Friday, 25th of August

woke up too early but couldnt sleep as it was too loud in the dorm and I too excited. two showers are broken today so there is actually a line forming to wait ages for the shower – glad that this only happened today!! Afterwards I finished packing and then had a C H E E S E sandwich. And since they usually don’t have cheese here in China, this was a special treat for myself!! and then, I took off!! Martin, my host at the PolyU (Polytechnic University of Hong Kong) will pick me up from the station, as Warning (my buddy) can’t come…
After checking out I walked with my 25kg backpack on the back and the small one in the front all the way to the busstop… having the eyes of all the locals… as if they’ve seen an UFO (hope that was due to my luggage and not my appearance ;) )
Met a friendly chinese girl on the way who asked me out over where I came from and where I was going and what I was doing and told me that she also studies now and wants to go to Europe someday. Was really nice to talk with her… and she told me about another better bus… costs 1Yuan more but has airconditioning…
then everything went quite quickly, I got to the station, checked in, went through the immigration thingy and had my luggage checked and already I was in the train at about 12 noon. The compartments were all about 5m² having beds on each side, three over each other, mine beeing the top one. I made a chinese guy heave up my backpack as the highest hard sleeper bed is like … quite high! with me in the compartment was a chinese stutent who actually spoke a little English and a mom with her 3year old son… and her nephew. the last bed was empty – luckily, otherwise I fear they would have to close this thing due to overcrowedednessss… Since the others in the compartment didn’t speak any english I had to switch to my 5-words-hand-feet-and-drawing-picture-pointing-on-things-chinese, which was quite funny. The only annoying fact was the little boy crying all the time and nobody finding the switch off button…. anyways… its only a 25 hour train ride… so who cares, right?

Saturday
waaaa… we’re running 1,5 hours late… I know every screw of this train by now and I WANT TO GET OUT OF HERE! I want a toilet, not a hole in the train floor (really true!) I want a shower. I want real food, no instant noodels. I don’t want to hear any more chinese… but actually the night itself was nice…. you could almost see it as an improvement from the hostel, as there I had to share the dorm with 11 others…. right? the ride goes through mountains now, great landscape, definitely have to come back here someday! uhhh.. and there is the Yangzi River, yuck, this is diarrhea-brown our dirt-yellow, you may chose. but it is v e r y wide. looking outside, we pass rice-fields now and little towns, you can see peope gardening or working on the fields… its very impressive.
finally I arrive in Hong Kong at 14:45PM. An am surprised by Warning and Martin both picking me up, Warning together with Yi, or ii or similar – her boyfriend. We go to the “Student Halls of Resicence” (did anybody read the book by Meg Cabbot “size twelve is not fat”? … if not.. read it for the explanation of the terms student dormitory or residence hall ;) ) (Antoinette, stop laughing!) well, we went there and I checked in. My room number is 815R, on the 8th of 21 floors. After dumping my stuff in my room we go out again to buy bedsheets and pillow and stuff for me… then I return to unpack and puhh… take a deeep breath, I am finally alone, for once! I enjoy the space around me and then I go out again, shopping for toilet paper, something to drink and a glass, 1 bowl, 1 spoon and cereal and milk for breakfast tomorrow… and something to clean here (typical German thing? or maybe its just me but I think its uhmm.. not so uhm… nice in the Bathroom)
oh did I mention that the room is very nice?? I have a bed and a desk and some shelves and a closet, and everything comes double for my roommate who didn’t move in yet. I have a wonderful view on a construction opposite the street, if I look to the right I can see the university and if I look to the left I can see the ocean!
When I get back from the shopping, Warning calls me, oh yes, I have a phone also in the room, and we go out to have dinner with the other buddy she just picked up from the Airport, Fiona from Scottland!

Sunday:
Wow, what a day. First of all I slept in and then I’ve been just lazy around here… writing emails, chatting, typing this stuff of the last days and then Fiona and me went to the Hong Kong Convention and exhibition centre, where Warning works. We don’t know exactly what to do there, but just go as she can get us in for free. After finding our way through the horrifying subway and train system, switching trains 3 times and then finding the right one out of a zillion exits and then the right building and in there the right hall… we are astonished of the view over the harbour. feel like in a movie for a sec and then we push further through the crowds to Hall 1C. Arriving Warning comes out of nowhere and brings us in. And then we find ourselves in the middle of a computer stuff fair… and looking around we realise that everythign is so much cheaper than in Europe, no wonder that so many Chinese run around with the cellphone on the ear, the mp4 player in the ears and the palm pilot in their hands… ;)
I buy a pack of 50 CD-Roms for burning for 6€ and then a new card reader for my SD card for 1,80! … we look around for a while and then Warning finishes working and we make our way to have dinner HongKong style… a rice and a meat dish, both very nice, and with it some milk tea! delicious, and we had a blast! uhh.. and then – have to mention this – we jump into a supermarket and they actually have a ton of German and American stuff here: Oreos, Toffifee, Kinder Schokolade, and soooo much more… I found paradise!! unfortunately, they don’t let me spend the night there and so we make our way for Warning’s boyfriends workplace – he is a: FIREMAN!!! hahaha.. we actually go to a HongKong fire Station. I didn’t expect it to be sooo much different form the german ones… and thus not too exciting, but as it showed I failed completely. not that the station was much different. but the Firemen were so nice!!! Fiona and I seemed to be the attraciton of the week and had so much fun! We played a weird Chinese marching game and learned some Chinese – as well the characters as also speaking… and then we took a ton of picutres with the Firemen.. some even wanted single pics with us.. haha!! Oh and the view from the roof of the station was also quite special! So, what a blast!!

Monday:
it is Monday which means: work, study, business… haha but not for me!! at least not today yet!! So Fiona and I just quickly went to the PolyU (our University) to complete our registration. Now I am the proud owner of a Hong Kong Polytechnic University Student ID Card!! so… after paying some stuff at one of the on-campus-banks and buying something to drink on the on-campuss-supermarket, on the way to which we passed the on-campus-bookstore… we had to go back to the student halls, as I managed to break both of my extra-cheap flip flops. Had to fix them to my feet with tape and walk back like on eggs…. reaaaly careful… sorry, now all those chinese who saw me actually have a reason to think “weird-westerner”!!
anyways, after switching to better shoes, we went to Hong Kong island by train and subway… to take one of those green dubble decker busses who go around everywhere for really cheap and to get an overview there… well, after an endless search for this bus we found out that I had mixed some things up and it was a tram instead of a bus and also they werent green but came in all colours… we even saw a really cute pink one!!! :D
got on one of them then, but hunger made us leave in Wan Chai for Dinner… Wan Chai seemed like a part of Beijings Hutongs… small narrow streets, and small dirty fully stuffed shops, selling fish (alive and dead and in all pieces), a variety of other indefineable food … and chicken, dead without feathers or alive at least 10 of them stuffed into a cage of shoeboxsize… but next to that we found a restaurant…
afterwards we took the tram back to the star ferry port and took the ferry back to Hung Hom… and that was THE highlight of the day I guess… the skyline. totally undescribable…. amazing… shiny… flashing.. and large! we also saw the laser show they do here every night and then went back to the hall though the rain… at about 30°C!

now guys and girls... I know this was a veeeery long blog... haha... but at least now I am up to date here.... try to keep it short in the future