Hong Kong
Yesterday we were in Shanghai for an overnight stay prior to our flight back to Hong Kong. We didn't leave the hostel at all that night because it had rained hard in the afternoon but cleared up later that evening. It is really fortunate that the hostel we were staying at had a restaurant and sells big bottles of water - got everything we needed for the day.
We left around 8 a.m. this morning, walked to the Metro station, felt a slight drizzle but got to the station without getting too wet. Took the Line 4 to Shiji Avenue, about 20-30 minutes; transfered to Line 2 to Long Yang Road, about 5-10 minutes. From there we transfered to the Maglev Train for the Airport, only 6.5 minutes (more than an hour by car).
At the Airport we checked in early since we were already there. Thought we could bring our big bottles of water, as we did in Mainland China. Nope. They did not allow us to bring them inside the terminal. We ended up really thirsty (especially Peter) because they only sell the small 10 oz. size bottles, plus they were expensive. Oh well....
We were 2 hours from our departure schedule so we had some early lunch at the one of two restaurants inside the terminal. We both had curry with rice and something to drink. All cost us 153 yuan (really expensive!). Afterwards we went to sit at the section near our gate until about 10 minutes prior to boarding. Good thing we noticed that the flight number on the gate was not our flight. Peter checked at the main departure board and found out our gate was changed to #17 (from #14). No announcements or anything.
Boarding time came and nothing was happening. No one was at the gate counter. So we went down to the gate and saw that there was no one there, we went back up to the gate waiting area. Nothing happened for more than 15 minutes. Then we were told to line up by gate 18. All of us, including those waiting for the flight out to San Francisco, were waiting in the same line, until they started announcing loudly that the flight to San Francisco was already boarding. There were a lot of other passengers from this flight that were confused and some oblivious to what was happening. It looked like they too were assigned a different gate and was directed to the new one. There were so much confusion that some almost missed their flight.
As for us, the passengers going to Hong Kong, we had to wait until about 15-20 minutes past the flight schedule of 12 noon before we got to board the plane. No apologies or explanations at all! Well, I'm just glad we had a safe flight although delayed.
The weather in Hong Kong was a lot less humid than that first day we emerged from the airport shuttle bus. It had been raining here all week and today the weather was kind enough to let things dry out.
We booked at another hostel, the Lee Gardens Guesthouse in Cameron Road, because we just didn't want to go back to that Mirador Mansion place. This guesthouse is in a very busy road line with shops and restaurants. Charlie Chan, the manager, manages both the Lee Gardens and the Star Guesthouses. We took the small elevator up to the 8th floor where Mr. Peter (no last name given) checked us in, with the help of his Filipina employee (who speaks good Cantonese or Mandarin with some Tagalog thrown in - even Mr. Peter was saying some Tagalog words). He took us down to the 2nd floor to our room which looks a whole lot better, cleaner and newly refurbished, room. We are happy with our new hostel (at least it's not at Mirador Mansion!).
Peter and I went out to check the laundry place (1-7 lbs. for HKD$28/finished in 2 hours). We haven't been able to do our laundry since Beijing because we had to do them ourselves (we'd rather have someone do it for us so we won't have to wait by the machines all day, like what happened in Shanghai). Tomorrow we will have our laundry done while we go and see if we will take a day trip to Macau.
We then had our dinner at the nearby Yoshinoya then meandered our way to Canton Road where we found a huge shopping complex that has a food court, 2 supermarkets, and a big bookstore. I take back what I wrote about not easy to find a place to eat, it is actually easy to find them if only you look just around the corner. Now we know where to cool off during the day, and it's just nearby.
Well, it's raining outside now and we are both inside this internet cafe right next to the Harbor. After this we will be having some dessert at Hui Lao Shan (Peter's favorite dessert place).
Yesterday we were in Shanghai for an overnight stay prior to our flight back to Hong Kong. We didn't leave the hostel at all that night because it had rained hard in the afternoon but cleared up later that evening. It is really fortunate that the hostel we were staying at had a restaurant and sells big bottles of water - got everything we needed for the day.
We left around 8 a.m. this morning, walked to the Metro station, felt a slight drizzle but got to the station without getting too wet. Took the Line 4 to Shiji Avenue, about 20-30 minutes; transfered to Line 2 to Long Yang Road, about 5-10 minutes. From there we transfered to the Maglev Train for the Airport, only 6.5 minutes (more than an hour by car).
At the Airport we checked in early since we were already there. Thought we could bring our big bottles of water, as we did in Mainland China. Nope. They did not allow us to bring them inside the terminal. We ended up really thirsty (especially Peter) because they only sell the small 10 oz. size bottles, plus they were expensive. Oh well....
We were 2 hours from our departure schedule so we had some early lunch at the one of two restaurants inside the terminal. We both had curry with rice and something to drink. All cost us 153 yuan (really expensive!). Afterwards we went to sit at the section near our gate until about 10 minutes prior to boarding. Good thing we noticed that the flight number on the gate was not our flight. Peter checked at the main departure board and found out our gate was changed to #17 (from #14). No announcements or anything.
Boarding time came and nothing was happening. No one was at the gate counter. So we went down to the gate and saw that there was no one there, we went back up to the gate waiting area. Nothing happened for more than 15 minutes. Then we were told to line up by gate 18. All of us, including those waiting for the flight out to San Francisco, were waiting in the same line, until they started announcing loudly that the flight to San Francisco was already boarding. There were a lot of other passengers from this flight that were confused and some oblivious to what was happening. It looked like they too were assigned a different gate and was directed to the new one. There were so much confusion that some almost missed their flight.
As for us, the passengers going to Hong Kong, we had to wait until about 15-20 minutes past the flight schedule of 12 noon before we got to board the plane. No apologies or explanations at all! Well, I'm just glad we had a safe flight although delayed.
The weather in Hong Kong was a lot less humid than that first day we emerged from the airport shuttle bus. It had been raining here all week and today the weather was kind enough to let things dry out.
We booked at another hostel, the Lee Gardens Guesthouse in Cameron Road, because we just didn't want to go back to that Mirador Mansion place. This guesthouse is in a very busy road line with shops and restaurants. Charlie Chan, the manager, manages both the Lee Gardens and the Star Guesthouses. We took the small elevator up to the 8th floor where Mr. Peter (no last name given) checked us in, with the help of his Filipina employee (who speaks good Cantonese or Mandarin with some Tagalog thrown in - even Mr. Peter was saying some Tagalog words). He took us down to the 2nd floor to our room which looks a whole lot better, cleaner and newly refurbished, room. We are happy with our new hostel (at least it's not at Mirador Mansion!).
Peter and I went out to check the laundry place (1-7 lbs. for HKD$28/finished in 2 hours). We haven't been able to do our laundry since Beijing because we had to do them ourselves (we'd rather have someone do it for us so we won't have to wait by the machines all day, like what happened in Shanghai). Tomorrow we will have our laundry done while we go and see if we will take a day trip to Macau.
We then had our dinner at the nearby Yoshinoya then meandered our way to Canton Road where we found a huge shopping complex that has a food court, 2 supermarkets, and a big bookstore. I take back what I wrote about not easy to find a place to eat, it is actually easy to find them if only you look just around the corner. Now we know where to cool off during the day, and it's just nearby.
Well, it's raining outside now and we are both inside this internet cafe right next to the Harbor. After this we will be having some dessert at Hui Lao Shan (Peter's favorite dessert place).
posted by Mimi | 2:01 AM
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