After a looooong and tiresome (but not entirely awful) 15 hour flight straight from Chicago, the PacRim 2015 team arrived in Hong Kong, our first destination. We stayed there for three days and I was just blown away by this city. Coming into this trip, I imagined that Hong Kong would be just a big cement jungle...a huge, dirty city filled with crime and crazyness. I am happy to admit that I was completely wrong. The island and mainland part is filled with gorgeous, green mountains and is surrounded by bright blue water. While the city was bustling, it wasn't quite as packed as I had imagined it to be (thankfully). The actual city we stayed in is called Sha Tin. We stayed up in a mountain at a retreat called Tao Fong Shan and it was breathtaking. The retreat is secluded from the city and a feeling of peace just envelops you as you enter the grounds. This is a place of prayer and reflection. The temperature was warm and it smelled like spring, it was a true oasis for us since we had just escaped from the evil clutches of winter back in Indiana. As you can see from the pictures, we had quite the view! The staff made us three meals a day and we would eat as a team. Using chopsticks for the meals proved to be a bit of a challenge at first but we were able to improve our skills in just those three short days.
