Hong Kong

We had a 12 hour layover in Hong Kong, and we were happy to get off the plane for awhile. Our passports allowed passage into the city, so we went in shifts, one group taking the train while the rest watched everyone's luggage. My group went first and included Kelly, Kristen, James, and Melissa.

They were playing Christian Christmas songs over the loudspeakers in the mall by the train station. I found that to be very surprising.

The harbor area of Hong Kong is very cool - and, strangely enough, it felt like home. The way all of the stores and restaurants were congregated in strips along the docks, the smell of the sea air, the sounds of the waves against the boats in port, just the overall feel of the place felt like Baltimore. Only everyone was Chinese. I didn't realize it at the time, but that would be an ongoing sensation throughout the entire trip: recognizing that the culture and customs around me were very different, very non-western, but also feeling comfortable within them, feeling at home, and, most importantly, not feeling like I was lost or out of my element. I definitely couldn't call myself a "world traveler" going into this trip (having only been to London once for 5 days; I haven't even been to Canada or Mexico), so I expected some measure of stress or uneasiness about being in a place where I didn't understand everything, where I didn't know all of the rules. But that never came. God stayed close to me the entire time, giving me such a constant reminder that I could rely on Him that I didn't even think about how weird it was that I wasn't stressed about anything until later.

More examples of that later in the trip. But back to Hong Kong - we didn't really have any extravagant adventures here, but we did walk around the harbor for about an hour. I was praying in tongues and declaring Jesus' authority over that area, that God encounters would happen there, and that local Christians would have opportunities to pray for people and witness there. I noticed someone walking on crutches a little ahead of us; part of me wanted to catch up to them and ask them if we could pray for healing, but I was a little concerned about how to initiate that in China, given their policy on missionaries, and knowing that I didn't want to do anything that could get us in trouble and impede the trip to Nepal, so I didn't say anything. I was probably just being a chicken, but I didn't dwell on it (I would have plenty of opportunities to pray for people, and you can't hold on to your missed opportunities because they'll only get in the way of what God wants to do next.)

We found a dim sum place for "dinner" (even though it was about 10:30 am local time.) It was good. I was determined to take advantage of the different kinds of food we came across during the trip, so I started here by ordering the "Phoenix Talons," which were chicken feet. They weren't bad - a little rubbery, but that seemed to be the preferred texture of all of the food we ordered. They were kind of difficult to eat, though, since I had to bite around all of the foot bones.

After eating, we returned to the airport and played cards, read, etc. while the other group went into the city. The last flight (on Dragonair...how cool is that? I hadn't heard of that airline) was kind of a blur; I was getting pretty tired, and slept a little off and on. We stopped at Dhaka, Bangladesh, which none of us really expected. In my tired, half-asleep stupor, I got up to let the person next to me move into the aisle, and then started walking towards the front of the plane before I realized that I wasn't so sure we were in the right place and should probably ask someone. The line of people kept moving behind me, so I went up to the front and asked the flight attendant. Apparently this was a common occurrence, because they had a designated person who was asking people as they got off if they wanted Dhaka or Kathmandu, so I waited with the others who had gotten off early until everyone had deplaned, and then returned to my seat. I was too tired to feel a shred of embarrassment about it; I just tried to get a few more moments of sleep, and prayed that the remaining flight would be short.

The plane sat for 45 minutes or so, and then took off for Nepal. We arrived in Kathmandu about an hour later.