I'm in Sydney!!

Left Nashville on Wednesday and traveled to Hong Kong first. We got into Hong Kong at 5 am local time. We were able to sleep pretty well on our flight, Thanks to the company for business class, so we decided to stay up and work on adjusting to HK time. We took showers and then went to the airport mall. Of course we were there before most anything was open so we walked around and around and each time a new store opened we went in and looked around. We decided we wanted to take a tour so we asked the concierge and he set us up for at tour at 2:00. We had lunch at the airport and then rode a train and a shuttle into Kowloon. The tour was awesome. We went up Victoria peak and looked over the bay. We went to Aberdeen where the house boat people live. We also saw a jewelery manufacturer (bit of a gimick) and then Stanley market. After the tour we met with Joseph Su who works in the HK office for Schneider. He took us to a "hot pot" restaurant. It was similar to the Japanese shabu shabu... but with spicy sauce. It was wonderful. After that we were really tired and returned to the hotel. I was pretty worried I might oversleep in the morning and set 3 alarms. It was a good thing because only one went off... one I accidentally set for pm... and one I have no idea why it didn't work.

We got on our flight out of HK at 9 am and since we were flying all day we made a big effort to stay up the entire flight. I drifted off two times... but only for a few minutes... so I'm feeling pretty adjusted. We got into Sydney last night at 8 pm local time. I had been warned to declare that I had brought Clif bars with me... and yes they caught it with the x-ray and asked about it. But since I had declared it... and I guess because it was sealed... they let me take it in... YEAH!

We both woke up pretty early this morning because we aren't completely adjusted... but we are getting there. I ran in the morning and it was amazing... the birds sound so different here... and the flowers smell so strong it reminds me of Hawaii. It started raining part way through my run so I headed back to the apartment. After that we found a nice place for breakfast... and a Target and a grocery store. We bought some groceries including bottled water that we carried back. While waiting to meet Colin, who we will be working with here, we watched some Australian Rules Football... what fun... the Sydney Swans versus... I think the Collingswood Magpies. The Swans looked they they were losing when I turned it off.

At noon, Collin and his wife picked us up and took us around Sydney. We had Dim Sum for lunch... YUM... and then we went to were the first British explorers landed in Australia. We also got to drive over the Bay Bridge and get a great view of the opera house. I have taken a ton of pictures but they are still in my camera for now because the battery was running out and I'm charging it. I'll try to get them uploaded tomorrow after work.

Having a great time... wish you were here. :-D