Day 8

Day 8 was another long exhausting day. It may not sound like it from the condensed version of my trip on the blog but we were all so tired from jet lag and from running around everywhere that I just wanted to lay in bed and sleep for a week.

We got up early and had to check out of our hotel; we were driving to Shenzhen China that night but we had a day full of business visits. The first one was to Emerson (I can't even remember what that company did.) I was so tired that I can barely remember even sitting in their conference room...

Next was to the Hong Kong stock exchange; which I was very disappointed with. The traders were all just sitting at their desks trading online. It was so quiet in there, I thought it was going to be like the NYSE where people are running around yelling "Sell! Sell!" But no. As you can see from the picture they were all staring at us while we were staring at them...

Here are Denise and I pretending to be stock traders...



Here is a picture of us going down an escalator into the depths of hell, oh they actually call it the subway. I was having a major anxiety attack right about here going underground two levels into this hot crowded train.




This was the highlight of the day, seeing the torch come through Hong Kong. About 20 minutes after we left the Hong Kong stock exchange the torch was going to come right through downtown. We found ourselves this great spot to stand and see the handoff of the torch. Really cool to see. See the guys in the blue, I think they are pretending to be athletes but are really Kung Foo masters that can kill you with their pinkies. (Sorry, I saw Kung Foo Panda yesterday).

After our business visits it was back to the tour bus for the 45 minute drive to Shenzhen. This drive may actually take 45 minutes but when you have to go through two checkpoints to get there it takes about 3 hours. The first checkpoint is in Hong Kong. Everyone must get off the bus and fill out another immigration form (by this time we have filled out a dozen it seems like) and wait in line for a half hour then present your passport to the officers. Then everyone gets back on the bus. Then you drive 30 more seconds to the China immigration office where again everyone must get off the bus but this time with your luggage and have it x-rayed then show them your passport then get back on the bus. By this time it is about 7:00pm and we haven't eaten for hours, we are all getting car sick and we are still in our business attire and I have totally lost my sense of humor.... I already have a bad attitude about going to China, then I am feeling like we are getting farther away from home and I am getting more homesick! Anyway, we asked our guide "Stephen" (they all have these American names they tell us, when we know their real names are Xi Lui Chang Zguyan) why we have to go through two checkpoints to get to China and he says that one is the democratic side and one is the socialist side (or communist). Ok now I am really wanting to go home!