Hong Kong Ho!

I'm currently in the Hong Kong airport with 7 of my trip-mates (a couple went exploring the airport.) We're using the free Wi-Fi, and I'm taking advantage of a fee cyber cafe (everyone brought a computer but me.... uh oh, I hope I won't regret this decision.) At least in Hong Kong it seems that Blogger is available for my use. Cedric told me that it might be censored in mainland PRC (That stands for People's Republic of China), but that remains to be seen. The airport itself is crazily spotless and very humid, with enormous rainforest-covered mountains starting just outside the runway. Everyone speaks English so far, but that's going to change mighty soon. I remarked to trip-mate Mike that we must look very strange wandering around the airport in a pack and he replied "and we're only going to look stranger." The longer this trip goes, the more foreign we will seem to the people we visit.

The flight from LA was obscenely long, I've been travelling for almost 30 hours now and we have a 3.5 hour layover before we make the final leg to Kunming. I managed to sleep about 8 hours on the flight, but it was almost 16 hours so that didn't help with cabin fever very much. Watched some "House," a couple segments of "The Departed" and a crazy long extra-cheesy movie about rival Mahjongg masters that made me want to learn. I think that's a new goal. I'm feeling a strange mixture of excitement and nervousness right now, but that's good, that I'm feeling anything. I guess it's awfully hard to deny when you're already in the midst of things.

I just can't really process that I'm here and will be there (in Kunming, I mean) soon. I've been talking about this trip for so long that I don't really understand how to be on it (which reminds me of the column I wrote for the Argus... I should post that sometime soon.)

My trip mates seem cool so far, although of course it's tough to tell so soon. But we've all been looking out for each other as we wander around the airport for this looooong layover. And we're sort of in that "new place" freshman year of college mindset where everyone wants to make friends. I hope it lasts.

Things I forgot that I Probably Should Have Brought:
-Makeup
-Shower shoes
-Sandals
-My computer?

I'm sure the list will lengthen.

I will try to write soon. Hopefully I'll be able to get to Blogger in Kunming. Otherwise, my current plan of action is to e-mail entries to my mother so she can get to the blog and post.