Hong Kong

On the 18th of February Mike, Sam, and I flew first from Puerto Princessa to Manila, then on to Hong Kong.  We arrived at Ninoy Aquino airport in Manila at noon and didn't leave for a solid seven hours.  The terminals at the airport aren't actually connected by walkway so you have to brave Manila traffic in a taxi when transferring, and who knows how long that takes.  That was the reason why we didn't want to cut our transfer time short; we also booked the flights separately so we had to pick up our bags and check in again.

We flew with Cebu Pacific, a budget airline just a few steps down
from Cathay Pacific first class!  We didn't have an actual
 gate connected to the plane and had to take a bus across the tarmac.

From the info online we assumed we would have to grab a taxi for the terminal change, but as it turns out the airport now offers a shuttle service.  We had plenty of time on our hands to sit around, grab a bite to eat, and surf the web (thankfully there was wifi).  Once our flight landed in Hong Kong and we caught the train into the city it was already 10 pm.  We checked in to our hotel - the Hyatt Regency - got a late dinner and made it an quiet night.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Hong Kong, let me give you a little layout of the town.  When most people think of Hong Kong, if they have any impression of the place, what comes to mind is probably a picturesque harbor with skyscrapers and rising hills.  That area is known as Hong Kong island. but much of the territory governed as a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China is actually on the Chinese mainland.  The city itself extends north from the island, to Kowloon across the harbor.  As the city thins out after Kowloon comes the New Territories and then the border with China.

map of Hong Kong; the first two nights we stayed in Kowloon,
just across from Hong Kong Island

view of the picturesque Victoria Harbor and skyline on Hong Kong Island

We spent the first two nights in central Kowloon, an area with lots of shopping, bars, restaurants, and markets.  The Hyatt Regency wasn't too shabby, overlooking Hong Kong island and downtown.  Now how did we get a hotel smack dab in the middle of Kowloon with a view over the harbor?  Well I mentioned that Mike and Sam are avid miles collectors, not only of airline miles but also hotel points.  Sam had racked up enough points to book us for two nights at the Hyatt Regency and a night at the Grand Hyatt.

The Grand Hyatt is actually on Hong Kong Island, right next to the convention center overlooking the harbor.  As it turns out we were in Hong Kong for the beginning of Chinese New Year (it started on the 19th but lasts for over two weeks!).  Well we didn't just happen to be there, we planned it out that way so as to catch some of the celebrations.  On Friday, February 20th, the city celebrated with a fireworks festival over the harbor.  Lucky for us that we had access to the Grand Hyatt lounge on the top floor of the hotel, a prime viewing spot.  Honestly I don't know if there were many better seats in the city!

Lobby of the Grand Hyatt; check out their website...I don't want to
 know how much some of those rooms go for!

Our view of the fireworks over the harbor.  The building in the foreground is the Hong Kong Convention Center.  
The smog was pretty bad while we were there but luckily it cleared up a bit for the show.

All of this - the luxury hotel stays, prime time location in an exciting city, and Chinese New Year festivities - would be one of the most memorable parts of my trip, but for reasons you may not have guessed.  Remember in my last post I said the Filipino restaurant Jollibee would come up later in the story?  Well I forgot to mention that the night we ate Jollibee Mike got sick; he threw up in the hotel room (but still managed to make it to the bar, great effort).  Sam was sick later that night / next morning.

As for me, I was feeling fine!  Well at least things were going well the day after, on the 18th.  On our second evening in Hong Kong, however, I started to feel queasy.  We were standing outside in Kowloon, waiting for the New Year's parade with thousands of other onlookers, when my stomach took a turn for the worse - quickly.  Before I had time to find a bathroom or get back to the hotel I was puking in the crowd...twice I threw up all over the sidewalk.  I even managed to ricochet some old Jollibee onto bystanders' shoes.  I'm guessing it had something to do with Jollibee, since the at the time the meal seemed suspect and we all got sick afterwards.

part of the New Year's parade in Kowloon that I missed

In the end my Hong Kong experience wasn't nearly as fun as I'd hoped, but still memorable nonetheless.  That night I missed the parade, opting instead to stay in bed at the hotel.  The next day we switched to the Grand Hyatt on the island.  I didn't do anything aside from ride the taxi across the harbor and watch fireworks in the lounge.  By the following day I was getting back to normal, but we were already headed to the airport for our flight on to Vietnam!