HKGslp

I'm alive in the Hong Kong Airport, but tired as. 


For those of you that don't know, I'll be in Shantou, China for the next five weeks. I'm here with 20 other engineering students from the U of C and we have 20 Shantou students in our class as well, that will be taught by Dr. Hugo, a professor from Calgary.

The good news is that on the flight here I had the full three seats beside the window to myself, so I could lay down to sleep. I slept pretty solidly for a couple house and then just laid comfortable for the other time. I watched Sherlock Holmes, the Hangover 2, one episode of Mr. D, and part of a new Jim Carrey movie about penguins. 

When we arrived in the airport I found that I could stuff my day bag into my big backpack, and it wasn't really heavy, so I decided to carry it around the city with me. I thought we were just going to train into Hong Kong, grab a bite, and then train back. We ended up doing a lot of walking with it, and I found the places where the padding isn't ideal on the bag.

The bad news. When I went to take out money from an ATM, it immediately spit out my card when I put it in. I tried my other card and it did the same. I've tried at about 4 different ATMs tonight, and I tried at the machine in McDonalds (Dr. Hugo just took us there to eat, as I think he is weary of most Asian street side restaurants). Different ATM machines have let me go though the full process and enter my PIN and select my account and the amount and stuff, but then when the transaction begins to take place and money should be coming out, it tells me it's not approved or something. Luckily I'm with a big group, and I've been able to borrow money for food and water, but tomorrow I'll try to my bank and figure out what's up. I've checked and made sure that the ATMs I've been using have had Cirrus on them, but still no go.

After wandering Hong Kong and viewing the downtown region from across the inlet we came back to the airport and everyone picked up their bags. We're randomly sprawled out on chairs, benches and floor (the benches have arm rests, so I'll be choosing the floor).

Our flight is at 11AM tomorrow, and then when we arrive in Shantou a bus will pick us up, take us out to lunch, and then take us to get settled at the uni dorms. Hopefully the internet is working on mainland China, and hopefully I can get my money situation figures out quick.

Chow now