Unlike my first visit, my second visit to Hong Kong (2/24-2/25) was all business.
Landed, submitted my passport to the India visa processing office, and did some work in the hotel. Ate a delicious, pricey dinner to kick off the first of 28 days of traveling.
The hotel I stayed in was the lowest quality in the past year. Everything was old, bed was stiffer, blinds were stuck. I was excited at first, as I was on the penthouse “Executive Suite” on the 18th floor. In the end, I booked the hotel due to its 4 minute walking distance from the visa office.
On Wednesday, I visited a client from 12-3pm. Fantastic location in the Northern Territories. Very, very unique place. They had transformed a car park into offices and rooms. Why did I not take pictures?!
Afterward, I took the MTR back to my stop, picked up my passport with the visa processed, and headed to the airport. I was very lucky to get the passport back so soon; was expecting to miss and reschedule my flight.
I take my words back. Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) isn’t as boring as San Francisco International Airport (SFO), the most boring-looking airport I’ve been to. It’s pretty beautiful, looks similar to Beijing.
My former colleague booked my flight. Again, not much thought was given until I actually boarded: 7:55pm to 12:25am. Four and a half hour flight, easy right? I forgot to account for the time zone difference; it was a 7 hour flight, which means I’d be landing at 3am TPE time and would be completely exhausted.
Watched two movies on board. As a lover of movies, it’s disappointing how I never watch movies anymore.
Gravity. Great movie.
We’re the Millers. Stupid, but entertaining, nom say’n?
The airplane itself was different: wooden floors, brown colored interior. Indian flavors, mm. Not a packed flight, sat very comfortably without anyone beside me. I didn’t see a single non-Indian person on board. I don’t blame non-Indians, getting that visa was a gigantic headache (and was the main reason why I went to Hong Kong BOTH times in the first place).
Landed, got through customs, exchanged $200 USD for ~11,000 Indian Rupees, and started spending them Rupees. 1 USD = 61.75 INR.
599 INR for a prepaid SIM with 106 minutes.
300 INR for an air conditioned cab to the hotel. Non-air conditioned would be around 100 INR.
My former colleague did me good on this one. She booked the Courtyard Marriott, four-star in a good location.
The hotel is comparable to my stay in Jakarta, Indonesia. There’s an outdoor swimming pool, weight room, and steam and sauna.
Slept at 3:30am India time, which means that I pulled an all nighter in Hong Kong/Taipei.
India is much different than anything I’ve ever seen before, and I’ll talk more about it in subsequent posts. I thought the poverty in Jakarta was bad. It’s worse here.
To sum up a near-future post: everyone I know in America is spoiled.
Andy Cheng 