Eat Pray Play Love Day #1: Travel
May 1, 2017
Today's travel wasn't nearly as bad as I expected it to be. My flight departed Springfield around 8am, then to Dallas where I had a tight connection, and a direct flight to Hong Kong. I flew on American and the plane was way more comfortable than Korean Air. Although food was worse. I thouht the flight was going to be 22 hours, but it was 16 (woo!) My seatmate was low maintenance, and even though I didn't sleep, I did watch 2.5 movies: "Girl on the Train," "Gone Girl," and "Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them" (sadly this was the .5 movie I watched - it was just that bad).
Arriving in Hong Kong International was super easy - quick immigration, quick customs, and my guide was waiting for me as promised. We walked outside to his car, and it is HOT. Mucho caliente. Its hot and muggy - super humid. Not good for prom hair.
I arrived at the Eaton Hotel and it is average - totally clean and comfortable - and also seemingly in a pretty safe area. There is a McDonald's, 7 Eleven and Starbucks on this block, so I'm feeling right at home. Last night I exchanged some money, took a 30 minute walk that would have sent my mom into a nervous breakdown, then came back to the hotel for a quick dinner. Nighttime here is bustling and alive. It's like New York but also nothing like New York. And it's like Bangkok - but it's also nothing like Bangkok. The streets are filled with people, but it's not noisy - and they're lined with neon - of course all of the signs are in Chinese, so I don't really know what they're proclaiming, with the exception of a 7 Eleven approximately every block. And do you know how hard it is to find a nail file in this city? Extremely hard. Not a one in sight.
The population of Hong Kong is roughly 7.3 million people. Of course I've heard upwards of 10M from tour guides - they are maybe using the same methodology Branson did 15 years ago question mark. The main form of housing is obscenely massive apartment complexes. I have never seen monstrosities like these before. The quality of life in these complexes seems not so good - avg household income here is about $25K in US dollars. Every single apartment has it's own AC unit. I haven't dug into why central air isn't a thing here in most places - I'm guessing it's due to the age of the buildings. Suffice to say when you walk down side streets you are constantly dripped on from the condensation of the AC units. It's a thing.
I had no problem falling asleep quickly last night after being up for roughly 28 hours.
May 1, 2017
Today's travel wasn't nearly as bad as I expected it to be. My flight departed Springfield around 8am, then to Dallas where I had a tight connection, and a direct flight to Hong Kong. I flew on American and the plane was way more comfortable than Korean Air. Although food was worse. I thouht the flight was going to be 22 hours, but it was 16 (woo!) My seatmate was low maintenance, and even though I didn't sleep, I did watch 2.5 movies: "Girl on the Train," "Gone Girl," and "Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them" (sadly this was the .5 movie I watched - it was just that bad).
Arriving in Hong Kong International was super easy - quick immigration, quick customs, and my guide was waiting for me as promised. We walked outside to his car, and it is HOT. Mucho caliente. Its hot and muggy - super humid. Not good for prom hair.
I arrived at the Eaton Hotel and it is average - totally clean and comfortable - and also seemingly in a pretty safe area. There is a McDonald's, 7 Eleven and Starbucks on this block, so I'm feeling right at home. Last night I exchanged some money, took a 30 minute walk that would have sent my mom into a nervous breakdown, then came back to the hotel for a quick dinner. Nighttime here is bustling and alive. It's like New York but also nothing like New York. And it's like Bangkok - but it's also nothing like Bangkok. The streets are filled with people, but it's not noisy - and they're lined with neon - of course all of the signs are in Chinese, so I don't really know what they're proclaiming, with the exception of a 7 Eleven approximately every block. And do you know how hard it is to find a nail file in this city? Extremely hard. Not a one in sight.
The population of Hong Kong is roughly 7.3 million people. Of course I've heard upwards of 10M from tour guides - they are maybe using the same methodology Branson did 15 years ago question mark. The main form of housing is obscenely massive apartment complexes. I have never seen monstrosities like these before. The quality of life in these complexes seems not so good - avg household income here is about $25K in US dollars. Every single apartment has it's own AC unit. I haven't dug into why central air isn't a thing here in most places - I'm guessing it's due to the age of the buildings. Suffice to say when you walk down side streets you are constantly dripped on from the condensation of the AC units. It's a thing.
I had no problem falling asleep quickly last night after being up for roughly 28 hours.
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