Wednesday, May 23, 2007 by Bruce Chang

今天傍晚進入書淩的個人部落格，才知道他有一篇香港遊記。謹專在如次。

Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Live from Hong Kong

This summer, I am taking a class on the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Beijing, in a summer abroad program through Loyola Law School.

I booked an earlier flight, connecting in Hong Kong, to save a little bit of money. However, in order to meet up with some classmates (and split the cab costs), I am taking the same connecting flight from Hong Kong to Beijing. As a result, despite the fact that the flight into Hong Kong was delayed by more than an hour, my layover was still more than 12 hours.

I decided to go into the city and see what I could see. The Airport Express is not particularly cheap, at HK$100 for a one-way trip or a same-day return. (A next-day return would be HK$180.) Because I didn't intend on staying out all that late in the city, I took the same-day return.

Stepping into the Hong Kong air was like stepping into the heat and humidity of Taiwan, except without as much of the smell of motor oil from motor scooters. The streets are easier to make out because they have English names; it's a bit like walking around in Oakland Chinatown, which also has bilingual street signs. I decided to take the mid-levels travelator as far as I could. Along the way, I was bombarded with smells of Cantonese cuisine like what I remembered from San Francisco Chinatown. A few levels up the travelator and I was in Soho, a happening district. I ended up at the Peak Cafe Bar, where I had some tandoori chicken skewers (with a pesto dip) for HK$58, and a bottle of Corona for HK$30. The tab included HK$9 for "service charge". Well, then!

I got back into the airport around 11:30pm local time. (The Airport Express takes only about half an hour to get from Hong Kong Island to the airport.) Once I checked into the airport, I set about looking for a place to rest my weary, traveled eyes for a few winks. The Traveler's Lounge was unfortunately too expensive, and I didn't have a change of clothes on me anyway, so the availability of a shower would have been far too luxurious. Instead, I found my way to one of the airport's "resting lounges", which have reclined chairs for sleeping, and slept in fits and starts until about 5am or so.

I've explored the airport a bit more since then, including finding the Internet Zone here at Gate 24. There's no compact flash reader here, so I can't upload the few pictures I've taken since arriving here, so I'm about to go look to see if the Starbucks here will take a credit card; and then, my classmates should be here, and we can gab until the flight to Beijing.

Update: (2007.06.16.00:20 PDT) Here are some pictures from when I posted this entry.

Hong Kong at Night



Tandoori Chicken Skewers at Peak Cafe Bar


Hong Kong International Airport



[Cross-posted from Between Worlds]