Sent: Friday, May 23, 2008 1:35 PM
Subject: Day 2 5/22-23/08
Next time I may just travel coach. The extra legs associated with this trip are a double edged sword. On the one hand, it is nice to have a more comfortable seat and to break up a trip this long, having some time to get up and walk about does help. Then again, it makes the whole journey longer. I forced myself to stay up a bit late last night in an attempt to get a head start on acclimating to the time change, but I’m afraid all it did was make me tired. Unfortunately, not tired enough to sleep on the 11 hour flight from Portland to Tokyo. I did, however, get some sleep from Tokyo to Hong Kong. I ate dinner, even though I was not really hungry, and had some wine and I was out 40 minutes into the 4 hour flight, waking up just in time to land.
By the way, People in Tokyo give you no space. I was wandering through Narita Airport between flights, and I came to a rather narrow passage, about 4 feet wide and 20 feet long, between an elevator and a railing. I am carrying my computer bag on my left shoulder, and my suit bag on my right (yes, I brought my dress clothes and shoes as a carry on this time – I did not want to repeat last year’s fiasco), so I was taking up the whole width of this space. As I am walking towards this narrow passage, I see a Japanese woman heading toward me from the opposite end of the narrow portion. I was clearly going to reach this spot first and I fully expected her to slow or pause to let me finish passing through – nothing of the sort of course – she came right through and we nearly tripped over each other. I guess I need to learn the “rules of the road” better.
By the way, I have been in 4 countries today, been through immigration 3 times and filled our three immigration forms, all in the course of around 22 hours. Too much for one day. It is all a blur.
Hong Kong has to be the coolest city in the world. It is big, busy, there are huge buildings and neon everywhere, The airport is large but very efficient. I took the “Airport Express” train form the airport to Kowloon, where I am spending the night. It runs every 12 minutes from the Airport to Hong Kong Island, and costs about $8. The train is quiet, spotless, and smooth – nothing like any rail ride I’ve had anywhere. On the way, you pass by the “Hong Kong International Trade” docks which consist, by my estimation, of about 4 miles of pier after pier, hundreds of cranes, and literally tens of thousands of shipping containers. It is a really impressive sight. Most of China’s export products leave through the Pearl River Delta which includes Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and a few other cities.
When I arrived at the hotel, around 11:00 local time, I was restless, so after checking in, I wandered about Kowloon for a bit. Kowloon is like Manhattan in that it is busy 24 hours a day. The sidewalks were crowded on nearly every street and it was midnight. By the way, I was propositioned within 1 block – I must look like an easy mark or something. It took another two blocks to ditch the rather persistent woman. After wandering for 20 minutes or so, I ran across an Irish pub called Delaney’s, which was in the basement of a building 2 blocks from the hotel. It was really amazing; walk down one flight of stairs and you think you are in Ireland; Guinness, about a dozen Irish Whiskeys, Punk music from a DJ in the corner, and Curry Chips on the menu. I did not partake of the chips as I was not really hungry, but tomorrow it may be lunch.
Tomorrow, Saturday, I plan to wander Hong Kong for a bit, and then travel via ferry to Shenzhen in mainland China.
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