You'll know it's true that you are blessed and lucky...

Made it safely to Hong Kong. This city is going to be beautifully easy to navigate... feels like a bit of a break. I'll be here until Sunday when I plan to leave for the Philippines provided I can finally procure a ticket and there isn't any weather trouble there.

It's Thanksgiving Day today. So much to be thankful for this year, and I'm feeling especially grateful that I've been given this amazing opportunity to go see the world. It's been almost 2 1/2 months since I've left Seattle. Can you believe it? Looking back over the 2 weeks that I just spent in China, I've come up with some memorable moments to share with you... a "Top 10 List" if you will, although I'm presenting these in no particular order... please to enjoy:

- Standing at the "top" of the Great Wall of China after climbing 1,364 very tall steps to get there.
- Eating noodle soup for 65 cents a bowl at a card table in the street after just having watched the noodles be made fresh by hand.
- Sipping mandarin vodka & tonics in the Cloud 9 lounge on the 87th floor of the Jin Mao tower that each cost just more than I was paying for a night's accomodation while scoping out the spectacular Shanghai skyline (ooh... alliteration).
- Being well and truly ripped off at a hot-pot restaurant in Xi'an (for more than 3 times what the table next to us paid)and starting to be angry about it until realizing the entire bill still came to just around $20.
- Stepping off the Beijing Metro into Tian'anmen Square.
- Walking around the West Lake in Hangzhou and seeing the most beautiful and picturesque scenes that felt like they were straight out of a movie.
- The "soundtrack of China": brakes squealing, horns honking, people spitting (seriously!), and the ever-present "watch, bag, lady, you want watch? bag? cheaper, cheaper for you!"
- Giving into that constant call and haggling for some very cheap merchandise. I couldn't shop like that all the time, but I did score some good deals in Beijing and Shanghai.
-Oh, the signs, everywhere the signs. Some of my favorites "Look out the glasses" printed on the shower door at our hotel in Beijing, a sign directing you to buy tickets for "Pagoda Mounting", and the sign on the toilets in the trains "Unable to use at stabilization".
-Meeting people, particularly on the trains and in train stations. The 3 ladies on the train from Beijing to Xi'an that just pointed and giggled and reminded me equally of my aunts and that episode of Seinfield where Elaine takes Mr. Costanza to the nail salon with her so she can figure out what everyone is saying about her. The young guy from Hangzhou on his way to a Linkin Park concert in Shanghai. The sisters who shared their candy with me on the train from Xi'an to Hangzhou. The little old lady who yelled at the carriage attendant when she locked the bathrooms before a stop and convinced her to reopen them so we could sneak in. The Deaf man who shared my compartment from Shanghai to Hong Kong; he was in awe that I had lifted my backpack up above the beds to the storage shelf. Probably 3 or 4 times during our journey he reached out and tapped my shoulder, before grabbing my bicep, then making the "muscles" gesture and giving me a big grin and thumbs up. He was also very approving of the jasmine tea I had with me, correctly guessed that I was from the U.S. and explained where he lived, that one of his kids was in school in HK and that he works as a driver. I'm sure we were a sight with our wild gesturing. :)