One Ringy-dingy

The good news is we have cell phones. The bad news is that we don’t have service for them yet. Unlike the States where one buys a phone and a service plan together, in Hong Kong the two transactions are separate. You buy the phone of your choice and then you buy the service plan of your choice. And not at the same store. It's rather nice. It puts the consumer in the driver's seat.

And yes, the girls got their own phones! Granted, we got them the cheapest phones available, but they have officially entered the telecommunication age. Both their phones have built-in cameras, games, and text capabilities. May the good Lord have mercy on us now.

I too got a cheap phone (not as cheap as the girls, mind you). Julie got one of them there fancy LG touch phones so we can access the internet, maps, hotels, and other useful information when we are on the go. Eventually, it will allow us to install other useful aps like a diagram of the Hong Kong train system. (Yeah, that’s right, I just used the word “aps.” Go ahead, hate me.)

Like everything else in Hong Kong, the cramped store was crowded, the purchase took a long time, and it seemed to require lots of drawn-out paperwork.

Cell phones and cell-phone service are relatively cheap in HK. We will get service on or four phones -one of them with unlimited international calling- for less than we paid for our two phones State-side.

Now when 6:30 p.m. rolls around, we’ll be able to call our daughters home for dinner instead of trying to figure out where in this seven-story building they are running around.

-Jack