There's No Place Like Home

WHEW. These past few days (weeks maybe?) have been quite the whirlwind. We had to take a little jaunt over to Hong Kong for a visa run, and had a fantastic time eating and seeing everything that HK had to offer.  While it was a remarkably full and occasionally stressful trip (FYI - no you still cannot take butter knives on a plane in your carry-on, even if you just bought them for very cheap in a very cute set from IKEA that you CANNOT get in country, and you completely, utterly forgot they were there), I thought I'd just cover the highlights of our past week or so.

Fun with friends in our city . . .

Enjoying the fruit of the trees outside my window . . .

And don't worry Southerners, it only took me the better part of a month to realize those big things were POMEGRANATES, and I just realized last week that the little guys were FIGS. Seriously, where do I live?! Asia or Eden?

This is what we later came to call "the divine pump fake". Imagine our elation when we got bumped up to first class on our flight to Hong Kong, and how that continued to elation escalate as about 50 (!) 3rd grade students in matching badges and backpacks filed past us on our their way to coach.

We got to our hotel around midnight, with plans to get up early and head to the consulate by seven . . . so imagine the abrupt end of our elation when this happened around 2:30 am. 

Yep, we got to make our way down 5 flights of stairs (did I mention it was around 2:30 A.M. ?!) to stand on the streets in our jammies for about 30 or so minutes. Thankfully Triple BBB has a little more where-with-all in the middle of the night than I do - he at least thought to grab our passports, all I managed was a shirt over my pj's.

I think my favorite part of the whole ordeal was the random man who meandered his way into our befuddled and bedraggled group, and calmly sipped his beer and listened while the firemen assured us it was a false alarm. And no, he was not a guest at our hotel.

His Hotness perusing the madness/fabulousness that is Hong Kong . . . 

And this my friends, would be the UNBELIEVABLE Indian food we had here one night.

The next day we had some delectable dim sum here (sure, we were there for a new visa, but we had to eat, right?) A Chef from the Four Seasons hotel opens a hole in the wall restaurant where lines can be up to 3 hours but cost less than $20 US Dollars? Yes please!!

Overall, it was a wonderful whirlwind of a trip, but we are so glad to be home. Not only because of the MUCH cooler temperatures (hate to break it to you folks, but we've yet to really crack 90 degrees), but because this place has become exactly that - home. We are grateful for time away us to get things done and experience unique things, but that also allowed us to miss the sights and sounds that are our life here.

There truly is no place like home, no matter where it is.