HK-Day 1-Friday

Posted by JohnP 02/01/2008 at 13:26

Ok, going overseas requires a little more planning that heading anywhere in N. America.
The photos show my 2 bags and the items that I plan to take. Camera, N800, power converters, and chargers – lots of chargers – Cantonese and a Foder’s guide for Hong Kong – HK. Shoes for walking, passport, immunization records (not really needed),

Friday morning at 4:15am:
Jim!!! WAKE UP!!!

Ok, that didn’t work, so I left him happily sleeping inside his apartment and got on the plane alone. By the time I get to SFO, numerous voice mails have been left and Jim is trying to get on the next flight. 24 hours later he’s in the air … SFO->KHG.

AND I left my new Nokia N800 in my car … parked in airport parking. No blog updates until after Jim arrives. Also, I almost had ZERO information on HK because everything was left on the N800. I had 1 piece of paper with all the phone numbers (family, banking, credit card, AND the name of the hotel). Without that paper, I would be paying for another hotel. [[Metropark Causeway Bay]] is the keyword.

During the flight to SFO, the realization that I could be alone hits. I don’t speak Cantonese. I’ve heard that Engrish is still the official language. We’ll see since I doubt I’ll learn enough, if any, before arrival. Thanks for the Pimsleur – too bad I was so tired during the flight that none of it made any sense.

Met a Doctor and a Technical Analysis Stock Trader, both native Chinese, now living in Maryland and Dallas, on the flight. Good conversation about world events helped pass the 14+ hour flight time for that leg. 747s are a wonderful plane. I’ve never been on 1 before. L-1011, MD-11 and DC-10 suck compared to the Boeing 747. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t luxury, but I could completely stretch my legs out even 3 rows from the back of the plane.

Sorry that I didn’t snap any photos of the airports or 23+ hours of travel. Not even a snap of my tuna salad sandwich in SFO.

Left my house in ATL at 5:30am Friday. Arrived at the hotel Saturday evening around 8pm. I could smell myself. The train and subway systems in Hong Kong are unbelievable and the smoothest that I recall – even smoother than Tokyo.

Please pardon the lack of grammar and spell checking in all these posts.
We’ve had web site blog problems, local computer network problems due to the hotel networking, and we’ve simply been very tired after all the standing and walking all day while in HK.

[[Hong Kong 2008]]