My passport didn't arrive until Saturday afternoon (had to send it off for a Visa for Vietnam)...and I left Saturday evening. I was more than a little nervous about getting that! The car service picked me up at 8:30 from Palm Desert for my 1:30am flight from LAX. About 20 minutes down the road, I remembered that I didn't have my passport...I left it in the copy machine at the house. So back to Palm Desert we go...and now I'm pushing it on time for my flight. Get to the airport around 11:30 and wait in-line for over an hour to check in for my flight. The line was SO long! It wrapped around at least 5 times and I don't think I saw one other white person in the line!
Finally get through security around 12:20 and don't have much time to wait for my flight. The plane was FULL -- there were three seats, an aisle, 4 seats in the middle, another aisle, and then three seats on the other side. And there were at least 60 rows because they started boarding rows '60 and above. And that was just on the lower level...the upper level was all first class. My point it, the plane was HUGE...I bet there were 500 Asians on there!!
I was one of three non-Asians on the flight...very interesting. ;) One of the other Americans was a young guy who kept eyeing me while we were waiting to board - I guess we both stuck out like sore thumbs towering over that crowd - and of course when we got on the plance, he was in the seat right in front of me. Great...so here's how the conversation went: He says "How are you?" I say, "Good and you?" trying to be polite, but really just completely annoyed. He says, "I'm good...I was hoping you were going to be sitting next to me...but I guess behind me is close enough." Me, with a very confused look on my face, says "What??" So of course he says it again. Wow...who is this guy!? Haha...I just looked at him really weird and said "yeah..."...so he awkwardly turned around and sat down...lol...oh it was great. Of course the silence didn't last long...he turned around and started talking again...turns out he's an FBI Agent from LA - going to work in Jakarta for two months on assignment. He was a pretty nice guy - but all I wanted to do was sleep - so I pretty much told him to leave me along and turn around. :) I'm so nice...
So we finally take off from LAX - a little late...at 2:14am to be exact. They served food shortly in to the flight - I ate some dinner at 3am...that was a little weird. Eventually fell asleep - crammed in next to some Phillipinos and sitting straight up. Turns out unless you fly first class (which i didn't) the seats are just like any other flight you've ever been on -- very uncomfortable. I woke up a few hours later after plenty of tossing and turning and realized the flight was only half over. I pretty much just sat there and tried to fall asleep the rest of the time. They served "breakfast" with about an hour to go in the flight. It was "congee" which is some sort of rice soup with shrimp, onions, and mushrooms in it. Yeah...not a fan of that...but at least they had a banana muffin that I could choke down. We had a smooth landing in HK about 7am Monday morning local time. The airport was pretty empty and thankfully all the signs were in English. But of course, when I got off, the guy from LA was waiting on me. We walked to baggage and got our bags...small talking the whole time. Turns out he knows a girl in Vietnam who I might meet up with when I'm there. And at this point, I'm not minding the company of another white person who speaks English (and I think he felt the same way)! So - we figured out how to get Hong Kong Dollars from an ATM and found the bathrooms before heading out. He couldn't check in to his hotel until 2pm and I had to get to work...but OF COURSE he offers to just ride with me in to Causeway Bay (where the office is) because he has nothing else to do. I'm kind of thinking at this point that I have no idea how safe it is to get in a cab in a foreign country with some random guy I don't know at all, but I did it anyways. It took us awhile to find a cab driver who spoke English (somewhat). I called Amy - the girl who works in our HK office as soon as we got in and handed the phone to him. She spoke to him in Cantonese and made it very clear where we wanted to be dropped off. He had tons of the craziest stuff on his dashboard! Plus his steering wheel was on the opposite side of the car!
It all weirded me out for awhile, but he got us to Times Square in Causeway Bay on Hong Kong Island about 30 minutes later - across several bridges and me with the window down snapping pictures the whole way!! (I just found out that "Hong Kong" isn't just one island, it's actually several islands...the airport is not on Hong Kong Island which really threw me off...I thought it was just all one big place.)
The cab driver dropped us off right in front of Times Square around 9am and I had to find my hotel. I was told it was "right across the street" from the office, whichis in the Times Square building, so I'm thinking it can't be too hard, right? These pics are from exactly where I got dropped off -- the view down the street going both ways and the Times Square building behind me.
It was still pretty early, so the streets weren't too busy. It's kind of like Times Square in NYC - lots and lots of signs everywhere. Well I don't see it - "Holiday Inn Express" sign that I can see, so I have the address written down and I go up to two different security guards who look "official" and of course neither of them speak English. One started talking in Cantonese pointing one way...and the next guy I tried to ask pointed me the other way. I just smiled and said "right" and turned around. Haha...I eventually found it on the opposite side of the square - behind the building. Holiday Inn Express!! I went inside, checked in and dropped off my bags in my room. It's pretty nice, but it has a weird smell, like paint kind of! Small, but clean and good enough for me to stay in for a week - as long as the paint smell doesn't make me nauseous!
So now I'm hungry...the American guy - yea he's still tagging along - and I decide to walk around and try and fine some food. Armed with a map from the airport, we set out on foot to try and find "Food Street" thinking it surely has "food" right? Well about 10 minutes later, we find Food Street, but no food, only shopping. All of the local vendors on the street do not speak English and we have no idea what any of that food is anyways. We kept walking around and ended up down by the water and eventually found a little juice shop - kind of like Jamba Juice in the states - and had some fruit smoothies, a banana, and some granola. FINALLY some American food! After that, I decide I should probably head in to the office - so back we go. The American guy takes off after Amy gives me some travel tips and places to go do/see. I got up to the office around 10:30 am. It's amazing...29th floor of the Shell Tower in Times Square. It overlooks the horse racing tracks and has great views of all the skyscrapers down town.
I worked for a bit, but was completey jet-lagged. Amy told me I looked like "walking death" -- she doesn't hold anything back -- and told me I needed to go sleep because she was going to "slap me around" if I was a zombie at dinner tonight! So I went back to my hotel and slept for a couple of hours. She called at four and woke me up, so I took a shower and headed back to the office...and that's where I am now. The view from the office window at night is great too! This is a pretty sweet place to work!
We have dinner reservations at a fancy Italian restaurant at 7:15pm (6:15am Kansas time in case you're wondering what the difference is). I told Amy I wasn't up for any crazy Asian food just yet...maybe tomorrow. :)
So that's my travel update for now. Pretty lengthy, I know. I'll try and keep the next one short. I leave for Beijng on Wednesday so I'll write more form there...if not sooner. :)
-TK
No comments:
Post a Comment