Hong Kong

Here's the third installment of the Hong Kong saga. This time, I'm heading out, toward the next stop, Singapore.

To give you a little perspective, I stayed and taught in the Causeway Bay area in the lower part of the map.

Steve Borg and I visited a tailor in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, which is part of the Chinese mainland (see the next picture).

We took a ferry across the harbor and returned via the subway, which goes under the harbor.

Here's the big picture.

Hong Kong includes all the yellow area. Notice that the norther portion is actually in the Chinese mainland.

Hong Kong Island is in the lower right, and the red dot indicates Causeway Bay, where I stayed.

The airport is on Lantau island on the left. So I had to get from Causeway Bay to Lantau island on Sunday morning September 7.

I arranged to travel on the airport shuttle, a bus that visits various hotels picking up departing passengers. But when I went downstairs to the hotel's concierge desk, they led me through a back door and ushered me into...

...my own private limousine!

It seems the buses were all occupied with other things at the time I had scheduled (7:45 a.m.) and so they arranged for this Mercedes Benz to take me to the airport.

Why do you suppose I'm smiling like a cheshire cat?

They were even kind enough to provide me with a Sunday morning paper in the car.

My driver, Gary, informed me that if I had hired the limo normally, it would have cost me US$90.

Whoa! Mark that down as one option I won't be utilizing next time I need an airport run in Hong Kong.

As we went, we saw the native eating establishments.

It was a wet, gray day, and Gary decided to take a tunnel rather than one of the bridges.

I wasn't too happy, since I wanted pictures, but he didn't ask my advice, and I didn't offer it.

I turned in my seat and got a good look back at the city.

Hope to visit it again some day, when I have more time to be a tourist.

We passed many high rise apartment buildings, which are the norm in HK, since horizontal space in the city proper is at a premium.

We traveled over one of the longest suspension bridges in the world (it may be the longest), overlooking ships making their way into and out of Hong Kong Harbor.

Finally, we got to the airport. But what's this? Foggy conditions?

No, it's just that when I got out of the car, the camera lens fogged up, after having been in the enclosed, air conditioned car for 45 minutes.

I took a picture of Gary anyway.

These buses arrived soon after I did.

I wonder if I was scheduled to be on one like these?

Well, time to head in.

Fortunately, because I'd lucked out with the limo, I was in plenty of time. I arrived at 8:30 for a 10:30 flight.

Hong Kong has one of the nicer airports I've visited.

Big, wide open spaces, as you'll see shortly. Built in 1998. The airport it replaced was in Kowloon.

This ramp led down from the entrance you just saw, to one of several check-in areas.

You could drive a couple trucks down this ramp side by side, almost.

A tribute to the Wright brothers, who started this whole crazy globe-hopping thing, or at least laid the foundation for it.

This pilot seemed pretty comfortable.

He never moved the whole time I was watching him.

Must have once been a guard at Buckingham Palace.

This gentlemen ws very curious as to what he should and should not take on the plane.

My lane was D, where Singapore Airlines was located.

Unfortunately, the very nice young lady who checked me in politely refused to have her picture taken, so you won't see her, but she was very helpful.

Airport of the Year! That's outstanding, and I can see why this airport got the honor.

It's very passenger-friendly. Orlando is like that, too.

Once I got through security, I could see planes galore near to my gate.

Ah, a breather. Think I'll take a self-portrait.

So I'll put the camera on the edge of a flower planter, set up the self-timer, and take my picture.

But it comes out a little dark, so...

I'll do it again, only this time I forget to turn on the self-timer, so I take a gorgeous shot of my hand luggage.

Tell you what, let's try again, this time with flash, and up a little closer. Will it work?

And we have a winner! Yes, it works.

I can't tell you how silly it felt sitting there smiling at a little camera, while fellow passengers eyed me with interest (amusement? understanding?).

I liked it so much, I did it again from another angle.

One of the beauties of digital photography is that you get instant gratification (or at least instant feedback) from the pix you take.

As you know, at this point I'm a newbie to this digital stuff, but how did I do without it for so long?

Now that I'm on the Singapore Airlines plane, I'll just give you a feel for it, with an arms-length shot from above.

The plane was a nice big 777.

And look! A complete vegetarian meal, served with real silver (except for the knife, which is required to be plastic) and a real glass.

I had that poor little glass refilled so many times it wasn't funny. Who are they kidding with a toy container like that?

But I'm quibbling. It was all good.

And they even provided hot towels for cleanup and refreshment.

What an airline.

A-h-h-h-h-h-h. See you later, in Singapore.