drive to a Deaf school.