Day Twenty-eight – On to Hong Kong

As always when we are travelling we were up early this morning and as we had packed the previous night,we checked out of the hotel by 8.00. The taxi to the airport was quicker than we had anticipated , so much so that when we arrived we were too early to check in. Having waited for about half an hour we checked in and cleared immigration before going to the Qantas business lounge. The facilities here didn’t match the BA lounge in Heathrow with only cereal, toast and a few bakery items on the breakfast menu. If you were a drinker there was a good choice even at this time in the morning. The one good thing was the free internet facility which allowed us not only to check our e—mails but also to chat to Helena in her bed at Victoria’s house.

The boarding of the flight went smoothly and after a slight delay due to some luggage problems we were on our way to Hong Kong. I had a little dilemma when it came to the entertainment on offer as virtually all the nominated Oscar films were available. After choosing to start my film-fest with “The Wrestler” I settled down on my seat. Only about 20mins into the film and there was an announcement that some people were unable to receive the films and the system would need re-booting, an hour later the system came back on. I decided to have a change of pace so watched “Four Holidays” (and before anyone says it ,no it wasn’t Oscar nominated), at the end of which the movie system packed in completely. A number of passengers including me complained and eventually they put on “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” onto the system. As the film was beginning to reach its climax the pilot announced we were on the approach to Hong Kong and the entertainment was turned off.A very poor effort Qantas, although the $50 duty free voucher came in handy. The quality and quantity of food on the flight was also poor in my opinion, BA is much superior no matter what Michael Winner says!!!

The arrival at Hong Kong went very smoothly taking only 30 minutes from touch down to getting into our car, and 25 minutes later we were entering our hotel. Sylvia asked on the way into town which side they drive on here. Judging by our driver it doesn’t matter as he changed lanes continually overtaking and undertaking where necessary.  The first impressions of the hotel is that it looks superb with spectacular views over the harbour(The pictures don’t really do justice to it) There is a 37inch Sharp LCD TV together with a BOSE sound system including CD/DVD player and I-pod connector. No TV in the bath though!!!! Watched the light spectacular on Hong Kong island which takes place every night at 8.00pm, I will try to get some photos tomorrow