Hong Kong. March 19-26, 2018.

The primary reason for the trip is to have meetings with Hope International, an organization we have supported for several years.  Joe T was appointed to the Hong Kong office recently, so his boss Chris H wanted to spend a couple of days with him, and asked me to come along.

Monday March 19.  Anne dropped me off at the airport.  She couldn’t go because today is the start of her teaching duties at Brookdale.  She isn’t a fan of these long flights, and had done two round trips so far this year.

 Terminal C at Newark Airport now has so many eateries that there isn't much anymore of a gate area where one can simply set.  As long as the airfares are reasonable, I am okay.

25 gm total carb, but 26 gm of sugar, quite a feat.

Flight UA179 left the gate on time, but took a good 30 minutes to get airborne.  So instead of getting to Hong Kong 30 minutes early, we will be on time – unless the plane had to circle around a bit due to traffic or weather.  With an empty middle seat next to me, I should be able to get some sleep later (it’s now about 10:40 pm NJ time); that’s the hope anyway.

Tuesday March 20.  I did get some sleep (maybe three hours?) on the plane.  After getting something to eat at Tai Hing, I took the Airport Express and a taxi to get to Causeway Bay.  Everything went smoothly.  Chris H showed up a bit after midnight.  He would be staying at the apartment during his Hong Kong visit.

Accommodations during trip: CWB Apartment

Wednesday March 21 and Thursday March 22.  These were two long working days which started early and ended late.  We had a series of meetings with current and potential clients, and had dinner at La Parole in Sheung Wan and Lei Garden in North Point.  There was this couple that sat at the same table as I at the last Hope HK banquet, and we all forgot about each other (I recognized him afterwards from photo taken the year before.)

 Chris, Joe T, myself, and Nathan having coffee at NOC Coffee in Sai Ying Pun.

A small gathering of friends of Hope International at La Parole in Sheung Wan.

Friday March 23.  Chris wanted to get to the airport early to try an earlier flight, so I woke up early to see him off at 6:30 am.  I then wandered around the area until 7, when the restaurants opened.  After stopping at Tim’s clinic to take care of a couple of things, I went to Tom Lee Music to buy a ticket for this Sunday’s concert.

Having sometime on my hands, I jumped on the Central to Peng Chau ferry, walked around a bit, and came back.

 The fast ferry that took me from Central to Cheung Chau Island.

Cheung Chau is more crowded than I remember, but one can still get nice photos of the island.

Saturday March 24.  The day was spent having three meals.  First it was dim sum breakfast with Alfred at Moko, formerly known as Grand Century Plaza.  With a good bus and MTR connection the trip to Mongkok East took perhaps only 20 minutes.  Then I took the MTR to Yuen Long to have lunch with Joe T.  It was at the Le Grand Pokka Café in Yoho Mall (what’s with these names, Moko, Yoho) by the MTR station.  It was close to 4:30 pm when we stopped talking.  I have taken bus 64K from Yuen Long to Tai Po before, it was pretty quick, and the bus didn’t take nearly that many stops (could be as high as 52 per Google.)  Joe T suggested 264R, which took about 30 minutes, with about half of that time in local traffic – bus did local pickups and drop offs, and non-stop from Yuen Long to Tai Wai.  Tim picked Alfred and I up from the Taipo MTR.  We and Rachel had dinner at Royal China Aquagarden.  Last time I went it was quite busy; quiet tonight, wonder if the drop in stock market had anything to do with it.

 Three brothers.  We actually had a much livelier discussion than this photo might suggest.

 This "clam dish" at the Royal China Aquagarden Restaurant has the insides of sea cucumbers as one of its ingredients.  Ugh.

Very small grouper.

Sunday March 25.  After taking care of some paperwork, I went to have lunch.  Crowds come out on Sunday, especially on a nice day such as today (the whole week has been pleasant.)  Bought Joe Jr a couple of T-shirts before heading back to apartment.  Tried but failed to take a nap.  While City Hall is quite close, it takes longer than expected to get to because MTR stations are some distance off at both ends.  I caught Bus 5B as it showed up when I exited the apartment.  Today traffic was better, and I managed to get to City Hall with a couple of minutes to bear.  Today is the last day of the 47^th HK Arts Festival, on tab was a performance by the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and Estonian National Male Choir.  Dinner was at a Thai restaurant in Lee Theatre with Nathan and Sharon, we mostly talked about museums and textiles, and their plans for further studies.  When we said goodbye at 9:30 pm, I noticed these requests to buy Uniqlo for the grandkids.  Nowadays I don’t do as well with time pressure (place closes at 10,) but managed to get something for every grandkid, or so I hope.  The dinner was vegetarian, and I didn’t eat much starch, so I went to a nearby McDonald’s to have a hamburger.  (Many cafes were closed at 10, a bit to my surprise.)

Estonia National Symphony Orchestra and National Male Choir at Hong Kong City Hall, conducted by Leif Segestam.

It’s now trying to pack everything so I will have only carryons tomorrow.

Monday March 26.  Today was the first time I ever used Uber in Hong Kong.  At around 8 am there were not that many cars available, and I ended waiting for around 15 minutes.  Otherwise it was an uneventful trip out to the airport.

Alyson just passed her medical school finals, and was on a trip to Taipei.  I tried to look for her in vain at the departure gate of her flight.  For us there are a lot of lounge options in HKG: Star Alliance lounges and Priority Pass lounges. There was a Singapore Airlines Kris Lounge nearby the Taipei gate, so I stopped by to grab a breakfast.  By the time I got to the UA gate people were already lined up.  It was a full flight, boarding was held up for a while to get a wheel-chaired passenger to his seat.  With this TRTL pillow I seemed to be able to get some sleep, and if so it was well worth the $30.

Quick breakfast at Kris Lounge in HKG.  Why do they always serve better food in international airport lounges?

Speaking of the flight, our departure was delayed by around 30 minutes because of airport congestion.  In my opinion they should try to let these long flights out first so as not to create more stress more the aggravated passengers.  And we had to wait upon arrival for an available gate; on this I assume United has some control over.

Anne picked me up.