Background. A friend of Ellie’s, whom we have known as a
small kid, is getting married in Kauai.
Anne and I thought spending some time in Hawaii would be fun – we were
last there around 15 years ago, when Ellie was in High School – especially
another couple was planning to go also.
We would spend a week as tourists, and a day babysitting our
grandchildren. That couple eventually
changed their mind, so now Anne and I will be going with Ellie and family,
which is okay.
Meanwhile, Hope Hong Kong will have an event in Hong Kong
which Anne and I wanted to attend. By
looking at various options, the cheapest way to do so was EWR-HNL roundtrip
together with a HNL-HKN roundtrip. My
son, who calls himself a travel hacker, told me it is less expensive to buy a
EWR-HNL one way, followed by a HNL-HKG-EWR ticket. We ended up doing the EWR-HNL on a reward
tickets and paid very reasonable amounts for the HNK-HKG-EWR tickets.
It wasn’t that easy to coordinate the time we need to be
in Hawaii with the meeting in Hong Kong.
What ends up being the plan is I will leave Hawaii on Friday 3/17 and
get into Hong Kong late 3/18 (I had forgotten about the international dateline,
which negated a lot of my planning), and will miss the babysitting duties on
3/18; Anne will leave Hawaii 3/19 and arrive at HKG on 3/20, thus missing the
event on 3/20 altogether.
Wednesday 3/8. About a week ago we found the Travelzoo Stay
& Park deal for the Double Tree Hotel at the airport at a very reasonable
price, so we decided to come up to the airport area tonight. Our flight is 8 am, and in the past that
meant little to no sleep the night before.
We got here at about 8:30 pm, and the room we were given
had its door open, with all the nights on.
I knocked, no one answered, so we walked in. Things looked okay at first, and then I
discovered the toilet needed some cleaning, a towel was used, and there was
garbage in the garbage cans in the room and the washroom. It was easy enough to get the front desk to
move us, and they gave us a few cookies as compensation.
Accommodations.
Double Tree Hotel at Newark Airport.
Thursday 3/9. We are just not morning persons, as we didn’t
get to bed until after 1 am this morning.
In any case, checkout and shuttle service were both straightforward. The line for security was quite long, but the
screening was efficient. Anne got
selected for additional screening, again.
I had breakfast using this iPad ordering system at Newark; easy enough,
but service was quite slow. Ellie, Kuau
and the two grandchildren were in the gate area when we got to it.
United’s 767 fleet must be up there in age, but the plane
we flew in had a relatively new interior, with a new entertainment system. Anne and I moved our seats to be closer to
the young people, and Ellie had an empty seat next to her. On the other hand, 11 hours (unusually long
because of strong headwinds) was too long, especially for a 16-month old
toddler, but we managed. I ended up
watching one episode of Bull, so did Anne.
Food in coach has to be purchased nowadays, and what we got for lunch
was not as good as the free food they used to hand out; oh well.
Ellie and family stayed at the airport to catch a flight
to Molokai. Anne and I checked out a
rental car from Alamo. We decided to
drive up to the North Shore to visit this area.
Along the way we stopped by a few parks along the coastline; quiet and
scenic spots. Our hotel is close to the
Polynesian Cultural Village run by the Mormon Church; we visited this place
about 30 years ago on our first trip to Hawaii.
Dinner was at the Pounders Restaurant in the village.
Our first meal was at this L&L BBQ place in the Kamehameha Shopping Center. We had the fried seafood plate and the ramen burger. A "lunch plate" is whatever meat served with two scoops of rice and a macaroni salad; instead of a bun, ramen burger is a patty between two cakes of ramen.
Red-crested cardinals are common in Hawaii. We saw several of these in the Kualoa Park, on our way to the hotel. These birds were introduced from South America. Northern cardinals, the ones we see often in the USA, are also found in Hawaii; we didn't see any on this trip, though.
Zebra doves are native to Southeast Asia. They were introduced to Hawaii in 1922.
This island is called "Chinaman's Hat." I suspect they won't call anything by that name anymore, political correctness being what it is today.
We received these alerts on our iPhones while enroute to the North Shore. Luckily nothing happened.
Courtyard by Marriott. It is next to the Polynesian Cultural Center which is run by Mormons. The founder of Marriott hotels, J.W. Marriott, was a devout Mormon.
