Only one week before the trip I started asking questions. How much money should I bring? What places will we be going to? Who's holding the receipt for the tickets and accommodation? (At least the company's willing to reimburse a certain amount of money for the trip, but I had to forfeit my fly-back to my sweet home country, Indonesia). I didn't even know the name of the hotel where I would be staying, a fact that got my mom a bit worried. But just a bit (I love you, mom). After knowing the essentials (except for the hotel name), I started packing only a day before we left. I even had to do a bit of laundry in the early morning on the day we were leaving for Hong Kong. Just saying that it was quite hectic, and that I wasn't really looking forward to it. But, in the end, everything was accounted for (passport, ticket, toiletries, clothes, medicines in case of sickness, books to read in case of boredom, iPod to listen to in case of boredom, communication and electronic devices, bombs...scratch that last one). You know, the bare essentials.
It was Friday, August 24th 2007. After finishing laundry (else I wouldn't have any underwear to bring) I packed everything that I needed to bring that I hadn't already packed the day before and off I went to the airport. Met the other Hong Kong goers at NAIA and waited for the boarding time. The flight was uneventful, the only thing worth mentioning is the fact that the on-board entertainment system of Cathay Pacific sucked. Maybe they didn't let us see movies because it was a short one-and-a-half-hour flight. Not enough time to see movies, I know, but it would have been great if they still let us have that option, like Singapore Airlines usually does (but we have to be ready with our own headphone, they don't provide us with one on short flights).
Immigration in Hong Kong took awhile due to the long queue, but it was still bearable because the line moved steadily. Baggage pick up was a breeze. One of the disadvantages of going in a large group is that it takes awhile to put the people together. That was why it took us some time to organize the whole group (some went to get some snacks to munch, some to exchange currency, some went to buy Krispy Kreme which I couldn't really understand why because we already had lots of those back in Manila) and decide how best to go to our hotel, but we finally rent ourselves a bus that will take us to our hotel and would, by the time we're leaving Hong Kong, pick us up at our Hotel and take us to the airport.
Leaving HKIA
It took us more than an hour to get to our hotel, not because of the traffic, but we had to drop off some other people at different places. With the fact that our group was bigger and that our hotel is nearer to the airport, it sort of ticked us off that the driver had to drop off these other people at different places that were actually farther than ours from the airport. But well, at least we get to see a glimpse of Hong Kong (and surprisingly, some Indonesian stores selling Indonesian food and consumer goods). Finally, we arrived at the hotel (whose name, I finally knew, was Marco Polo) and after taking care of some administration stuff we went out to have our belated lunch (thanks for the unplanned 'city tour' we arrived quite late at the hotel, around 4 pm). One thing that you really have to notice about Hong Kong was that the place have great food! The restaurant where we had lunch had probably one of the best pork ribs I've ever tasted. Either that or we were really, really hungry. Everyone was tired, so after lunch we head back to the hotel for a half-hour rest.
A Glimpse of Hong Kong
Another thing that really bummed me out about going to Hong Kong was the fact that even though I am Chinese, I don't speak the language (or any of its derivatives: Hokkien, Ke, Cantonese, whatever...). I haven't been able to pick up the language so far (tried to study, but the teacher was disgusted at me because I don't have a Chinese name and I, in turn, was disgusted at her because she was disgusted at me because of that, thus I quit the lessons. Cha get all that?). So, my plan during the HK trip was to trail a certain group member that is fluent in the local language they speak (Cantonese? Hokkien? I don't know for sure). First order of the evening for the group (after our half-hour rest) was to go to this place called 'The Peak'. I was not familiar with the roads, so I used my plan above (thank you so much, Angel, for being an excellent tour guide). After one subway ride and a few minutes worth of walking, we arrived at the place where we board the train that will take us up to 'The Peak'. The line was unbelievably long, so when one of my senior managers offered me to come along with him to buy the special ticket that not only made it possible for us to ride the train but also grant access to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum (at a higher price of course), I didn't think twice and went along with him and his wife and daughter. The catch was that, the queue for this ticket package was a lot shorter (there were only a few people queueing up, actually), and there was a special entrance which also had a shorter queue line.
The Guy Guarding The Special LineAfter getting passed the queue we finally boarded the train and up the hill we went. Looking out of the window and at the buildings, I realized that the train was going up at an angle of almost 45 degrees. It was weird and dizzying, looking at buildings outside of the window as if they were leaning forward. The ride took about 10 to 15 minutes, and when we reach 'The Peak', we went straight ahead for Madame Tussaud and took pictures with some of the wax statues in there. I must say that the wax artists did a great job in creating these imitations. They looked like the real thing! I, of course, took pictures with some of the ladies wax statues. *Sigh*, I wish they were the real things. Wistful thinking, eh?
Wistful Thinking...
*Sigh* Wistful Thinking...Again...
Aside from the wax museum, another attractive part of 'The Peak' is related closely to its namesake. Situated on top of a hill, The Peak provided its guests with a magnificent view of Hong Kong and Kowloon's skyline and buildings along with the hills and mountains surrounding them. The variety of night lights that adorned many of the buildings, roads, and harbours added a colorful spectacle to an already magnificent view. My digital camera was not adequate in capturing this view (though I tried several times), but I was fortunate enough to have found a place where I could put my digital camera on a flat surface and let it take the obligatory one second shutter time to let enough lights to come in. I found the spot by accident: while I was going to the men's restroom, I found a door that lead outside and found one of my senior managers there taking pictures (he is a pro, if you wish to see some of his work you can visit his website at http://www.hendralauw.com/). The result I took was great, to my standard at the very least.
Hong Kong's Night Light
After grabbing a bit of a bite, we went back down from The Peak (through the same snaking queue and the same train) and those who have families went back to the hotel while the others (including me) decided to take a stroll around some place which name I could not recall. All I could remember was that there was a lot of stores selling many different things and stalls selling the local delicacies (which, most of the cases, chinese food-slash-snack). Angel (the famous guide) took us to this small road-side restaurant that sells what I thought first to be pudding. It turned out that it was condensed milk. They have a lot of varieties where they put dressings on it, but I ordered the plain one. It was so fulfilling that I could not finish a small bowl.
From outside the men's toilet...
We finally concluded the day by going back to Marco Polo hotel. It was a very tiring day, and I slept soundly like a baby while my room mate snored like a pig ha ha ha.
More to come in later posts for the second, third and final day.
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