After a tasty breakfast at an impressive restaurant in Bangkok's airport (see photo) we boarded our Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong. We were looking forward to this final destination for several reasons, one of them being that everyone who had been there told us how Hong Kong was one of the most modern cities in the entire world. Nothing against any of the wonderful countries we visited in SE Asia, but we spoiled Westerners missed some of the modern amenities in life that we so often take for granted.
We were staying in Kowloon which is the area directly across the harbor from Hong Kong Island, at the tip of the peninsula attached to mainland China. Laura had specifically booked a room with a view of the harbor at the world famous YMCA Hotel. Don't laugh - while there are hostel-type rooms in this huge building, the majority of the units are not exactly the cheap sort of rooms the YMCA acronym inspires. We could sort of justify the extra expense by virtue of the spartan digs we had in Vietnam...
ANYWAY, we were delighted to see such a modern city. It really was a culture shock being here. We had read about the Airport Express which is a train that leads directly from the airport into various parts of Hong Kong, including
right near the YMCA. Steve, the travel writer from our Halong Bay trip, had encouraged us to purchase an "Octopus card," a multi-use subway pass you can purchase at the airport, which we could use for the Airport Express. This pass would come in handy over the course of the next few days. The Airport Express was extremely clean and efficient--no trash, graffiti, bums, thugs, or disaffected youth anywhere in sight. Looking out from the windows of Airport Express started getting us excited to explore Hong Kong. And the icing on the cake was that the taxi driver who took us from the Airport Express station in Kowloon to the YMCA didn't try to rip us off. In fact, they have very strict laws about not exploiting tourists. Hong Kong is obviously a place that knows how to treat travelers well.
After checking into the hotel we marveled at the view and excellent amenities, including clean, crisp white bed sheets and a complete, western-style bathroom! No more questionable 10 gallon water heaters perched precariously above the shower with the toilet underneath -- this was a real bathroom complete with glass shower doors -- and, best of all, we could take more than a five minute shower! (Yes, aren't we terribly spoiled? But then after 24 days or so with 4th-rate bathrooms who wouldn't be?) We gasped at the amazing view for quite a while with huge grins on our faces. This was definitely going to be a great way to end our trip!We had plans that evening to have dinner with a film making acquaintance of Charles', a local named Phillip, and his wife Grace. Phillip had generously offered to take us out to dinner on our first night and show us one of his favorite spots off the beaten tourist path. They picked us up at the YMCA and drove us (with their dog "FeiFei" joining us) to a waterfront restaurant, called "Freezer" which was located at the Sai Kung Pier in the New Territories part of HK. Since it was a weeknight it was a fairly quiet scene. Grace and Philip ordered a tasty combination of dishes including some wonderful Asian and western dishes. They knew the owner really well and introduced us--he was a really cool, friendly guy. We were definitely feeling welcome in Hong Kong and our hosts' hospitality was wonderful.
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