Accommodations: Courtyard North Shore (1 night.)
Friday 3/10. We began the day with a conference call on a
Hope International matter, which took a little over an hour. The rest of the day was spent on touring the
island of Oahu, stopping along several scenic spots, and enjoying the local
cuisine. There are many surfing beaches
along the north shore with quite a few surfers ready to challenge the waves,
and an equal number of observers on the beach watching them. We were among the latter. We also stopped by Waimea Valley but didn’t
have time to walk the trail to see the waterfall, the photos are not
particularly impressive anyway. Other
sights we saw were the Pali Lookout, relatively calm today, and the Halona
Blowhole. We got to Diamond Head at
around 5 pm, it closed at 4:30 pm. Small
as Oahu is, touring it in a day is not possible, or at least requires good
planning.
We learned about these shrimp places from the Hawaiian
documentary series Hawaii Five-O. There
are a lot of food trucks in the northern part of the island. We stopped by Romy’s in Kahuku and Giovanni’s
in Haleiwa. Dinner was in the Waikiki
area, a “genuine Hawaiian” restaurant called Haili. The lady who served us was half Hawaiian half
Hakka Chinese, and was very friendly. We
had the Kalbi and the grilled Mahi Mahi, not sure how distinctly Hawaiian they
were.
The sign says it will take at least 30 minutes for the food to be ready as the place serves "good food, not fast food." It took less than 20 minutes, and the food was good. We had the garlic shrimp.
This cardinal is drinking the juice from a cracked, discarded coconut.
Beaches line the route.
Waimea Valley. These roots evidently failed to hold the mountainside together.
We saw a couple of peacocks in Waimea Valley Park. The Bird Identification Guide we picked up provides a lot of the information about the birds we saw on this trip.
Giovanni's is located in a "food truck park" in Haleiwa.
From Giovanni's: Shrimp Scampi and hot dog. The hot dog is supposed to be cooked in a special liquid, but didn't taste particularly interesting.
Blowhole at Halona. We came here after we found out Diamond Head Park was closed.
Halona Cove is a popular spot for photography and, evidently, people to jump of a small outcrop into the water. This lady did it. The men, however, hesitated for quite a while; they were still gathering up the courage by the time we left.
We got to Haili's at about 6:50 pm; they close at 7. They were happy to accommodate us.
After checking into the hotel, we filled the rental car
up with gas and returned it to Alamo.
The hotel is a little over 0.5 miles away, Anne and I had a pleasant
walk back.
Accommodations: Airport Honolulu Hotel (1 night.)
Saturday 3/11. The Hotel Shuttle dropped us off at this very
quiet commuter terminal. Mokulele
Airlines has a fleet of 9-passenger Cessnas that make frequent flights to
different islands, and do that with 2 pilots in the cockpit. One thing that concerned me was I couldn’t
find out about the status of their flights either on their website or on
flightstats.com.
Security was reasonably tight, both Anne and I had to go
through these scanners; we also paid $20 each for our luggage, which we usually
carry on board. The boarding process was
a bit comical, and a little frustrating.
We were each given a row number by the gate agent, lined up accordingly,
and then led onto the tarmac. After the
first time, we were told there was too much fuel in the plane, exceeding the
plane’s takeoff weight limit, and asked to sit back down. After a fuel truck’s visit, we lined up
again, and went onto the tarmac. A
mechanic yelled at us to stop because there was a mechanical issue. The third time was a charm, and we got into
the surprisingly roomy plane, with every seat having a window and aisle. The short flight was quite enjoyable, albeit
a bit noisy.
Fuel truck offloading fuel from the plane so it would be within safe weight limits when it lifts off. This was followed by a mechanical problem. Evidently the problem was quickly fixed: the flight took of about an hour behind schedule.
Third time was a charm.
Hanauma Bay and the Koko Crater. The blowhole is located next to the crater.
Cruising speed was 160 knots (about 180 mph). Altitude was about 7000 feet.
One can find out the altitude from the iPhone, provided the cabin isn't pressurized.
Coming in for a landing at MKK.
We stopped in town to have lunch at Ono’s, a food truck
parked near the center of town.
