Hong Kong
Today has been a glorious day in this ever-expanding, crowded, energetic city. A few days of visiting is wonderful, but living here would drive me crazy! Before I get to describing my full day of sightseeing, I first want to return to the days I have skipped, since this is really my first major posting. So backwards we go to
Friday, 16 January-Saturday, 17 January 2014
Los Angeles- Hong Kong
After an early morning wake-up and croissants and coffee in my room at the LAX Hilton, I catch the 6am shuttle to the International Terminal for my Cathay Pacific flight. Because I booked a seat in the Premier Economy Section—shoved in between first class and economy—I get special dedicated baggage and boarding privileges. It’s too bad I have to wait 30 minutes for the wheelchair and driver to arrive (they don't start work until 7am), but once we go she is very helpful and stays with me until I actually board the plane.
Although the economy section is full, first class has only a few passengers and premier economy is about ¾ full. I have an aisle seat with an empty seat at the window next to me. There are lots of little amenities (a handbag supplied with toothbrush, eye cover, socks, etc), and we are served brunch shortly after take-off (mushroom omelet, potatoes, sausage, coffee, orange juice). The captain warns us that the first two hours of the flight will be a bit bumpy, but the weather is everywhere and we can’t escape it by flying higher or lower.
I have a good three-hour nap, then watch “Grand Budapest Hotel” and several episodes (90 minutes each) of Swedish TV’s series based on detective novels of Henning Mankel. This series is different and made more recently than the BBC-produced version with Kenneth Branach and stars authentic Swedish actors and settings.
Around 6pm real time (which is 1am Hong Kong time), we are served an excellent lunch: cold shrimp and rice appetizer, really tender beef tenderloin with mashed potatoes and lima beans with bacon. It is served with a warm dipping sauce. Godiva chocolate and Haagen-Daas vanilla ice cream finish things off. I manage a few more short naps before we land in Hong Kong on Saturday at 4:40pm, about 30 minutes late, but still early enough for a daylight swing over the water and hills as we land (heavy headwinds over the Bering Sea and the Russian coast slowed us down a bit).
Another really helpful attendant at HK's new airport takes me quickly through immigration, baggage and customs, and out to the waiting taxi rank. It's a good thing the driver is young and has excellent skills, for it's a very fast drive on the expressway--crossing several interconnected suspension bridges and a highway tunnel through the hills until we reach the edge of Kowloon, where traffic comes to a screeching halt and proceeds at a frustrating snail's pace until we reach the hotel.
The drive gives me great views of parts of HK I have never seen, racing through the islands and New Territories. Amazing needle-thin high-rise apartments are sprouting everywhere. The designs are interesting, but up close you see the laundry hanging on balconies just as it did 20 years ago. The buildings are painted bright, attractive colors, but they don't stand up well to the demands of HK climate and living.
After checking in at the Marco Polo Hong Kong Hotel ( where I had previously stayed way back in 1986), I take an evening walk to see the bright lights of Kowloon right outside the hotel door and the brighter lights of Hong Kong Island across the harbor. I find a place to have a mediocre but quick Italian meal of minestrone and pasta before settling in for a much-needed night of sleep.
My Sunday HK adventures will begin the next posting.
__03.jpg)