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Travel Day

Posted by on August 11, 2013

 

Ted picked us up in a beautiful Caravan rental that was just the right size for all the bags and us. The drive to SFO was smooth and we arrived with plenty of time to check in and relax for a short time before boarding our 1:00am flight. We booked premium economy seats and it was a welcome upgrade to have larger seats and more recline for napping on the 13+ hour journey to Hong Kong. We slept though the dinner serving of Prime Steak but woke up in time for a nice breakfast. We arrived in Hong Kong at 5:45am, had  reasonably smooth trip through customs and the hotel driver was waiting for us as we walked towards the passenger arrival area. Our driver was interesting and pleasant to talk with about Hong Kong. He had worked for an airline for 20 years but was laid off due to the recession and spent two years looking for work before being hired as a driver.

Victoria Harbour

Our hotel, Langham Place ended up being an excellent choice. It is beautiful, has a huge shopping mall attached and a great club lounge area that serves breakfast, snacks and cocktails throughout the day. The staff greeted us warmly and kept us informed of our wait to check in since we arrived so early in the morning and would have to wait for a room until 3:00pm. Ted had a fantastic idea to take a bus tour of Hong Kong while we waited and this turned out to be a perfect way to get the lay of the land and see some of the places that await our exploration. There are two main parts to Hong Kong, the island of Hong Kong and just across harbor is Kowloon which is also part of Hong Kong. We boarded the bus and toured Kowloon then took a ferry across to Hong Kong Island and boarded another bus that gave us a tour of downtown, several beach areas and Ocean Park which is an amusement park. After almost 6 hours of touring we headed back to our hotel and settled in to our accommodations.

We were fairly exhausted by this time but still motivated ourselves to do some walking and have a tasty local dinner. There are thousands of people out walking and shopping here 24 hours a day. It makes New York City look like a sleepy town.

P1000590

We happened to sit next to a very friendly local guy that helped us pick out the right menu items since it can be challenging to decipher what is on the menu. The food was very good and the place was packed at 10 or 11 at night.

Local Diner

Time for some needed sleep. Good night Hong Kong.

Night View