Most of our day in Molokai was spent with Kuau’s
half-brother Gandhava. They have adopted
a native Hawaiian lifestyle, living by-and-large off the land. Their house is built from clapboards, has not
toilet facilities, power supplied by a generator and solar panels, water piped
from a river. For the meal with Kuau
that day, Gandhava and his son caught some fish in the ocean, cooked it on an
open fire. I was told they swam about
half a mile offshore to the reef to find the fish, taking more than an
hour. He is a Hawaiian immersion
teacher, so it is not economics that motivates them. Kuau thought something like this can be
packaged into a cultural tourism package that many people would find
interesting; I agree.
Anne and I didn’t eat the fresh fish (early) dinner that
day. Instead we went to town and ate at
one of the few restaurants that were open.
We remarked how much Chinese influence is in the cuisine without people
being conscious about it. The noodle and
roast duck dishes we had were prime examples.
Molokai certainly doesn’t come across as your typical
Hawaiian island (well, we have been to Oahu, Maui, and Hawaii before
this.) Parts of it are very dry and
don’t come across as tropical at all.
Hawaii is 10% native Hawaiian, the percentage in Molokai is 70%,
according to recent statistics. (I am
not sure it is that high in Molokai from my own observation.) Life is clearly simpler here, and modern
conveniences are fewer. An example is
our hotel, which bills itself as a resort.
In reality it is like a budget motel when measured against mainland
standards.
Gasoline, however, is $4.75 per gallon; when I left New
Jersey regular was about $2.20 per gallon.
Go thing the island is quite small (40 miles by 10 miles,
approximately).
Reid enjoys this "outdoor" fun, watering this plot for a long time.
Halawa State Park is at the end of State Highway 450. The parking lot for the park was occupied by several large groups who set up tents at the place.
The beach parking was packed with cars and tents. When Ellie visited the day prior, there were not as many campers at this location.
Father Damien was a Belgian priest who served on the leper colony in the 1860s, he was 33. He contracted leprosy himself and died 16 years after his arrival in Hawaii, having struggled five years with the disease.
Father Damien also built several churches in Molokai, this one is still in use today.
Dinner was at Kanemitsu Restaurant. Both the duck with noodle cake and ramen with dumpling have their Chinese equivalents.
Sunday 3/12. Before heading out to the airport, Anne and I
drove around the island trying to cover a few more sights. Both the Museum and the Macadamia Nut Farm
were closed. We did visit the Kaluapapa
lookout which had a view of the leper colony Father Damien ministered in. He came to Molokai when he was 33, and
started working with the lepers exiled to the isolated peninsula. He died 16 years later after struggling with
leprosy himself for 5 years.
Our "resort" is right next to a beach. We never got around to enjoying it.
Junglefowl is a problem on the islands, they are everywhere. I am told these are leftover from the cockfighting days. Both foreigners (Filipinos especially) and locals enjoyed this activity.
We had time to drive to the Kaluapapa lookout where we could see the peninsula and the current town. The original leper colony was behind the mountains in this photo and cannot be seen. Tours are available, including a flight option, but would take a full day.
When we got to the Molokai airport, Ellie and family were
already there. Check in for the flight
was one hour before departure. Things
went smoothly, the flights on Hawaiian Airlines (an ATR42 to Oahu and 717 to
Lihue) were uneventful, and we had an hour between flights to have lunch. On the Oahu-Kauai flight quite a few people
remarked they could see whales, I frankly didn’t know what to look for.
Boarding the MKK-HNL flight.
Hawaiian Airlines should be given credit for handing out refreshments on these short inter-island flights (less than 30 minutes take-off to landing.)
We picked up a Budget rental SUV, stopped by Walmart to
pick up some groceries and other supplies, and drove to our Airbnb apartment,
getting in at 4 pm. Compared to Molokai,
Lihue is very urban and developed, and things generally look new, reflecting
the high rate of development recently.
Dinner was at Olympic Café in a shopping center about 0.5
mile from the apartment.
Accommodations.
2611 Kiahuna Plantation Drive Unit 15B, Koloa (3 nights).
Monday 3/13. Most of the day was spent driving Route 550
along one rim of the Waimea Canyon and looking at the sights along the
way. Pu’u O Kila Lookout is located at
the end of the (paved) road, and is only 19 miles from Waimea, the town at the
mouth of the canyon. It is another 20 or
so miles from Koloa to Waimea.
