Welcome Back

So I suppose I should start recapping our adventures in Hong Kong. I was really good the first two days and wrote nice recaps of the day. But by the third day (Lantau Day), I was just so exhausted and fell asleep really early without recapping. And then never really did a daily recap again. Oh well. At least I have entries from the first 2 days to share before I have to recap now. :)

Day 1 in Hong Kong (written 8/11)

I'm in Hong Kong!

I haven't been here since 1996, and it's been too long. I could barely remember anything except for the harbor from my last visit, but being here in Tsim Sha Tsui has brought back some of it. Tomorrow we're going on a half-day tour because Alvin has never been to HK before, I haven't been in so long, and it will be a good, quick and convenient way to hit some major tourist attractions. I think the tour will probably be going to Victoria Peak, Repulse Bay, Stanley Market and Aberdeen. Much easier having a tour group do it than to do it ourselves. I'm excited. Last time I did not have a digital camera. This time, I do! :)

The day, overall, has been good, but there have been some not-so-good moments (as with everything, right?). We got our seats changed and ended up in a great 2-seater in coach with all this storage room on the side by the window. But the plane's air conditioning was broken, so that set us back about 2.5 hours and when we got on the plane and sat there for about an hour, it was like a furnace. Of course, this being like the bar conditions but only a tad bit worse, I fell asleep. Should be no surprise.

Once we were airborne, things went pretty well. The food wasn't horrible (but the chicken was far better than the lasagna), there were lots of snacks, the flight attendants were really nice, it was easy to get to the bathroom and the galley because it was a 2 seater, it got much cooler. I took quite a few naps, although until 11 pm CST, they were only power naps. At that point, I took a 3 hour nap. :)

[Edit, 8/18: I forgot to mention that the flight went right by the North Pole! It was so cool!]

I watched Monster-in-Law and loved it. The DVD was on Amazon wish list already, but I hadn't seen it until now. I thought it was a lot of fun. Only problem was that, from the back of the economy section, I needed to sit on the hard armrest to watch the movie, so my butt hurt. And then these kids (well, teenagers) insisted on congregating in the aisles, making it almost impossible to see the screen because they were directly in my line of sight. Especially this kid in an orange t-shirt. He stood in the aisle for at least half the flight. Really inconvenient. Last time I flew to HK they showed 4 movies, and I thought it was great. Today they showed 6!! I was really pleasantly surprised. They showed Sahara (I got bored and listened to Chinese pop and napped), Miss Congeniality 2 (woke up halfway through, and then napped on and off), Monster-in-Law (woke up just in time from another nap - during the credits to MC2 - and watched this one), Madagascar (tried watching it, but body really ached from watching the previous movie and I was just so tired and I passed out), Cheaper by the Dozen (saw bits and pieces, but have seen it already), and then In Good Company (they surprised us with this one - they told us about the other 5 - and since I wasn't prepared and napped/read, I missed the beginning so I didn't watch the rest, and was disappointed because I really wanted to see this one!)

Got into HK, finally got a stamp in my passport with the unattractive picture, and got on the Airport Express train to Kowloon. The train is really comfortable and convenient, it gets you quickly to where you need to go and is really clean. I was so excited to be in HK that every little thing, I loved. I loved the little train tracker where you could see how far it was until your stop. So cute.

The Sheraton is a wonderful hotel. Wonderfully designed, nice staff, convenient location, pretty bathroom. Not much else to say about that, except "good." And it was the first place where I got to use my Cantonese, and the person understood me! Although I only really said the word for bank. Still! Progress!

Had dinner at this place across the road in the New World Centre. I had gone there looking for this noodle shop that was there 9 years ago that we went to for breakfast everyday, but it's not there anymore. It was either renamed or is gone. Instead we went to this other place that was pretty good. Alvin had pork noodles and I had fish ball noodle soup. All total, with tip, it was under $9 for the 2 of us. Yay! And the food was really good!

I love the waterfront promenade in Kowloon with the view of Hong Kong Island and all the pretty lights. We missed the light show tonight, because at that time, we had just gotten onto the Airport Express train, but it's still so calming sitting along the harbor, just basking in the glow of the lights and the feel of the harbor air. It's something I love - looking at cityscapes while on the shore. It made me really happy.

And thus concludes day 1 (really just an evening) in Hong Kong. I am so happy to be here!


Note (8/18): I had to take out a lot of the pictures I originally had because the photos just weren't cooperating with the layout, so I'll have to put them on my photoblog instead.