Singapore to Hong Kong was a short hop.
The airport is huge and maybe a half mile walk from the gate to the main "arrival hall"
It's great that passport check and customs are very speedy. It was only 10 pm when i arrived but then my only thoughts were about my head on my pillow. The old crusty body is not used to this. <
The smart planner booked the Regal Airport Hotel - another 1/4 mile of indoor walkways from the hall.
They liked me there - club floor, big room and a surprising ocean view when I woke up. It was a Hotels.com discount room.
My flight to Tokyo was 1 am Friday and it took some time to get my gears in gear so by noon, after checking my bags, it was time to check out the big city.
The Airport Express is a fast, smooth train with 2 stops between the airport and Hong Kong all that in 23 minutes.
Ticket price for same day round trip - 100
HKD - $ 12.80 us. From the Arrival Hall the train is about 200 yards down a ramp - very convenient...and they run every 12 minutes. Part of the track is above ground so you can see plenty.
Got downtown around 1pm At the big transit center and 2 blocks away wad the ferry pier and the bus. I like those tours - this one included a Peak Tram ride up Victoria Mountain- about 1000 vertical feet of tram ride...
And as part of the package...an Aberdeen Harbor tour on a sampan.
I hopped off the bus to check out the beach at Repulse Bay.
After 2 laps around the city and a very interesting 6 hour visit my batery meter read Empty....
I left New York 10 days ago and put 12 000 miles on the vapor trail-ometer in 4 different countries running purely on adrenalin.
I found a very nice, relaxing and expensive restaurant on the harbor pier with a panoramic view of the Kowloon night skyline...very impressive - even with a thick smog filter. A nice last vapory view.
Dinner, train ride back to the airport, got my bags and waited for 1 am to arrive ( while charging all my batteries...but my own)
Hong Kong is massive. And tall. Not as new looking overall as Singapore, but with a lot of new construction mixed in with old acid rain charred buildings.
Hong Kong is an island across the bay is Kowloon - the mainland. Both areas are growing as Hong Kong gets lots of attention and investment.
It's not as clean as Singapore as it is bigger and older with a number of run down areas. With 7.2 million people there that need to be somewhere, mass transit rules. Trains. Metro, busses up the wazoo - big buses and "light" buses - trolleys, harbor ferries, trams and the longest outdoor escalator in the world. Goes down until 10 am then goes up till midnight.
The people have a taste for expensive. All the high end retail is everywhere. Hong Kong has many very poor working people - but there is a lot of rich too - enough to be attractive to all those expensive stores.
It is a very pretty island with most of the land undeveloped. The bad stuff is the air and water pollution. That air us so thick you can feel it. The bays and harbors are dirty - lotsa flotsam and smelling like diesel.
Everyone I met was nice and friendly. Never had a bit of language issues.
I only say a very tiny amount of the history culture and atractions...it would take a couple weeks to get a real feel for the place.
I'm writing this in Tokyo at Narita Airport slogging thru a 4 hour layover for the final 13 hour vapor trail from Tokyo to New York.
Woke up 8 am Thursday in Hong Kong
(7 pm Wednesday est) and some time Friday nite -est) I'll start the process of sleeping again....wish I could sleep on planes.The All Adrenalin Last Lap of the Round - the World Tour takes off at 11 am tokyo time ( 9 pm est)
Don't call me until Monday....est
Pm,
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