Nonetheless, the trip took us most of the day: we left at around 10 am
and didn’t get back until after 5 pm.
Ellie and family were in a different car, and we weren’t trying to
coordinate our trips, yet we managed to run into each other quite a few times,
and ended up at Shrimp Station at around 3:30 pm where we had a hearty
afternoon snack. Kuau also bought us
some dinner so he and Ellie could go out for dinner while we looked after the
grandchildren.
I believe it was Mark Twain who called The Waimea Canyon
the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific.” While
its dimensions are quite a bit smaller: about ten miles long and up to 3000
deep, it was quite spectacular. The road
up the side is paved and well-maintained, so there were only a few
white-knuckle moments during the trip. Driving
beyond the Waimea Canyon Lookout, we eventually reached the Pu’u O Kila Lookout
that gave us a view of the Na Pali coast on the north side of the island. There is this one-mile trail that takes one
to the Pihea Vista, but we gave up after walking a bit over 0.5 miles. There were quite a few slippery spots on the
trail so we were hesitant, and by that time clouds were being to roll into the
canyons, obscuring their view every now and then.
The canyon is about 3600 feet deep and a mile wide. The Hawaiian word "waimea" means reddish water. We also visited a Waimea Valley on Oahu. Given the reddish volcanic soil on the islands, I am sure many other locations have the word "waimea" in their names.
This small waterfall reminds me of Uluru in the Northern Territory, Australia.
Drones and helicopters are convenient and innovative ways to see the canyon, for the drone operators and passengers, not for those around them. I am glad drones are banned at some (all?) national parks.
Our first glimpse of the white-tailed tropicbird. We would see a lot more when we visited Kilauea Point later on the trip.
We don't know what a 16-month old girl sees. But Maisie certainly did her part of looking at things, and she seemed to enjoy the sights as much as we did.
There are many trails in the area. We chose the one that allowed us to see the Napali coast. We did a round trip of about 1 1/2 miles.
The Napali coast is characterized by these sharp ridges, result of various geological forces at work over the millennia.
Fog is quite unpredictable, rolling in and clearing out quickly. It could cover the entire valley, but brought a coolness to the air that was refreshing.
Along the way we visited the Waimea Natural History
Museum which briefly describes the flora and fauna in the valley. One thing I learned was the name of these
white birds we saw soaring inside the canyon: White-tailed Tropicbird.
After Shrimp Station Ellie and family went to swim while
Anne and I went to Port Allen to check out possible cruises. Port Allen is located in the town of Ele’ele,
a palindromic name. The other one we
encountered recently was Glenelg in South Australia.
What did we do after visiting a park? More shrimp, of course.
Tuesday 3/14. Ellie and family went to the beach early,
Anne and I caught up with them a bit later.
Poipu Beach calls itself one of the world’s most beautiful beach, I just
found the beach to be so-so. For
families with small children, the sheltered area would be ideal as the water is
shallow and the waves calm. A couple of
sea turtles and a seal did find their way onto the beach. We saw one turtle struggled to get back into
the water, and were glad when it finally succeeded.
Poipu Beach is protected and shallow, great for young kids.
Grandma taking picture of daughter and granddaughter.
Dad and son frolicking in the water.
The lifeguard got on the loudspeaker and asked people to stay away from the monk seal that decided to visit the beach. Guess what happened? It was surrounded by people after this photograph was taken.
Sea turtles come up to the beach to bask in the sun. They are a bit awkward on land but find their element once they hit the water.
Anne and I had lunch at Savage Shrimp in Kukui’ula
Village Shopping Center. The fried
shrimp and fish was mostly batter.
Our next visits were to the Spouting Horn where water was
rejected regularly from two blowholes.
That was followed by a visit to Kauai Coffee Company which offers a self-guided
tour. (They also offer a free guided
tour, but we didn’t want to stand in the sun for too long a period if the guide
drones on, or tourists ask a lot of questions.)
