In a way Sunday disappeared, due to crossing the International date line. I boarded the just before 1 am on Sunday morning and got off about 6am on Monday morning. Last time I had a solid 10 hours sleep and recovered from my jet lag virtually straight away. This time, I had the meal, watched part of the movie "Twilight" and then fell asleep. About 3 hours later I woke up and never really got a decent amount of continuous sleep after that. I did spend a lot of time lying flat on my "bed" with my eyes closed but seemed unable to get to sleep again. I read a book and watched the movie "7 pounds" to fill in time. It is still a long way. We arrived a bit ahead of schedule and I was through passport control quite quickly. My bag took a bit longer than expected and then I still had a short wait for my clubs on the oversized baggage carousel.
Once through customs, I change most of my US dollars(60) to Hong Kong currency. I saw a counter for my hotel in the concourse and decided to take the Airport shuttle rather than the train. The main impetus for this was getting delivered to the door so I didn't have to lug my clubs around. Otherwise I'd have taken the train and a taxi or the MTR. There was a 40 minute wait and then it was rush hour so the traffic was slow. Also we stopped at 2 other hotels on the way so it was 9 before I got there.
I did see a bit more than you would normally in the train, although it was overcast and misty so distance viewing wasn't very clear. The new airport is on another island and you actually drive along some undeveloped hills for part of the way, before crossing a couple of bridges and then a tunnel to get onto the mainland. You then pass some shipyards and get into Kowloon before taking another tunnel to Hong Kong Island. It was in Kowloon that the traffic got heavy and we inched along the roads, as cars tried to change lanes before the next tunnel or clover leaf. At one stage I had a Deja Vu moment and realised I'd walked along the street that we were on, on my previous trip. Sure enough, a short distance further on I saw the hockey stadium.
I took a paid upgrade that gave me Internet and breakfast (and some other perks) and was given a "much larger" room on the top floor, in the Harbour Club. It is a reasonable size but not what I would call large by eg Australian, US or Thai standards. I'm glad I wasn't in the normal room. It even has a small cooking area with a hot plate and a microwave. Not sure how useful this is sicne there are no plates, pots or cutlery. My view is of the mountains, rather than the harbour but I found the window in the hall way gave me the harbour view, and to be honest, with the weather as it is, you could hardly see the other side of the water.
It was great to have a shower as you just can't help feeling a bit grubby after a long flight. The water was hot and the pressure strong. After changing into a skirt and top I headed out and found a supermarket nearby, buying some water, soft drink and chips. For some reason my email program decided to re- download all the mail since about the 20th April so it took a while before I could see if I had anything new.
I then grabbed my golf umbrella, since it was drizzling steadily and headed further afield. I took a tourist map from the hotel lobby, but it didn't cover the area where the hotel is located. (This is important later). I walked some distance towards the CBD (Central area) pooping into various malls for a bit of window shopping but I didn't intend to buy anything. I did stop for some Pad Thai for lunch. Eventually, I decided I'd gone far enough and came back along a parallel street and then on the other side of the road I'd started on. I saw a hairdressers (well lots of them actually) and decided to get my hair cut. The last time it was cut was in Bangkok about 8 weeks ago. It cost about A$11 for a shampoo, cut and dry.
You can tell a bit about the weather by how people handle it. Most buildings had a "device" at the front entrance. This held long plastic bags and you poked your umbrella into them pulled them out and your umbrella was covered and didn't drip everywhere. You don't have those in places where it is sunny most of the time.
Back in the hotel, I lay down on the bed and read a book. It wasn't really sight seeing weather. I dozed off a couple of times to be woken by the staff delivering my complimentary fruit plate. Went back to sleep again and woke up at 6:10. I quickly got dressed and headed out to my meeting with the Hong Kong Mensa group. I had planned to partake of the free happy hour included with the upgrade but it was too late for that. I caught the MTR (underground train) to Central and arrive a few minutes before the 7 o'clock rendezvous. I was clever or lucky enough to have picked the right exit and came up the escalator right next to Mrs. Fieldings Cookies, where Ruby was already waiting. It was a 5 minute walk to the University Alumni building and the restaurant where on of the members was already waiting. Another 3 arrived shortly after and we had a typical chinerse meal with soup rice and stir fry type dishes.
We then headed off for another 10 minute walk to a street cafe where the others had dessert. I didn't see anything that tempted me and the dishes they had looked a bit like tapioca. Although it hadn't rained on this little trip, it was quite warm and very humid out of the airconditioning. After that I headed to the MTR station with the group gradually going their separate ways. Thomas walked right to the station with me but caught a different train. It took less than 15 minutes to travel the 7 stops to my station but I came out a different exit than the one I went in on. I knew I was on the right road because the trams go down the centre but I wasn't sure where I was relative to the hotel. I use a bit of logic to work out where the mountains might be (it was dark by then), and the shape of the road and headed left. After 10 minutes I hadn't seen anything familiar and was looking at my useless map (ie not covering the area). Some one stopped and I got the direction of Central - back in the direction I'd come. 25 minutes after I left the station I was back there again and another 10 minutes walk got me to the hotel. I'm sure I've walked further today than in the entire 4 weeks in the States.
Tge maid had been to my room and turned down the bed and replaced the wet towels and bath mats. As I was getting ready for bed I discovered a little bamboo container with 3 chocolates in it on the bedside table.
I've booked the 11:20 shuttle back to the airport tomorrow. This stopover has really been just about the cheaper airfare, although it was nice to see the Mensa people again.
It's now midnight so hopefully, if I get a decent night's sleep, my body will be back in sync with this time zone, which is the same as Perth.
No comments:
Post a Comment