Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore...

CHINA! I feel rather like the post office - neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow, nor hail, nor Narita - can keep me from my appointed rounds. Getting through the airport in Japan was the biggest challenge of the whole trip! The luggage arrived without difficulty, and I literally walked through immigration and customs stopping only long enough for the immigration official to chop a stamp on my visa.

So far, Hong Kong is everything I thought it would be and more. It's hot. (I believe it may be possible to get dehydrated by THINKING about going outside.) It's busy. It's also really beautiful. I got in about midnight last night and took the airport shuttle to the hotel. The lights on the harbour are incredible...

This morning was spent getting my ID card from Immigration. It was an unbelieveably positive experience. The people in the office were polite, efficient and very helpful. (There's something to be said for an immigration official in uniform with a "Hello Kitty" calendar on her desk.) The entire process took less than an hour, and there were 10 of us. Then we went to the bank and opened accounts...also lovely. The young man who opened my account now has a new piece of English slang - he was pleased to discover that I was "low maintenance" and that I was sure he "had it covered." (My first contributions to the destruction of Chinese culture. :)

I have also survived my first encounters with the MTR (mass transit railway). I will get lost eventually, I'm sure, but not so far. I love my Octopus card. It does everything but my laundry, and we're working on that.

The pictures on this post are of the view outside my hotel window. It's a residential area under construction. My favourite thing so far? People hang their laundry out their windows. It's really rather colourful, and the girl across the way on the 21st floor has some really cute skirts...