Below are a few tidbits we learned, not sure I got all the facts right:
this was a sugar cane plantation until 1969, now it is a 3000-acre coffee
plantation with 4 million coffee plants; if left unpruned, coffee plants can
grow very tall (over 100 feet) and beans are huge; irrigation is through a drip
system, and 28 million gallons of water used each day; during harvest season,
about 500,000 pounds of fruit are harvested; each coffee tree produces about a
pound of coffee a season; lighter roast retains more caffeine; decaffeinated
coffee is done outside of the country.
The Spouting Horn.
Ellie and family went to Merriman’s to have dinner. Turns out the fancy restaurant has a “café”
that offers reasonably priced food in a more relaxed setting. Anne and I decided to go off on our own and
went to this Mike’s Place that I found on line, and ordered a couple of
plates. They were quite good: one was
short ribs and shrimp; the other was the “popular” combo of chicken katsu, BBQ
beef, and stew.
Wednesday 3/15. This morning Kuau and Ellie took Reid to go
on a 1-hour sightseeing tour on Island Helicopters. Anne and I remained behind to watch Maisie
and to prepare the apartment for check out.
This is a new apartment (built 2015) and nice to stay in, although I
suspect unless one is into golf, beach, or hike, one runs out of things to do
pretty soon. After meeting up at the heliport, we all drove to Kapa’a, the
vicinity where Kuau lived from around age 3 to age 6. He knew it was somewhere along the Kapa’a
river, close to the Hoopi Falls, but the house is no longer there, so we
weren’t sure whether we saw it or not.
He certainly had a very country childhood!
Hoopi Falls. Kuau spent several years as a child in this area. The house is long gone.
Anne and I then rushed down to Port Allen where we caught
the 1:00 pm Blue Dolphin whale watch cruise.
We didn’t leave the dock until 1:40 pm, so we made it in plenty of time
(we were told there were only 2 empty slots, though.) The boat is a 60+ foot catamaran, and we
never ventured more than a mile off-shore by my estimate. The sea wasn’t rough, but there were quite a
few swells that rocked the boat around.
The good news is we saw quite a few humpback whales, and a pair got so
close that we could see the barnacles.
These whales stick around Hawaii during the winter months and will start
to migrate to Alaska in a month or so.
This is our fourth whale watching trip that we can think of.
Whale watching on the Blue Dolphin.
We saw quite a few whales on this trip. One time two of them got close and we could hear the noise they made clearly. I wasn't fast enough with the camera.
It was a late lunch for us in Ele-ele, and we then drove
about an hour to Princeville, where I will stay for two nights. Anne will stay a couple more nights before
joining me in Hong Kong. Dinner was at
Lotus Garden in Princeville Center, apparently the only place with any “action”
in town. This is a resort town with
hotels and condominiums.
Accommodations. Plantations
at Princeville, Unit 921 (2 nights.)
Thursday 3/16. The morning was spent at the Kilauea Wildlife
Refuge. Anne forgot to bring her Senior
Pass along, so I signed up for a membership, lifetime, for $10. A great deal that will go away soon. What we didn’t expect was the number of
people who visited, and the different kinds of birds we saw. On the program were: red-footed boobies,
brown boobies (not sure exact name), white-tailed tropic bird, red-tailed
tropic bird, frigate bird, nene, and the Laysan albatross. The red-tailed tropicbirds have this way of
flying with the tailed moved to one side that was quite interesting. The red-footed boobies were concentrated on a
cliff across from a cove, and reminded us of the many gannet colonies we have
seen – although in the case a much smaller one.
The Lysan albatross has a wing span of about 7 feet, and Volunteer Mike
told us this year there were 49 chicks on the slope across from the point. Once they start their flight, the albatross
fledglings remain in the air for 3 years, returning to land only first to find
a mate and then to breed. He also
mentioned the oldest albatross is a female tagged 47 years ago, she still
breeds on Midway Island. Too bad or
point and shoot camera could do only so much.
The Kilauea Point Lighthouse. Hourly tours were conducted, but we chose to spend the time watching for birds instead.
Nene (pronounced nay-nay), or the Hawaiian goose, is the state bird of Hawaii. Often described as endangered, it is listed as "vulnerable" on Wikipedia. We saw many of these in Kauai, and most of them are tagged, like this one. They don't seem to have much fear of humans.
