Well, I can't sleep to save my life! And it probably would save my life, to be honest. Tomorrow is my first visit with the customer that I developed the classes for. And I'm nervous. And I'm homesick (I've been here two days. How am I going to survive another 12?). And I'm completely off on my sleeping patterns. This isn't a surprise to me, since I've been off for about two weeks. So maybe it is insomnia. I took half of an Ambien, which my doctor perscribed me to help with the plane sleeping, but at the moment, it isn't kicking in so much. So where do my thoughts go? To the blog!

Yesterday, I had time to explore a bit of the city - and by bit, I mean a few blocks - by myself. The first thing I really noticed about Hong Kong was the fact that it smells. Sometimes good, but mostly not so much. There are so many restaurants, whether inside at food courts, or outside on the street, that the smells begin to compete with each other and you end up with this hodge podge of aromas that really aren't supposed to go together. Add to that the fact that it is a city. There is trash and there are lots of cars. And you really have quite a mess for your olfactory senses. Sometimes, though, you catch a whiff of something that just knocks your socks off - in a good way. A bakery around the corner had me standing there for 5 minutes wanting to try something but unsure of how to order.

The stinkiest place I've been has to be the Gold Fish Market. The Gold Fish Market is located on Tung Choi Street. It stretches for about two city blocks and is simply many, many aquarium stores. Many of the storefronts have fish, in bags, for sale at VERY reasonable prices. They also have turtles, which flipped me out to now end! There were some turtles, and I'm kicking myself for not getting a picture, that had the longest necks I've ever seen. The reason I didn't get a picture? Smelliest place in Hong Kong. I simply couldn't stand it! So I moved on. If I can stomach it, I may go back on Saturday to take a picture of these freaky turtles. Not only did the fact that they had turtles for sale on the street flip me out, but the prices flipped me out as well. Hong Kong's currency is about 7 to 1 (7 Hong Kong dollars to 1 US dollar) and the small turtles, which were very prevalant throughout the market, were only about $10 HK, which is about $1.35 US. That just seems crazy to me. Here, I have an extra $1.50... what shall I do with it? Oh, I think I'll buy a TURTLE! I could buy a pet turtle just for the time I'm in Hong Kong. Financially, it isn't a bad move, and it would give me some companionship. They may frown upon him (or her... I wouldn't be sure how to tell once I bought it) on the plane. Ya know, what with the travelling companion rules and all. So I'm going to pass on the buying of the turtle. But look at how flipping cute!!!!

For some reason, that fish market was very interesting. And it was just fish either (obviously, because of the turtles)!

That was the cutest little bunny ever! I snapped his picture and was getting ready to take a picture of the cutest dog ever, when the store owner told me "NO PHOTOS!" So no photos of the cutest dog ever, or the cutest cats ever. It was actually kind of sad that these animals are hocked on the street. But I did see several posters in the subway stations (MTR stations, they're called here) that said "A pet is for life. Think before you get one". So I guess that there is some social responsibility.

I think the Ambien is kicking in, as I'm starting to get a bit drowsy. I'll write tomorrow about the trip to my first yarn store!

A very special someone asked me to update my blog, so here I am updating it. I should be updating it anyway, since I'm a part of a mitten exchange, however, I've been WAY too busy to even worry about my blog. What have I been doing, you ask. Well... I've been finishing a work project in order to prepare for a class that I'm teaching in Hong Kong. Nearly every aspect of my life has suffered because of this project, but I finished it last Monday. Since then, I was enjoying the holiday with my family and friends, and preparing for my trip to the other side of the world.

I left for Hong Kong Monday morning, and arrived here yesterday evening (Hong Kong time). So far, I've seen just about nothing, but I'm prepared to spend today doing a little exploring. I did manage to take a few pictures this morning.

And I did manage to visit the mall next door to get me some Starbucks. Inside the mall, they had it all decorated for Christmas. It is very simple, but very pretty.

And since I was on the longest plane ride EVER to get over here, I might have managed some knitting. Now, this scarf is for my knitting group's scarf exchange, so any of you Akron Stitch N' Bitchers who read my blog might be the lucky recipient of this. The scarf exchange is totally secret, so I'm not sure who I'm knitting for, but I have an idea.

If you can't tell, I'm knitting a clapotis from the Fall 2004 issue of Knitty. Such an easy pattern. The yarn is something I bought from Rhinebeck earlier this year. It is a rayon/silk blend and its gorgeous. The drape is so very awesome. I believe the vendor I bought it from can be found at iloveyarn.com. The yarn is very generous as far as yardage goes, and it is very easy to work with. There are some nubby bits to the yarn, but it really does add to it. I'm enjoying this scarf and kind of wish I would have bought some of this for myself. I'll post an update on my Rhinebeck haul later this week, because I did buy some yarn with which to knit myself a clapotis. And everyone has to drool over the gorgeous yarns I bought while in NY.

There is one other thing I want to share. The best Christmas present EVER. In lieu of the many gifts my parents generally buy me for Christmas, I asked them to get me a nice camera for my trip over here. So my mom and dad ordered me a Canon Digital Rebel XTi. I received it a few weeks ago, and have been snapping lots of pictures. I'll try to post some of those this week, as well as pictures from my visit to Hong Kong. For now, I'm going to rest.