From Chinese immigration we went straight to the printing plant. We spent a few hours working before we had a break to check into our hotel. When we arrived at the Grand City Hotel, we had only a few minutes to put our bags in our rooms before we had to head back to work.

I went up to my room, and instead of returning to the lobby immediately, I took a quick look around. I walked to the window to check out the view...



I looked in the closet to see if there was a complimentary robe and slippers (yes and yes); I also spotted this handy smoke hood (in case of a fire):



And then I strolled through the bathroom. There were all sorts of goods laid out on the counter: Two dental kits, a sewing kit, a nice comb, cotton swabs... the standards. Then I noticed a basket full of toiletries. The first thing to catch my eye was a dehydrated towel (Aptly named the "Magic Towel.") I've seen things like this in novelty stores...but before I got excited about my free towel, I noticed a price on it.


(photo obtained from the internet - as you can see, this is not the "Magic Towel" that I had in my room)

Realizing I might be late getting back, I returned to the lobby without looking at anything else in the basket.

On Monday morning, Sarah and I met Samuel, our rep from Hong Kong. He would aide us throughout the trip with everything from translation and negotiations on press to getting through menus with no letters.

From the hotel, the three of us took a taxi to the bus station, a bus to the Hong Kong border, where we went through customs to exit Hong Kong, another bus across an undefined territory to the Chinese border, where we went through immigration to enter China, and finally a hired car to get to the printing plant in the Guangdong Province, 45 minutes outside of Shenzhen, China. In all, it took about two hours.

The taxi ride was uneventful enough. The bus trips were smooth, aside from the cacophony of snoring business men. It wasn't until we were tucked into the printer's hired minivan that I started to fear for my life. The fact that I was in a very foreign country didn't bother me, nor the idea that I was so far from home --- it was simply the lack of road rules that had me on edge. Not once did I see an octagonal red sign; and not once did our vehicle stop as we spilled from a side road onto a main thoroughfare.

To take a left, we would simply position ourselves perpendicular to three lanes of oncoming traffic with the hope that we'd make it across before being flattened by an oncoming fleet of tractor trailers.

Later, we heard tales of local drivers throwing their cars into reverse on the highway! If they missed their exit, some simply stopped and backed up - despite the 55+ mph oncoming traffic!

Had I not been strapped in, I would have been bouncing from one end of that van to the other.

On Saturday, September 4, 2010 I flew from Baltimore to Chicago where I made my connection to the 16-hour flight to Hong Kong. Both flights were uneventful. The flight to Hong Kong inched by with each hour feeling like an eternity. To the surprise of many, this United airplane was not outfitted with individual television monitors, but with group screens. The movies shown were:

The Back-Up Plan with Jennifer Lopez (mediocre)
The Joneses with Demi Moore and David Ducovny (so bad I couldn’t get through it)
Iron Man 2 (it got boring, I didn’t watch it all)
Just Wright with Queen Latifah (slept through it)

I arrived in Hong Kong on time on Sunday, September 5, 2010 around 5:30pm.
After collecting my bags I took the Airport Express train into Hong Kong. For $19 it was a great choice: so clean, on time, quiet, cool. It beat the $50 taxi Ryan and I took when he arrived.

After a quick shower at the hotel, I met Sarah, who had arrived from London earlier that day, and we went out for dinner.

My trip to Asia earlier this month was a much better than the one I took last year. My company was great, as was the printer I worked with in Shenzhen. My next few posts will give you a quick overview and some anecdotes pulled from the journal I kept while traveling.

Goldfish Market, Hong Kong

A View of Hong Kong Island from the Star Ferry

Click to enlarge.

Last year when I went to Hong Kong I was terribly distraught about leaving. Thinking back on why I was so upset, I recall:

The H1N1 virus was in full swing. Travelers were being quarantined for weeks in China and my temperature would be taken upon landing in Hong Kong to determine if I was well enough to enter the country

Air France flight 447 had just disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean

I would be spending my birthday alone

My uneasiness did not subside when I arrived safely. I was lonely. I was overwhelmed. I called Ryan immediately and had him change my flight to an earlier date.

After being home for a couple of weeks after the trip, I realized that I had squandered an exceptional opportunity to see a very different part of the world.

Luckily, I have the opportunity to make up for the lost experience.

On Saturday, I leave for Hong Kong. From there, I travel to mainland China where I will work for a week. I'll return to Hong Kong, where Ryan will meet me and we'll spend five days touring Hong Kong and Macau.

The best part: I won’t be alone. Sarah, our partner from London, will be meeting me in Hong Kong and going to China with me… and of course, Ryan will arrive later.

I am really excited about this trip!

Fingers crossed Hurricane Earl won’t mess with my travel plans.