7/25 Hong Kong, Here We Come

Jimmy arrives promptly at 6am to take us to the Shanghai airport. The woman at the ticket counter tells me she will hold my boarding pass while my bag gets checked. She directs me to a door and we head over. It is a very warm room and the man tells me to open my suitcase. He picks up a Ziploc baggie which contains two bottles of aerosol spray sun screen. “What is this?" he says sternly. I tell him sunblock, and he asks again. I look to my son for help with the Chinese translation, but he just looks on as an innocent bystander, not wanting to get involved if possible. The man puts the bag back in my suitcase and tells me to close it up. I guess we are done here.
We head back to the counter and the woman gives us our boarding passes. We head to security and then on to the gate. The Shanghai airport is huge, clean, and very quiet at our gate. Ah, I close my eyes for a few minutes, until my son hits me and tells me people are looking at me. I really don’t care, but I’ve been startled awake, so I work on a puzzle book.
We board our plane to Hong Kong. This is one of the few planes that has a jetway into the plane. Most of our flights included a bus ride to the field, then a rush of people swarming the mobile staircase in the hot sun.

As our plane ascends over Shanghai, Gabriella gets sick. I am not sure what it is, but she settles eventually (or at least until we begin our descent into Hong Kong). The Hong Kong Airport is quite large also. We make our way to Immigration and Baggage Reclaim. We have been warned that illegal drivers will try to get our business, so we are careful to find our driver. He directs us to his “Colleague” and a group of other people using this transportation company. We follow the man and weave through corridors and people, hoping to keep up with him. We board a luxury bus, with reclining leather seats and a radio station that is full of static. The view of Hong Kong is wonderful from my comfortable seat. The kids chose to sit at the very back of the bus, so I am enjoying the quiet ride. I see water, shipyards, skyscrapers, trees and hills. The dragonboat races are today, and as we get closer to the hotel, we see the sidewalks full of athletes and the waterfront bustling with activity.

The driver stops at multiple hotels before making it to ours. The bellman takes our luggage and directs us to the line to check in. Our room is 904, and I go to the window, but I am thoroughly disappointed to see the side of another building….no waterfront, no dragonboats, just concrete. I decide to book a dinner and cruise tonight, but the tour is full. So instead, I get directions from the concierge for taking the subway to Restaurant 66. It is a revolving dining room on the 62nd floor.

We enjoyed the chocolate fountain and crab legs on the buffet.

The view was amazing and at 8pm, the building lights began to change. I am told later that this is a laser light show that occurs every evening. It kept the kids entertained.