Day 40 – October 27 – Beijing – Hong Kong

On to the airport, again. I didn’t want to be all disgusting after walking 45 minutes to the subway, transferring once and then getting on the airport train, so I just took a cab. Big mistake. First of all, the traffic is horrible, so it was stop-and-go the entire way. It would have been way faster with the train. Also, the guy tried to rip me off. He tried to charge me double what the meter read. That was stupid, are you kidding me? No way, you’ll pick up another fare in a couple of minutes, returning to the city, and I’ll be on my way. We yelled at each other, and when he saw I was about to just walk into the terminal, he relented, asking for the fare on the meter plus the toll (I have learned to ALWAYS look at what the toll booths say and see how much cash the driver gives the operator, good tip.), which I decided was fair.

The flight to Hong Kong was uneventful. I enjoyed AirChina, especially when leaving from the nice, big airport of Beijing. It had none of the craziness of Shanghai. I arrived in Hong Kong in the late afternoon, and, once I picked up my bag, I walked to the airport express to Kowloon. My hotel is located on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong, which is supposed to be the less desirable part. I, however, really liked it because the Kowloon waterfront looks directly out onto Victoria Harbor and the massive towers of Hong Kong. At Kowloon station I switched to a free shuttle bus to my hotel, the Mira Hotel. I really liked my hotel. It had just reopened after an extensive renovation project, so my rate was actually great. The hotel used to be in a tired old style, but this renovation pushed it towards a modern-style. Usually, I feel the uber-modern hotels are just trying too hard and miss the mark. This place was perfect. The lobby was large, open and inviting. My check-in process was quick and efficient. The guest floor elevator lobbies had reflective ceilings, primarily to make it feel like the ceiling wasn’t so low, so I was a bit apprehensive that my room was going to have a very low ceiling. It didn’t. Instead, the room was spacious, well laid-out, and perfectly appointed. There was a large flat-screen tv attached to a computer with Blu-Ray. Everything functioned through the same remote, including the computer. I also found a Bose iPod docking station which played music in the room and also streamed it to the bathroom. This was all great. The rain shower was also great. While there was lots of technology and accoutrement, there was nothing that was just frivolous. In London, I stayed at the super-modern St. Martin’s Lane a couple of times, which was awful. The mood changing lighting and tiny bathroom were just horrible. I don’t want weird lights and touch sensitive toilets, I just want a room that functions and is clean. The Mira was awesome.

I walked around tonight since I got in a little late. I would see Palin tomorrow. She set me up with some cool hikes to do around Hong Kong tomorrow and then I would see her for dinner and drinks. It all sounded perfect. So tonight, I walked along the Kowloon waterfront, admiring the view to Hong Kong, and stopped into some random electronic stores to see what buying stuff in Hong Kong would be like. I knew that there was just so much stuff in Hong Kong, as everyone told me, you can go ahead and bargain in the stores. Seriously, at a certain point, I just want there to be a price tag, and I just want to pay that price. There is something to be said for going to a bazaar, haggling and finding something rare, but when I go and buy a flash drive, I know it is worth $35. Don’t say $50 and have me bring the price down, I just have no patience for that. So I bought an additional hard drive since my computer is running out of space with all of these photos. I walked through Kowloon Park and made plans for tomorrow. It was an easy, quiet day, but it was helpful to acclimate myself to the city and get ready for some fun the following day!