It's fun to stay at the YMCA

I don't know what I thought of the YMCA's but this one here in Hong Kong is awesome. I'm sure they're not all this nice, but this one rocks! Are the rooms as nice as some of the more expensive places we could've stayed? No, but for the price it's much more than I expected. We have a view of Victoria Harbor, pool, two restaurants, a small shop and we're only 2 blocks from the Star Ferry. I would definitely recommend it to anyone traveling to Hong Kong.

Wow is all I can say about the shopping here! Every brand name you've ever heard of and thousands more can be found. Last evening we went to Harbor City and it was gigantic. It covered a few city blocks with over 700 stores. Of course the kids favorite store was Toys R Us, and they were spoiled with toys to bring back to the room to play with. Dave bought a gorgeous purple Chinese style jacket, I can't wait to get home and take photos of him in it.

Yesterday afternoon we walked through the antiques district where there were hardly any tourists. It was really nice to get out of the touristy district and see authentic Hong Kong, to see where the residents shop and how they live. While there I bought some tea (can't wait to share it with you Kerrie!) and Dave bought me a tea set like they use here., complete with slop bowl. We also found a beautiful mini screen with hand embroidered flowers and mini vases with scenes painted on them. I have o idea where these are going to go in the house, but I see hanging shelves in Dave's future.

Another great find was new glasses for Hannah & Elijah. We decided to go into the optical shop on a whim, just to see how long it would take them to get glasses for the twins. We ordered them yesterday and they'll be done this afternoon, and they cost less than $150 a pair. In Guam we pay at least $200 a pair and have to wait 6-8 weeks for the lenses to arrive on island. Plus they're getting better lenses this time, they're getting the light plastic ones that are scratch resistant, this is great because right now Elijah's lenses are about as thick as coke bottles and they're so heavy that no matter how we adjust his glasses they constantly slide down his face.

Well, looks like everyone's just about dressed and ready to start the day. Time for a good breakfast so we have energy to do some more shopping today. Today is electronics shopping, I'm looking for a pink ipod and a remote for my camera.