Okay so China

HONG KONG-
        Day one we were in Hong Kong. All of us (colleen, maggi, kristin, and laurel) decided to go exploring for a little, so after taking about 30 mins to figure out the whole ferry system we crossed to the big island, grabbed some lunch and went shopping. The city was really cool, but packed with people all over the place. After a few hours of shopping Kristin, Laurel and I found went to a free champagne happy hour before heading back to the ship to get ready for the night. Most everyone was still in town on the first night so practically every SAS student was out at the same place. We were all told to go to some bar called Sex In the City, so we asked our cab driver to take us there. We pulled up outside this street and we got out of the cab only to find the biggest street party in Hong Kong. It was a celebration of the Hong Kong Sevens, which is the Rugby world cup or something very similar. So the streets were packed with hundreds of International rugby players all dressed up in costumes. It was so much fun, and so unexpected, but definitely a night to remember. Anyway- we all got home safe and went to sleep right away. The next day we all wandered the Kowloon pennisula looking for food, which proved to be a huge problem considering nothing opened until noon. So, Colleen Maggi and I went back near the ship and found “Dan Ryan’s Chicago Grill” which was really fun to find, and actually had great american food (something we havent had in months). After lunch I head back to the ship to take a nap and pack my bag for my trip to Beijing the following day. After my nap I woke up and decided to explore a little on my own. Luckily our port was attached to one of Hong Kong’s 1000000s of malls, so I just walked around until I found another street that led to another mall... basically malls are endless. After I did a little more shopping, I head back to the coffee shop right off the port and I was able to get some internet. Maggi and Colleen then showed up and we decided to grab dinner on the ship before Colleen and i needed to get off. The ship was leaving to meet us in Shanghai, but our flight wasn’t until the next day, so we had to get off, find a hotel and chill in Hong Kong for the night. So we quickly looked online, booked a hotel and took a cab over to the place. We decided we were too tired for another “too fun” night so we just went and got froyo and head to bed early.  On the next morning we had to check out by 11, so we got up, packed and grabbed a cab to the airport. At the airport we had about 4 hours to kill so we grabbed some magazines, and got lunch at a cool italian restaurant in the terminal. They had wifi so we were able skype our families during lunch.  Finally, hours later we boarded our plane to Beijing.

BEIJING- 
         So we arrived in Beijing and met our tour guides at the airport. All of us loaded onto our bus and drove about an hour to this little hotel. A few of us took cabs to this little lake that was surrounded by colorful christmas lights all highlighting different western restaurants. We choose the first one because it had great music and we grabbed dinner and drinks. We only stayed for about an hour because it was pretty late and we knew our wake up was at 7am. It took us another hour to track down a cab that would take us back to our hotel, none of them spoke english, and even with the hotel business card (with address in chinese) they wouldn’t take us. Finally we got a cab and made it back to the hotel. Colleen and I fell asleep right away but were both woken up at 4am by some girl screaming on her cell phone in the hallway. I poked my head out in the hallway and she got the message and was finally quite. Anyway the next day was full of stuff so ill try to brief over it.  We went to the Forbidden City, the silk market and finally to the olympic “nest” and swim cube. The day was a lot of fun and we saw a bunch of interesting things. Finally we drove 2 hours to the Great Wall. At this point we realized how much the temp had really dropped and were glad our tour guide had advised us to buy warm stuff at the market. So after dinner, the 30 of us dressed up like stuffed pandas in our fake north faces and ridiculous warm attire hiked up the 40 min path to the wall. We were the last group there... there were about 4 groups of SAS china guide people there. We got to our “campsite” on the wall, threw our gear down and grabbed some beers to “toast” to the great wall. What a memory that moment will be.  But anyway for the next few hours we had a blast, playing games, meeting new people, figuring how to stay warm and taking on the challenge of going to the bathroom on THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA.  Anyway, all was going well... until people started wandering between the groups and next thing we knew about half our group was gone. So a few of us went to do the same when we were stopped and told there was an emergency. Two girls from our group had been going to the group next to ours... (to paint a picture, it was pitched black, and all you can see is the flashlights from one group to the next) apparently the two girls didn’t notice the steep staircase below them and they missed they step falling about 15 feet down stairs to the stone below them. Anyway we rushed over to the scene and there were already a few people down there. I knew it was serious so I went down the stairs to offer some of my first aid knowledge. Luckily two students were EMTs so they pretty much took charge but the rest of us who knew what we were doing assisted with them. I found a pair of doors behind us and we unhinged them and used them as guernees. One of the girls had a serious head injury so she was the main priority. About 15 people volunteered to get her down the mountain on the gurnee and another group took the second girl, my friend lilly, who had a leg injury down.  It was really a terrifying experience for all of us, but I am so thankful that we were with enough people who could help, which ended up saving Gabby’s life.  (She was taken to an emergency room in Beijing, was in a coma for a day or so but thankfully is awake now and healing in a hospital in Hong Kong with her mother- but we all miss her a lot, and are praying for her as we finish up this journey)  Anyway- on the wall, my group went straight to sleep after the accident, we were all a little too shaken up to celebrate any longer. Anyway- we all somehow woke up around 5am, maybe because we never slept(way too cold) or subconsciously we just knew to do it... and we got to see the sun rise over the great wall- it was absolutely beautiful, another memory ill never forget.
        After cleaning up our mess we hiked back down to drop off our stuff and then turned around to hike back up and do our 2 hour hike on the wall. It was spectacular. You can read all about it in books, and see pictures, but you can never appreciate work like that until you see it. The Great Wall is truly a world wonder. As exhausting as the hike was... it was so rewarding so I’m glad I did it, and didn’t sit on the bus like half our group ended up doing.  After the hike we drove back into the city and grabbed lunch and then went to the Pearl market. After the market we saw an acrobatic show had dinner and went to the train station. At the station we bid farewell to our guides and hopped on our sleeper train to meet our ship in Shanghai.

SHANGHAI-
           Once we arrived in Shanghai we all loaded onto buses and headed for the ship. Sadly, our bus got there last so we were waiting in a 100+person line and had to wait over an hour for security to get all the way through everyone. Finally, once we got aboard we had to turn in our passports for processing and from that point couldn’t get off the ship for 2 hours until they were done.  So around noon we all headed to an Italian restaurant down town Shanghai for lunch and then head to a market. It was a little overwhelming to be in my 3rd market in over 48 hours... but i survived. Then after a while we head back to the ship to take a nap before going out. That night we found a free champagne ladies night, so we ate dinner there and had drinks.We met a bunch of Americans at the restaurant/bar who were living in Shanghai for work. They took us to the 38th floor bar on top of some hotel and we saw the most incredible view of the city and the skyline.  Our next stop was some club called MINT, which was a typical dance club, with lots of Europeans, so probably a tourist hot spot.  Anyway- we all left in separate groups at different times... overall good night.
The next day was not very adventurous. Maggi and I went back to MINT to grab my jacket that I totally forgot about in the coat check. Then we skyped our families in some internet cafe before meeting Kristin, Colleen and Laurel for lunch at a sushi bar.  We then decided to spend the rest of our Yuan on groceries and then head back to the ship pretty early. 

Then we left China.