So I had to go to Hong Kong (HK) with the bosses to meet with Balmain Hair. A company that has developed a new hair extension process. This is my first trip out of the Philippines since I arrived back in Nov 08. True to the Philippines, it was a pain at the airport. You have to pay a fee to leave the country, 2500PHP which works out to about $52.00US. We started our trip with the special friend upgrade to Business class, It was great! Big seats, and the area was completely empty except for us. It was so comfortable up there, it was a shame that the flight was not longer. It only took an hour and a half to get to HK.
Once we started seeing islands in the distance we knew we were getting close, and it was not long till the HK skyline was out the window.
(island pics)
(HK plane pics)
After landing we got on a bus that had been provided by the travel agency in Manila to take us to our hotels. The drive in was about 30 min, and we went over one of the largest bridges I think I have ever seen.
(Bus Pics)
We were split between two Hotels. Candace, Luis, Journey and Mar were in the YMCA, (which in HK is a 3 star Hotel) and I was in the Marco Polo Gateway. I found out that my hotel had far better service. The only problem was there was something wrong on my floor, even with the air conditioner completely off the room was like a walk-in freezer. I felt like I had frostbite on my nose that first morning. I never did get any pictures of my hotel room, but i did get a shot of the 'wonderful view'.
(pics of Hotels and view)
Once we all got settled we met up on Nathan st to go grab a bite to eat. Now this is my first inexperience with walking in HK, I don't think I have ever seen so many people on a sidewalk in my life!!! I did learn very quickly that the crowds come in waves, due to the street crossings.
First stop was McDonald's to get a bite, Journey was is a great mood while we were there.
(Pic Journey)
We then went window shopping down some of the side streets. In the US most business are on the ground floor of buildings, not in HK most of the time it was the first 3 floors that had businesses in them. Was a really different experience. The place is also filled with hair salons everywhere you look.
We took a ferry to HK island to go to the IKEA store. From the ferry we had to take a double decker tram, if you think the sidewalks were crowded, they had nothing on the Tram. Luis finally found a seat in the front, and Journey went right to sleep.
I will say that it is nothing like the IKEA stores in the US. The only thing they sold in their cafeteria was hot dogs, NO Swedish meatballs. I was so bummed!!!! I had been thinking about Swedish meatballs all day long!! The store was also a lot smaller than the IKEA's in the US. I had expected it to be a lot larger considering the amount of people living in HK.
From there we went up to the look out point. You have to take a tram up there that goes up at like a 45 degree angle. I sure wouldn't want to be on it if the cable broke that is for sure. Once up there the view was amazing. I took a lot of pictures there of the skyline.
The people in HK can be very rude, and service is not their strong suit, but I must say that i had a great time there. Despite the heat, which it was hotter than here in Manila. I am told that it does have all four season, so I think I will have to make a trip back there when it is cooler. Being there did remind me of the reason I came here in the first place, and that was to be able to travel all around this part of the world and see everything I can. I have not done that yet, so time to get to it!!!
