At the airport we had enough time to grab a quick bite to eat from the food court 3 floors below the terminal 1 departure hall, burnt coffee for Vicky and a hot latte for me with ice in it. Nothing leaves a bad taste in your mouth quite like having had a bad taste in your mouth, but at least the last couple of months had been interesting enough, just a shame the last drink together on these travels hadn't been a bit more, well less crap. Back up in departures, we said the briefest of goodbyes and then went our separate ways, me scoring the better deal at the time as my flight departed from the terminal we were at, Vicky had to get to t2 via the skytrain. Hasta la Vista baby (or so long....and thanks for all the fish)
My flight to Hong kong was delayed a little due to the late arrival of the plane on it's incoming journey, a little worrying as I kept doubting that I was in the right departure lounge where there were no signs present to re-affirm my location or departure information boards to tell you you hadn't missed your flight. On board and seated, the pilot gave he pre flight spiel about the reasons for lateness and the flight preparation and status (cargo doors should be shut in the next minute) he also mentioned that due to the current weather conditions over taipei, take off was likely going to be a little bit rough. He wasn't joking. Why do pilots never plan a joke? I guess they are just used to winging it.
We rattled and vibrated towards the promised clear skies above with all the subtlety and refinement associated with a craft that had been strapped onto a couple of saturn-5 rockets. The look of concern on the stewardesses face as she kept looking at me from just a few rows away indicated that I wasn't hiding my nerves very well and I suspected that I must have also taken on the complexion of someone who had left any colour behind on the runway, Houston do we have a problem? DO WE HAVE A PROBLEM? Rising, dropping, shaking thrusting, vibrating, rinse repeat, rinse repeat, rinse repeat. until finally we broke through the scuds and the cirus to reach the upper atmosphere and reassuring calmness. I took a few minutes to relax and compose myself again, scraped the non existent ice off the display module in front of me, plugged in my in flight, double headed earphones and watched an episode of Premiership Legends, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, in colour.
The rest of the flight was perfect. The inflight chicken and mushroom pie tasted just like it should and just before landing I could see the brief, hazed view of some of the buildings of hong kong, all while the theme from "Enter the dragon" reverberated inside my head.
The immigration queue was quickly negated, with my child like writing scrawled on my immigration card seemingly legible enough for the official at the counter. Baggage collected successfully I then used the small amount of Hong Kong Dollars that I had on me to buy a ticket for the Airport Express train to Hong Kong for 100 hkd, grabbed a sim card for 10 days at 80 hkd and then hit the HSBC ATM to get enough funds to pay for my hotel and few days spending money. It's always a relief when that machine works as expected.
The train to Kong from the Airport took the scheduled 24 minutes, but didn't take me to where googlemaps had showed me. instead I still had several miles to get to where I needed to be but before long I had found out the subway system ran from close by to right by my hotel, and it wasn't long before I arrived at my final destination, Homy Inn, Northpoint.
The young man on reception duty that evening has to be one of the happiest, lively people I have ever encountered, joyfully taking my money and explaining the rules, conditions, utilities swell as answering my questions with the sort of welcoming energy that would be an asset at any hotel worldwide. My room, up on the tenth floor had a window with a view of the main street, a shower cubical, toilet and sink, a bed. air-conditioning, lcd tv and was clean and comfortable, although not suitable for anyone with a fear of enclosed spaces. I walk tall at 6ft1, or short at 184cms, I would estimate that the room is maybe 7ft by 7 foot at the absolute most. Storage is located under the bed or on 5 coat hangers near it. This is maybe as much room as you need, just maybe not as much as you'd want but it;s hard to grumble with all the pluses this place has to offer, and hong kong itself is almost the epitome of tower living. For the short time I'm here this space will be adequate.
A short walk in the evening took me 2 streets back for the briefest of views of the famous harbour before where I stopped for a few minutes in order to shake off the days travel before heading back and to find something to eat. KFC? no. Starbucks? No. McDonalds with their mild mannered janitor.
Could be........
Back at the hotel I did little research on what was within striking distance over my coming stay using the internet, my very rough looking rough guide book and the map I had grabbed from the reception area on arrival. With 6 days, or 7 nights depending on how you count these things to see as much as I can I needed to rest up before the days of exploring to come, and the early start that I wanted to get.
Besides, the room had windows that actually let light in which is better than any alarm clock in my book for getting me up in the morning. Thinking about it though, that alarm might be more effective if it wasn't bound away like that in the first place.
T'was a silly idea.
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