August 9, 1999
It was raining hard
in Hong Kong when we landed at the new Chek Lap Kok airport. We walked from the gate down
two levels to the subway inside the terminal for a short ride
to the baggage claim area. This airport is new, less than two
years old, but it is the largest in the world. Our luggage came
very quickly, and we walked to the passport control booths. They
stamped our passports, and waved us through to the baggage check
counters. We had no problem getting through this line, either,
but the woman right ahead of us was stopped for a baggage check.
We were waved through into the main terminal. It was huge, capable
of handling up to 80 million passengers a year. We found the
counter where we could book seats on a bus directly to our hotel,
the JW Marriott. We had to wait about a half-hour because we
had just missed a bus, so we made ourselves comfortable. We got
on the bus and settled in for the ride into the city. The airport
is located on an island east of the city, and the highway crosses
several islands before going through a tunnel from Kowloon into
Hong Kong. The view of the city from the bridges was spectacular,
because all of the buildings were lit up and glowed in the rain
and mist.
At the hotel, we found
out that our credit card would not be honored (the Visa Company
had frozen most of its accounts against use in Hong Kong or anywhere
else in the west Pacific due to fraud and embezzlement). Luckily,
we had enough cash for a deposit on the room, and we made a frantic
call to our bank for help. It was now about 1:00 AM in Hong Kong,
twelve hours ahead of Boston time, so we had no trouble speaking
to them. The president of the credit union agreed to make a cash
transfer between our credit card and our checking account so
that we could take cash out at an ATM. Problem solved. Then we
began to relax and enjoy our room. The Marriott is a five-star
hotel in the Central District, near the Admiralty, and we were
in room 2621 at the southeast corner. We had a view toward town
and we could see part of Victoria Peak. Everything in the room
worked from a control panel near the bed, including all of the
lights and television; the curtains could be opened and closed
by pressing a button. The front desk staff was very professional
and polite, despite the credit card problem, and we enjoyed being
treated as first-class customers.
AUGUST 10, 1999
Our only day in Hong
Kong started out with rain but cleared up at about 9:30. The
city is phenomenal in the daylight. The buildings are cramped
together on the side of Victoria Peak, and they all have different
colors and ornamentation. From our hotel window we saw a 30-story
building under construction with bamboo scaffolding completely
obscuring the façade.
We began the day with
a nice buffet breakfast in the hotel's terrace restaurant overlooking
the harbor. Then we started out in 30 degree C heat (86 degree
F) with 95% humidity. The hotel was located on Queensway, a major
east-west street, and we followed it toward the harbor. Along
the way, we took pictures of some of the buildings: the Bank
of China with its
huge triangular bracing, the Lippo Center that looks like a robot, and many others. There
is no accepted architectural style; everything goes in terms
of building size, color, and location, making the skyline chaotic
and fun to look at. Buildings are stacked together and each one
tries to outdo its neighbors in terms of roof decorations, colors,
complexity, and height. Cost seems to be of no concern. The streets
are energetic, and, in contrast to the Japanese cities, Hong
Kong seemed to dare us to wander around. It was not dangerous,
but it was definitely not polite, either. Dramatic, maybe, and
certainly challenging, but fun, nonetheless. The streets are
mostly set up for cars, but pedestrians can use sidewalks, tunnels,
and aerial walkways to avoid the cars. We wandered along the
waterfront to the Star Ferry Terminal where we bought tickets
for a 75-minute harbor tour.
The boat was almost
empty, so we could wander around to get the best views. (One of many views) One can see
the entire city from the water and can get an appreciation for
the variety of building styles. In contrast to the slick, shiny
new buildings, we also saw several old ten to fifteen story buildings
dwarfed by their newer, taller neighbors, and many of the old
buildings had illegal, poorly designed, poorly-built facades
on all sides. Each apartment owner individualized the exterior
of their high-rise unit with their own design, materials, and
colors. The tour went past the new convention center, built especially for the Hong
Kong transfer ceremony in 1997. A Chinese flag flies over the
building now, replacing the British Union Jack. We saw the old
airport, a single 9000-ft runway built out into the harbor with
mountains at each end. We would not have wanted to be the first
pilot to bring a 747 into that crowded little airport. We saw
Kowloon on the opposite side of the harbor from Hong Kong, and
had an opportunity to stop, but we didn't. A Chinese artist on
board the boat did our names in calligraphy and put together
framed illustrations of our names. We bought them for $100 Hong
Kong each, about $13 US. The illustrations were touristy, but
they are nice reminders of our visit.
