Hong Kong....
Just a little update on my time in HKG….having only been away for a month I wasn’t expecting any changes so only a few things caught my eye…the first was the central reclamation work….I see that the new Star Ferry Pier has started to raise its head…
And I also notice that we have a new ‘icon’ on our road signs…Mickey is making an impression (apologies for the post running through the picture!).
It was wonderful to see friends and catch up on all the news…after not having been out drinking the whole time I have been in Manila I think I over did it. Proof of overdoing it probably in the post after my night out and a couple of e-mails I sent out as well! Anyway it was a good night and sitting at Al’s diner whilst the rain bucketed down was great.
The hangover kicked in about lunch time on Tuesday….soon sorted out with glasses of fizz at the Ritz-Carlton!
And managed to get in a quick visit to the cats……Chiang Kai-shek spent the time hiding….Chairman Mao seems to have become quite the camera flirt since I last saw him….
Leaving HKG was interesting…..at the permanent residents queue at immigration was a group of Pakistani’s trying to get through immigration….obviously HKG residents but without ID cards….or if they had them they still had to produce their passports….it took about half an hour to get about 10 people through immigration….not too sure what was going on there……however, once through immigration the same group put their bags though the security scanner and then the action started…..all their bags were pulled out and emptied….the security staff pulled out….a gun (am assuming it was a toy gun)…but it looked pretty realistic, three Chinese kitchen choppers and three sets of nail clippers….anyway judging by the way the group was led away by security I don’t know if they caught their flight.
So after all this excitement I proceeded to dinner…..as reported in the news CX are flying their passengers on half rations…but they are dishing out $75 meal vouchers so you can ‘eat before you fly’….I decided to eat at Café Deco. So I settled down with dinner and the newspaper and then one of their guests decided he wasn’t happy about something….still not too sure what it was about, but he was very loud, very aggressive and physical with some of the staff….and this little temper tantrum went on for about twenty minutes, the manager was disturbed by all this and called the police….anyway – the guest eventually calmed down and left….about 10 minutes after he left…the police and airport security turned up…..not exactly the speediest response I have ever seen.
So all in all a rather interesting departure.
I love traveling and have no problem with flying except that I can never sleep on a plane…so I always sit in the aisle seat so I can walk around and not get too bored….anyway the couple sitting next to me decided to use the bathroom facilities every time I had sat down again and had settled into watching some TV…most irritating…so I made my irritation known…and then the guy said that his wife wasn’t feeling well which is why she kept having to go to the bathroom….so I explained that the reason she probably wasn’t feeling well was the number of G&T’s she had knocked back since take off…..I stopped counting after about 10….(she was drinking her husband’s as well!!)
Landing at LHR in the early morning on a beautiful day is quite spectacular…unfortunately could not get any pictures of the landing….but got one before the approach began…
And one on the ground….
After my parents picked me up..…they wanted to go to a local garden centre to get some more rose bushes…..the centre didn’t open until 9am so we passed the time at a local country house hotel….sat in the garden and enjoyed a cup of tea, the sunshine and the view….
And I also notice that we have a new ‘icon’ on our road signs…Mickey is making an impression (apologies for the post running through the picture!).
It was wonderful to see friends and catch up on all the news…after not having been out drinking the whole time I have been in Manila I think I over did it. Proof of overdoing it probably in the post after my night out and a couple of e-mails I sent out as well! Anyway it was a good night and sitting at Al’s diner whilst the rain bucketed down was great.
The hangover kicked in about lunch time on Tuesday….soon sorted out with glasses of fizz at the Ritz-Carlton!
And managed to get in a quick visit to the cats……Chiang Kai-shek spent the time hiding….Chairman Mao seems to have become quite the camera flirt since I last saw him….
Leaving HKG was interesting…..at the permanent residents queue at immigration was a group of Pakistani’s trying to get through immigration….obviously HKG residents but without ID cards….or if they had them they still had to produce their passports….it took about half an hour to get about 10 people through immigration….not too sure what was going on there……however, once through immigration the same group put their bags though the security scanner and then the action started…..all their bags were pulled out and emptied….the security staff pulled out….a gun (am assuming it was a toy gun)…but it looked pretty realistic, three Chinese kitchen choppers and three sets of nail clippers….anyway judging by the way the group was led away by security I don’t know if they caught their flight.
So after all this excitement I proceeded to dinner…..as reported in the news CX are flying their passengers on half rations…but they are dishing out $75 meal vouchers so you can ‘eat before you fly’….I decided to eat at Café Deco. So I settled down with dinner and the newspaper and then one of their guests decided he wasn’t happy about something….still not too sure what it was about, but he was very loud, very aggressive and physical with some of the staff….and this little temper tantrum went on for about twenty minutes, the manager was disturbed by all this and called the police….anyway – the guest eventually calmed down and left….about 10 minutes after he left…the police and airport security turned up…..not exactly the speediest response I have ever seen.
So all in all a rather interesting departure.
I love traveling and have no problem with flying except that I can never sleep on a plane…so I always sit in the aisle seat so I can walk around and not get too bored….anyway the couple sitting next to me decided to use the bathroom facilities every time I had sat down again and had settled into watching some TV…most irritating…so I made my irritation known…and then the guy said that his wife wasn’t feeling well which is why she kept having to go to the bathroom….so I explained that the reason she probably wasn’t feeling well was the number of G&T’s she had knocked back since take off…..I stopped counting after about 10….(she was drinking her husband’s as well!!)
Landing at LHR in the early morning on a beautiful day is quite spectacular…unfortunately could not get any pictures of the landing….but got one before the approach began…
And one on the ground….
After my parents picked me up..…they wanted to go to a local garden centre to get some more rose bushes…..the centre didn’t open until 9am so we passed the time at a local country house hotel….sat in the garden and enjoyed a cup of tea, the sunshine and the view….
posted by Madame Chiang at 6:15 am
1 Comments:
I must say, that last picture looks a great deal more appealing than the sign by IFC with Mickey Mouse! Those two spots are universes apart. It's not such a small world after all, it seems...
Have a great trip!
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