There were quite a few frigate birds flying about. We even saw some of them attempting to steal food from other birds. I wasn't fast enough with my camera to capture those acts.
Red-footed boobies colony on mountain side.
The White-tailed tropicbird.
The Red-tailed tropicbird has this strange way of flying with the tail to one side. Supposedly some kind of mating stance.
Junglefowl are all over the islands of Hawaii, and are probably considered nuisance animals. Nonetheless, this mother hen bringing food to her chicks is a heart-warming sight.
Quite a few Laysan albtrosses nest on the hill across from the lighthouse. Park volunteer Mike told us there were 49 chicks in the colony.
A moorhen.
We spotted several black-crowned night herons in Hawaii. This one we saw in the Hanolei Refuge.
The Hawaiian Stilt is of greater conservation concern than the nene. We saw a couple of them foraging in the river.
Birds show all kinds of plumage depending on their sex, stage in life, and season. This is probably a Pacific Golden Plover. Hanolei Refuge.
Park volunteer Mike told us there were a few Laysan albatrosses at Hole 7 of the Makai Golf Course, and that we could rent a golf cart to visit them. We made a wrong turn on the road and chanced upon several of them. For free!
The takeoff is a bit awkward, but once airborne these birds are well-adapted to their long flights over the sea.
We drove to the Kong Lung Center in town to have lunch,
and ran into Ellie and family.
Afterwards we parted ways again.
Anne and I drove to the end of the highway to Ke’e Beach, stopping along
the way at a couple of places where waves carved rather large sea caves into
the mountain. Since these caves are now
way above the water line, I guess earth was much warmer at one point.
Stopping at the Hanolei Refuge, we saw quite a few
moorhens and a couple of black-crowned night herons. There were also quite a few nenes, which
makes one wonder how endangered they really are as we have seen them on many
other locations.
One reason we are in Hawaii was Ellie and family are
attending Eugene’s wedding. Ellie had
this group of friends from her teenage years at church that still keep in
regular touch. So we thought we would
crash their cocktail party at the Westin, which we did. It was good to meet up with several of these
young people who spent a lot of time at our house 15-20 years ago.
Many of the guests at Eugene's wedding grew up at our church and spent much time in our house. In the picture are Phil (third from left), Eugene (sixth), and Brian (seventh).
Dinner was again at Princeville Center, we had more
dishes from Lotus Garden. Kuau bought
slices of pizza for the children; he and Ellie went to dinner after they turned
in for the night.
Friday 3/17. I didn’t get TSA Pre-Check when I checked in
online last night on Hawaiian Airlines, so I decided to get to the airport
early, leaving the house at around 7:15 am.
The traffic congestion in Kapa’a never happened, so it was a straight
shooting to return the rental car, stopping by to fill up the car in the
process. It was about 8:30 am when I
went through security. TSA line had 3
people, non-TSA had maybe six.
Flight to Honolulu was crowded but uneventful. I decided to check out the Priority Pass Lounge
(IASS Lounge in this case) which I have access as a Chase Sapphire Reserve
member. I must say it is somewhat
disappointing, only soft drinks and coffee are being served here, and the small
lounge is quite crowded. I must say it is
quiet, though. After eating a whopper at
Burger King, I went to the United lounge which was considerable bigger, and
offers some snacks; it was also quiet.
Priority Pass holders get to use the IASS lounge at HNL which looked dated and at times crowded.
The UA lounge provided a much better environment.
The 777 for UA201 was switched from a 2-5-2 coach
configuration to a 3-4-3, resulting in a reduction of seat width from 18” to
17”. I had an aisle by the window seat,
and the plane was packed. Per a web
search, the plane is about 20 years ago, but was reconfigured late last year,
so they expect to get a few additional years out of it. There were no seatback screens, entertainment
was provided through wifi streaming. The
system worked only intermittently during the 7-plus hour flight, and I managed
only one movie – Independence Day: Resurgence.
Surprisingly I found the flight quite tolerable. The purser also apologized for the wifi
outage, and recommended that we go to the United website to ask for
compensation. To my delight, I already got
an email when I landed, and the compensation was a $150 voucher, which is quite
generous.
The infamouse 3-4-3 seating inside a 777. An aisle seat on this 7-hour flight was unexpectedly tolerable, even without a fully functional entertainment system.