After the boat returned
to the pier, we wandered through the city and up the hill. We
decided to find the Victoria peak tram to go up the hill despite the
clouds and questionable viewing conditions. The tram is a cable
car system with two cars sharing one track, connected by a cable
loop. The cars pass at the halfway point. The track is very steep,
about a 40-degree slope, so the adjacent buildings appeared to
be lying on their sides. The trip cost only $28.00 Hong Kong,
about $3.50 US for a round trip. The peak tower complex is full
of tourist shops, such as Ripley's Believe It or Not, a motion
simulation ride, and enough useless memorabilia to empty any
bank account. But the outside observation decks had great views
of the city below. The clouds and drizzle came in waves all afternoon,
so the city was obscured at times and
visible at other times.
We spent about three hours up there, and we ate a late lunch
at the Art Deco Café next door to the peak tower. The
café had a glass front with a panoramic view of the city from our table, (next page) when
the clouds lifted. We had a wonderful meal (seafood marinara
and seafood fried rice), and we also had some of the best cheesecake
and coffee for dessert. The bill was about $550 Hong Kong, about
$64; not bad for the quality they delivered. The view was easily
worth at least half of that, and our only complaint was that
we could not sit outside because of the rain.
We finally took the
tram back down at about 5:00 PM. At the terminal, we decided
to walk west, away from the hotel, to explore. We found ourselves
wandering through a market area located on side streets that
ran uphill from Connaught Street, another major east-west street.
The markets offered every type of food imaginable and some very
exotic stuff - one could also buy clothes, household goods, goldfish,
fabric, and spices. We assumed that one might also find some
not-so-legal stuff, too. We spent a couple of hours just walking
and looking into the shops. The shops were really just shallow,
open storefronts with tented stalls and awnings outside. The
merchandise spilled out onto the narrow streets, and the pavement
was slippery with who knows what effluent. The shopkeepers sat
or stood among their goods, waiting for customers. The more affluent
shopkeepers had the air conditioning inside turned up full-blast,
so we felt welcome pools of cool air in the hot-humid atmosphere.
The dim lights at each shop masked some of the clutter and grime.
The markets were alive with people on their way home from work,
buying food for dinner, actively bargaining for the best prices,
and jostling passersby with their full shopping bags. As the
sun began to set, the neon shop signs overhanging the street
cast a colorful, if chaotic, glow over the market stalls. The
busiest merchants with the best deals had the greatest number
of customers at their shops. We saw a small cat lurking behind
piles of stuff; it was last seen wandering right into a noodle
restaurant. The market area went on for blocks, mostly on the
narrow side streets, but also on the main streets. The shops
were beginning to close and we were a long way from the hotel.
We began our long walk back along Connaught Street. We figured
out later that our trip through the shops covered about 4 miles.
We twice stopped to buy bottled water because it remained hot
and incredibly humid even after the sun set. We were wet and
exhausted by the time we got back, but we felt good because we
saw a lot of Hong Kong culture and we felt that we accomplished
all of our objectives for the short time we had available.
The hotel was connected
to Pacific Place, a large four-level shopping mall. We cut through
the mall on the way to the hotel, reveling in the nearly cold
air. We got to our room, took showers and changed clothes. We
were going to eat at the hotel restaurant, but neither of us
really felt like eating a big meal. It was 9:00 by this time
and we had to get up early the next day, so we decided to eat
at McDonalds in the mall. A fillet of fish value meal was about
$17.35 Hong Kong, about $2.25, cheaper than in the US, and it
tasted just like it does in the states.
We went back to the
hotel, where we arranged for airport transportation the next
morning. Then we went to our room to pack, and went to bed early.
It was pouring outside when we turned off the lights for our
last night.
AUGUST 11, 1999
We got up at 5:00 AM
with the sound of heavy rain hitting the windows. We got ready
and were in the lobby by 6:00 AM. We checked out and caught the
bus at 6:15 at the lobby door for the trip to the airport. The
clouds and fog obscured most of Hong Kong, and we were sad to
say goodbye, even though we had spent only about 30 hours there.
