Saturday March 26th 2011-Hong Kongien experience

Hong Kong! Currency exchange $1US=$8 Hong Kong Dollars(HKD) Probly the most impressive city I have ever seen in my life.  We pulled into port on a foggy morning after 2 rough days at sea.  Friday morning may have been the rockiest the ship has been throughout the entire voyage.  Many people puking on the ship.  I gave a presentation with two partners in International Marketing about a non-alcoholic beverage and how I would market it in Vietnam.  We started to prepare our presentation just hours before class and finished about 5 minutes before we delivered it.  Brian froze during it and I had to step up and say his part.  He was extremely rattled and Joe and I have made fun of him for a few days since then.  Boring story but it was funny. 
Anyways so we pulled in on a foggy morning as the skyscrapers seemed to appear out of nowhere.  It really is an amazing port to pull into because it is almost like you go through a gauntlet in between these towering buildings.  The river goes directly between Hong Kong Island(central) and the mainland.  The Semester at Sea put us in was great because there was so much to do right around us.  You get off and have the ferry for just $2(their money even though it looks like USD) which will take you over to Hong Kong Island.  Unfortunatly because of the bad weather we were not able to get docked and off of the ship until nearly 11 so we headed straight to a restaurant in Central to get lunch.  I personally wanted to eat at a small local place which most likely would have great local food.  It’s my first time in China so I want to try all the local foods that I can, and if there is one thing I learned from this trip around the world, it is that the sketchier looking the food joint, the better the food.  Some of the places I have got food from at all hours of the night make Pinones in San Juan look like Salvatore’s.  Seriously, Vietnam was the worst….so much late night Pho and I had no idea what kind of meats they were chopping up and putting in.  Anyways, because we were with girls they of course wanted to eat at the really nice looking restaurant across the street.  Long story short I ended up paying $160($20) for one of the worst meals I have had this trip.  I made a vow to myself that for the rest of the trip I eat when I want where I want no matter what pressure there is to eat with people.  Only doing this trip once.  Start doing what I want.