Saturday 3/18. To get to Guam one crosses the international
date line, so it was about 6 pm when UA201 touched down. My failure to recognize that caused a hiccup in our trip planning, and was one reason why Anne will be coming a
couple of days later than I.
The Guam airport is surprisingly large, it takes maybe
two minutes to walk from Gate 9 to Gate 20.
United flies to several cities in Japan from here, as well as to Manila,
Hong Kong, and Shanghai. There weren’t
too many flights getting in or out at 6 pm, and the couple of shops were
closed. UA159 used a 737, with three
rows of “first class” seats, and 4 reserved for crew. I still managed to get an upgrade, but was
moved from 2B to 3F and eventually to 1C.
The only entertainment was a few movies on a small screen on the
bulkhead, and I didn’t watch any. I
tried to sleep but to no avail.
I had a simple meal at Ho Hung Kee at the HKG airport
before I went to Causeway Bay. It was
around 11:30 pm when I got into the apartment.
Accommodations.
Causeway Bay apartment (5 nights.)
Sunday 3/19. I was going to take the day easy. Breakfast was one of these set meals at
Matchbox, which was surprisingly reluctant to make substitutes of the offered
food items. Tim and Whitney showed up at
the apartment, so I decided to spend time with them, first to Aberdeen Boat
Club to have lunch, then a boat ride to Stanley to have coffee, before
returning to the apartment for the afternoon.
Set breakfast at Matchbox. They were not willing to make substitutions so I had this ramen with eggs and hot dog.
Dinner was with them at one of the restaurants in Lee
Gardens. Afterwards I bought some
instant coffee and a shirt.
Monday 3/20.
Breakfast was catchup with Alfred at Festival Walk. The Hope HK office recently formed a local
board and had a meeting in Sheung Wan; I joined the meeting to meet the board
members, as well as Peter Greer, CEO of Hope International, who was also in
attendance. We set tentative goals for
the HK office for the next three years.
After the meeting I went to the Warren Café on Leighton Road and tried
their French Toast. It was quite good,
but a bit too rich (frying, custard, and syrup.) I finished it anyway.
My major reason for visiting Hong Kong was to attend the
Hope dinner meeting for all supporters, and potential ones as well. It was a good evening where I got to meet a
few new faces, and the talk by Greer was quite effective in raising support for
the cause. The meeting ended at 9:30 pm,
but I stuck around until after 11 pm.
Meanwhile, Anne’s flight arrived, and she waiting for me at the Hong
Kong Station so we could go back to CWB together.
Table 2 at the Hope Hong Kong dinner at the Vine Center.
Edwin was late because of a business commitment. The two original instigators with Peter Greer, president of Hope International.
Tuesday 3/21. We
got up after about 5 hours of sleep to meet Greer at the HK Station at 7 am,
before his return to JFK. Nathan, Anne
and I went to the rooftop of the IFC Atrium to chat, which we did for about an
hour. Anne then had to deal with some
family business, I walked around in Central a bit, and had breakfast at Café de
Coral, before returning to CWB. Anne
continued to Repulse Bay. Elaine, she
and I met up for lunch at Hong Kong Club.
Our next appointment was with Sharon at 4:15 pm – coffee at LGB
Café. We were about 15 minutes late to
Cheung Kung Koon for dinner with Tim and Whitney. The restaurant served Cantonese fusion food,
and price is on the moderate side.
Wednesday 3/22.
For lunch I took a ride out to the Shatin Hyatt to have lunch with
Alyson. This was followed by a trip to
Quarry Bay to meet with Mike W, a member of the Hope Hong Kong Board, and
Nathan at a Starbucks café. Anne and I
had a leisurely evening, having a snack at Mak’s Noodles, and dinner at the
Food Court in Hysan Place. What is left
for us to do is to pack for the trip tomorrow.
All indications are it will be a packed flight.
Thursday 3/23. It was quite easy to get a cab to the Hong Kong station, and we got to the airport early enough to eat something at the food court and at the United lounge. The flight was packed, I had this gentleman sitting next to me who was ready to tell me everything about himself, which added to my inability to get much rest during the flight. I did watch Inferno, which I had watched before.
The plane arrived a little early, retrieving the car from Double Tree was straightforward.