We checked in at Northwest
under the watchful gaze of the Chinese security people and went
to the gate, a long walk even by our standards. We boarded the
plane at about 8:00. The plane took off about five minutes earlier
than the 8:30 published time. We were assigned inside seats,
but since the last few window seats were empty, we moved across
the aisle. The flight was very rocky from the beginning and,
just after reaching 39,000 feet, 45 minutes into the flight,
the plane lurched and dropped two or three times. The pilot stopped
the food service and dived to a lower altitude where it smoothed
out, but it was truly frightening for about 15 minutes. We generally
had a good flight after that, with occasional bouncing and rocking.
We flew over mainland China, avoiding Taiwan to the south, and
crossed over the Sea of Japan at Shanghai.
We landed at Narita
Airport in Japan at about 1:30 PM Tokyo Time, using the entire
runway. The plane was rocking all over the place just before
touchdown, and the tail section seemed to
be swaying. We deplaned
and walked the length of the terminal to the American Airlines
gates, where we checked in for the trip to the United States.
Our luggage was being transferred to American, so we would not
see it again until Chicago. We had almost three hours to wait
after checking in, so we bought pork ramen noodles and iced tea
for lunch, using the last of our Japanese Yen.
The plane took off right
on time, 5:05 PM Tokyo time. The flight was very smooth at the
beginning, including takeoff from Narita, in contrast to the
wild ride we had experienced on Northwest. We were in seats 34
H and J on the right side (2-5-2 configuration). We were sorry
to see the coast of Japan drop from sight into the mist and looked
at it until it disappeared. The meal choices were the same as
we had had on our flight out, but we swapped our choices this
time.
12:15 AM Tokyo Time:
We were at 35,000 feet for the past few hours. The flight was
smooth so far, and we passed into night about three hours after
take off, somewhere over the International Date Line. The screen
showed that we were following a more southern route than when
we went out. Daylight came again at about 11:00 PM Tokyo time,
with a pink and purple sunrise over solid cloud cover. The plane
was quiet and dark; most of the passengers were asleep or watching
a movie. Clouds obscured the Pacific Ocean, and all of the window
shades had been pulled down by the flight attendants to keep
it dark as the sun began to come up.
2:20 AM Tokyo Time:
We made landfall at about 1:30 AM Tokyo, over Seattle, and there
was little to see. The cloud cover was thick and very bright
over the Montana Rockies.
3:40 AM Tokyo Time:
The sky was clear over South Dakota as we closed in on Chicago,
which was about 550 miles away at this point. We worked out our
customs declaration card to itemize the goods that we were bringing
into the United States. We had about $400 worth of souvenirs
and some green tea and candy. Food items cannot be brought in,
so we were concerned that we might get questioned at customs.
4:30 AM Tokyo Time (3:30
PM Chicago Time): We landed at 3:00 PM Chicago time at O'Hare
and headed into the terminal with the realization that our next
flight, due to leave at 3:35 p.m. would probably depart without
us. We still had to go to immigration and customs, claim our
luggage, get inspected, and find the gate for our next flight.
Customs was actually a breeze. They looked at the immigration
card and basically waved us through. We really did not have anything
that was very important, and either we looked totally honest,
or they didn't want to deal with our small stuff and us. Either
way, we were back inside the country.
But our next flight
was cancelled. We had to recheck our luggage for the final flight,
and we went to the ticket counter to learn that American Airlines
had cancelled our flight and reworked their schedule to combine
two similar flights to Boston. We got checked into the later
flight that was to leave at 4:25 PM, but we did not have boarding
passes yet. We got onto the inter-terminal subway for a trip
to Terminal K. We went to the gate where many people were waiting
for the flight. The ground crew was seating the standby passengers,
but they had reserved two seats for us, and luckily we got seats
together despite the full flight. So we were going to be an hour
later in getting home than originally planned, but it was the
end of the trip, so it didn't matter. The plane was an MD-80,
probably the same plane we had started out in two weeks ago.
We were crunched into row 13, window and middle, right side.
The flight was full, but it was to be a short flight, just over
two hours in the air.
The flight was smooth
from takeoff to touchdown. We had a light meal and slept a little.
We landed at Logan Airport at 7:00 PM Boston time, and we were
home an hour later. Since we had gone through customs in Chicago,
we were ordinary domestic passengers in Boston. It was strange
to see the English signs and to ride in an American taxi again.
The air was cooler and drier than we were accustomed to, and
we saw the second of two sunsets of the day. For us, August 11
was actually about 36 hours long.
We were home.
