The Departure

The flight to Hong Kong was long. Becky and I had left San Francisco about two hours behind schedule. We sat near the back of the Boeing 747-400 and had isle seats opposite each-other.

When I went to Spain in 2006 I had debilitating jet lag for the better part of a week. While packing for my India journey, my roommate Wes advised me to stay up until I am synced with my new ‘local time’ since that’s how the ski racers do it. Knowing myself, I didn’t think that it was realistic to stay up for a day and a half, so I had decided that I’d heed his advice and try to think of myself on HK time as soon as I got on the flight.
Therefore, when we boarded at 330 PM PST it was already 630AM in Hong Kong.I figured it was already a ‘late night’, took an Ambien and conked out for about four hours. When I could sleep no more I stirred, watched four new releases on my personal seat-back entertainment system (thank you Cathay Pacific Airlines), listened to a CD, and after about 14 hours of travel time we were in Tai Pei.

Now, because of a combination of un-seasonally late ‘winter head winds’ and potentially because of a volcanic eruption in Alaska, we had to stop in Tai Pei to re-fuel. I was suspicious of the crew change and wondered why the Pilot would get off only an hour from our original destination, but decided that if I was too tired to drive, our pilot might be too.

The turnaround lasted about an hour and by 9 PM local time (6AM back on the west coast) we were on our flight again to Hong Kong. I passed out immediately and awoke to a relatively proud announcement on the PA system that our pilot had found a ‘short cut’ from Taipei to Hong Kong. I was relieved to be touching down.

After we got off the plane I was impressed by the efficiency with which passengers were herded to their connecting flights. A Cathay Pacific employee busily placed stickers on weary travellers indicating their connecting flight numbers. Since HK was my destination for the night, I was able to proceed unbranded to the next station where our temperature was monitored. I wanted to stop to take a picture of the ‘no hats’ sign, which I inferred was allowing the young Chinese man watching an infrared camera to spot sick travellers in need of quarantine.

While waiting to proceed through customs, I connected to the free wifi connection and sent home an email to my parents letting them know that Becky and I had arrived safely. The internet is cool. This was one of many moments I’ve already had when I’ve stopped briefly in awe to ponder our global community.
Anshuman was waiting for us as we exited baggage claim. I realized that this was the first time Becky had seen him since he had achieved the status of family for her; brother-in-law to be precise. Walking out into the massive terminal I was impressed by how English-friendly Hong Kong seemed to be. Signs for the train, even advertisements had massive English translations. Anshuman made me feel quite at home, a gracious host he jumped to grab us tickets for the 24 minute train-ride to down town from the airport and then escorted us to the train, lugging two of our massive, over-weight bags behind him.

The train was beautiful. Similar to the experience I’d had in Japan, the mass transit systems in Hong Kong are amazing. Made me really hope that Obama makes the type of infrastructure investments that I’ve been imagining he might. It’s a great experience when mass transit just works.
I was feeling quite good all things considered. Awake and relatively alert I stared out the train window as we made our short ride downtown. We arrived at Anshuman’s 55th floor apartment at about 11 or 1130 PM local time, changed, and went up to the rooftop to take some panoramic night images. I kicked myself for not having brought the manual for my DSLR but managed to take some mediocre images using ‘night mode’.

Then we went out. Man, Hong Kong can party! It was already after 1 AM local time when we set out walking to the bars. I wasn’t sure what to expect. As we walked I was impressed by the number of English speaking Caucasians we passed. Hong Kong is quite cosmopolitan and I had to remind myself that this was only a brief stop-over on our journey to India. We made it to the location where Journey’s new front man was discovered. There was live music there, but Anshuman told us that we could find a better spot. As we rounded the corner, the party literally spilled out into the street. It was standing room only and we were outside the clubs still! People were drinking, dancing and as we passed a group of about 15 people wearing togas I thought I might be in for a wild night. I was somewhat relieved when the club Anshuman had chosen to take us to, ‘insomnia’ was actually a bit tame in comparison. It was a tiny place, dark and smoky with low ceilings but as we walked past the bar, I could see that it kept going quite far back into the depths of the building. The stage was right next to the dance floor and as the cover band started to rock, everyone got up to dance. There was so much energy in the room that I barely noticed it get to be a bit after 3 AM.

The three of us stumbled home and back to Anshuman’s apartment where he graciously made us our beds. Given the time difference I had a chance to call home briefly and touch base with Dad while Becky got a ‘heart to heart’ talking to from Anshuman upstairs on the roof.

I really can’t say enough about how lucky I feel to be taken care of by such fantastic people. Our gracious host made this stay in Hong Kong not only comfortable & convenient but so much more. Though nervous when I departed, I’m feeling great about having taken the risk to set out on this adventure and the lasting memories I’ll have as a result.