Hong Kong for Business Day 1

I had a Flightline van pick me up at around 2:45am. That brought me to Dascom Road where I switched to a different van. That van forgot to pick up one person and after we left we had to turn around and go and get her as well.  After that we headed into the airport and going to United in Terminal C I was the last to get off the van. The airport was open but United wasn’t for another 25 minutes so we had to wait in line to get processed. After that it was an easy run through security and to the gate to wait for the plane.

This was my first ever flight in higher than coach class. The first flight was to San Francisco and I had first class for that bit. It is definitely a lot more roomy and you get armrests all to yourself. I took an aisle seat right up front. The plane was a 757 and was not too filled with the high tech conveniences unfortunately. I had the cold breakfast of fruit and cereal because I didn’t want the omelet.  The only movie they showed in the 6+ hour flight was The King’s Speech which I watched and thought was reasonably good. Yeah, yeah, it won the Oscar, etc. Not something I care about.  All the rest was television shows which I really didn’t watch and was able to nap here and there.   As a side note, one of the flight attendants apparently knew how to make balloon creatures and several of them were carrying around or wearing balloon things.

The flight landed a little late and of course the transfer was all the way across the airport but I had enough time that it was not a big deal. I pretty much just got to the gate and waited for the plane to board. Boarding as business class I was supposed to wait until the first class and special members boarded but it wasn’t really bad and I was on without any issue. The seat in business had its own entertainment center with a larger screen than you will get in economy if you have it, but since it was a 747-400 there was common entertainment for the economy class.  My seat was the last aisle seat in front of the economy section right next to the serving station which could at times get a little busy and a little noisy but overall I was happy with the location. Since the seat folded into a bed I spent more than half of the flight successfully sleeping. They served the meal early in the flight. I had an Australian Cabernet Sauvignon named Yarumba or something like that. They served a grilled chicken salad to start and I had the braised beef short rib for the main meal. It was by far the best food I have ever eaten on a plane. I finished with a raspberry flavored ice cream in a dark chocolate shell. I enjoyed the food greatly. 

After the meal I started to watch a couple movies. I watched The Town which I liked a fair bit. Always good to see Boston in the movies. Ben Afflek was even reasonably good in it. I think he gets pummeled as an actor but really he isn’t that bad.  After that I watched the remake of True Grit with Jeff Bridges. It was ok but I did dose a couple times during it. I don’t think I missed that much of it. I was happy that I watched it but I think I don’t need to rewatch it even with what I missed.  After that I turned on Bullitt (heck, it was there) and instead used it as a sound to fall asleep to.  I am sure I was completely out before the big car chase scene.  After that it was just sleep for several hours. I woke up with about 2 hours to go in the flight.  From there I listened to music and they handed out fruit plates and juice as an end of flight snack.

After landing it wasn’t that bad to clear passport control and customs was a walk through. I found the taxi stand and took a taxi to the hotel. Of course the driver didn’t speak English well and the taxi didn’t take credit cards and I just realized I didn’t get a receipt for it. It was 205.5 HK dollars for the fare. Doh. He did stop so I could get cash out of a machine at least which got me the money to pay for it.  The ride seemed to take about 45 minutes but I’m not probably the best judge of things. It was a bit after 7pm when I got into my room.

After dropping off my pack I went to the common area where I found my coworker John hanging out for the evening talking to a guy from Belgium who was living in Shanghai and had just needed a table to sit at when he got to the common area. I hung out and had a couple beers before settling in for the night to relax a bit and write this. Too tired to go out and get lost I opted to just take it easy in the hotel for the evening.

I was a touch hungry and decided to get room service though. I ordered a set menu and though I should have gotten Chinese style foods the best offering was sweet and sour pork which is definitely not my thing. So instead I got cream of mushroom soup to start, a burger for the main and a chocolate brownie with vanilla cream to finish.  The food was good but the burger had avocado on it which made things sweet. I did have to take it off because I didn't care for the effect. That should be the only day I do room service though.  After dinner it was already past 10pm. I just watched a little English Premier League soccer commentated in Chinese and then went to bed when it was over at about 10:30pm. West Brom beat out Birmingham 3-1. I am sure of the West Brom but Birmingham I may be wrong about. I was half out of it.

I didn't take many pictures but here are the few.