Day One – Melbourne to Hong Kong.
6.40am and the alarm goes off. Not sure why I set the alarm – I had been awake half the night checking to see if was time to get up yet. The traffic on the Monash freeway was as crappy as usual – how anyone drives in and out of the city each day has me beat. But after some low level stress that we would be late, we arrived at Cameron and Lisa’s in Moonee Ponds (where we left our car) just as Ray our driver pulled up. We all piled into his statesman and set of to Tullamarine in style!
The plane to Sydney was packed! But we touched down in Sydney in time and made our way to the international transit lounge and waited for the bus to take to the International terminal. What a stupid system! -Sydney could learn a lot from Hong Kong – read more about that later.
The flight to Hong Kong was also very full and about 30 minutes late leaving. We were hoping for a window seat, but were all lined up in the middle of the plane. Apart from eating – and they limit that, plus drinking, there is bugger all to do on a plane, also very little leg room! The individual TV screens were all playing up – so the Qantas staff had their work cut out for them trying to keep them all working. Both Brian’s and mine were very dodgy, but the steward compensated us well with a few glasses of wine from the pointy end of the plane – plus Champagne (and I mean Champagne, not Australian sparkling wine).
After what seemed like an eternity we arrived in Hong Kong and got our first experience of Chinese efficiency. Within 30 minutes we had been through immigration, collected our bags and had boarded the fast train to Kowloon. (They do not seem to bother about customs and quarantine!) The train pulls up opposite where you come out of the baggage area and without even stepping outside of the terminal building you are off to the city, and only for a palty HK$220.00. – Australia take note!
It took about 25 minutes to get to Kowloon station, from where we caught a taxi. The Taxi driver struggled with our larger suitcase, but we all managed to squash in. Courtenay and Rebecca soon realised that seatbelts were not a priority. Brian’s efforts to communicate to driver about whether or not it had been raining were quite comical – some great hand signals!
We have 2 adjoining rooms on the 14th floor – all with single beds! After settling in the girls, Brian and I ducked across the road for the first of many feeds of dumplings and noodles – Yum!
6.40am and the alarm goes off. Not sure why I set the alarm – I had been awake half the night checking to see if was time to get up yet. The traffic on the Monash freeway was as crappy as usual – how anyone drives in and out of the city each day has me beat. But after some low level stress that we would be late, we arrived at Cameron and Lisa’s in Moonee Ponds (where we left our car) just as Ray our driver pulled up. We all piled into his statesman and set of to Tullamarine in style!
The plane to Sydney was packed! But we touched down in Sydney in time and made our way to the international transit lounge and waited for the bus to take to the International terminal. What a stupid system! -Sydney could learn a lot from Hong Kong – read more about that later.
The flight to Hong Kong was also very full and about 30 minutes late leaving. We were hoping for a window seat, but were all lined up in the middle of the plane. Apart from eating – and they limit that, plus drinking, there is bugger all to do on a plane, also very little leg room! The individual TV screens were all playing up – so the Qantas staff had their work cut out for them trying to keep them all working. Both Brian’s and mine were very dodgy, but the steward compensated us well with a few glasses of wine from the pointy end of the plane – plus Champagne (and I mean Champagne, not Australian sparkling wine).
After what seemed like an eternity we arrived in Hong Kong and got our first experience of Chinese efficiency. Within 30 minutes we had been through immigration, collected our bags and had boarded the fast train to Kowloon. (They do not seem to bother about customs and quarantine!) The train pulls up opposite where you come out of the baggage area and without even stepping outside of the terminal building you are off to the city, and only for a palty HK$220.00. – Australia take note!
It took about 25 minutes to get to Kowloon station, from where we caught a taxi. The Taxi driver struggled with our larger suitcase, but we all managed to squash in. Courtenay and Rebecca soon realised that seatbelts were not a priority. Brian’s efforts to communicate to driver about whether or not it had been raining were quite comical – some great hand signals!
We have 2 adjoining rooms on the 14th floor – all with single beds! After settling in the girls, Brian and I ducked across the road for the first of many feeds of dumplings and noodles – Yum!
1 comment:
I read your blog
love
jonny
x
Post a Comment