A combination of sleep deprivation and constipation was starting to get me down, I was drained and cranky. A great mood to celebrate our anniversary!! We got on a self driving train to South HK island, and then a bus to breezy Aberdeen fishing town. Then it was another bus to Stanley which was pleasant enough. Hard to imagine it's on the same island as the rest of the metropolis. Running on empty, we went back to the New Territories to visit the 10,000 Buddhas Monastery, which was pretty impressive but best of all it wasn't too busy. After a bit of a wait, we had a decent meal at mall restaurant.
After recharging at the hotel, we killed some time on the Blackpool-esque tram lines before meeting my cousin Dom on HK island, taking in a couple of bars and sampling some fine local beers. Neither of us could remember how long it had been since we had last seen each other, but it was amazing to see another familiar face on this side of the world. The Rugby 7s tournament surrounded us with drunks all dressed up like one massive stag/hen do, spilling out of the bars and making a scene. Walking the streets was like a night out anywhere in England (apart from weather etc etc).
I had a good night's sleep at last, but unfortunately this was our final night. We took in the History Museum, which was thankfully free on this occasion, before finding a cat café. Then we met Dom one last time for lunch at Second Draft, a great Craft Beer bar with brilliant food. It was another example that it doesn’t matter how long you’re apart from someone, you can almost always catch up whenever. Then it was time to board the shiny airport express to zoom past the many, many tower blocks. We spent our last HK$ on beer and chocolate. I watched Coco on the flight and cried.
Then we had a shit time. Here’s a freeform ramble on what went down:
Our original flight to Beijing was cancelled and moved back 24 hours, so the airline was supposed to put us up in a hotel. We landed at midnight to find most help desks closed. A woman at the Hainan Airlines desk sent us to the information desk. Information Desk person told us to find the Hong Kong Airlines office on the third floor. These were administrative and not open to the public, and also closed. Back to Hainan woman, who did not want to help us, and basically told us “not my problem, bye”. Information Desk guy, who was well meaning but ultimately clueless, told us to go to another terminal. Arriving at this terminal, we finally found someone willing to help, who sent us downstairs, and someone else directed us to the Transfer Accommodation desk. Onto our fifth person, who rang Hong Kong Airlines. The airline told her “not our problem, bye”. We responded with their email that said “don't worry, we'll provide a hotel!!” Finally getting somewhere. This was 1am. We were told to wait to be driven to hotel, this shouldn’t be longer than 15 mins. 30 mins passed. Then an hour. People who arrived after us were being taken away before us. I burst into tears. Finally we were taken to hotel pushing 3am.
The lesson is - if an airline cancels your flight and offers you accommodation, don't accept, just book with someone else if you can. And we won’t be travelling with Hainan Airlines again.
Lots of people had recommended things that we should do with our half day in Beijing that we weren't meant to have. Unfortunately I woke up not feeling like doing anything, and just wanting to go home. We emerged from the hotel around midday and headed into the city centre. Tiananmen square and the Forbidden City were both closed, but it meant things were pretty quiet everywhere went went. We walked round a few parks, one with a large lake was pretty nice, plus local and tourist neighbourhoods. However, the previous night had extinguished my spirit. I was done.
We got to the airport and experienced more Hainan Airline fuckery. We had reserved seats, what we thought would give us legroom, but we were told had to pay again for the real deal. We protested, but ultimately I had to do pay up in order to even be remotely comfortable. Then they said they wouldn't accept Mastercard, when that was all I had. I was about to give up, when to just get rid of us they said “for free!” and shooed us away. We definitely won’t be using these clowns in the future.
Our final hours were spent with yet more beer and chocolate. We boarded at 1am, and after all that nonsense I ended up having the most rest I’d ever managed on a long haul flight.
So, some conclusions! It was another amazing trip that was unfortunately blighted by the last 24 hours. If we had gone straight home from HK, as was the original plan, it would have ended on a positive note. That aside, Hong Kong was everything I had hoped it would be, and Macau was a revelation. People always make something better, and seeing Ed & Dom along the way was a definite highlight. There feels like so much more that we could have done, so a return is very likely. But there’s still so much more of the world to see for the first time.
China Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5
After recharging at the hotel, we killed some time on the Blackpool-esque tram lines before meeting my cousin Dom on HK island, taking in a couple of bars and sampling some fine local beers. Neither of us could remember how long it had been since we had last seen each other, but it was amazing to see another familiar face on this side of the world. The Rugby 7s tournament surrounded us with drunks all dressed up like one massive stag/hen do, spilling out of the bars and making a scene. Walking the streets was like a night out anywhere in England (apart from weather etc etc).
I had a good night's sleep at last, but unfortunately this was our final night. We took in the History Museum, which was thankfully free on this occasion, before finding a cat café. Then we met Dom one last time for lunch at Second Draft, a great Craft Beer bar with brilliant food. It was another example that it doesn’t matter how long you’re apart from someone, you can almost always catch up whenever. Then it was time to board the shiny airport express to zoom past the many, many tower blocks. We spent our last HK$ on beer and chocolate. I watched Coco on the flight and cried.
Then we had a shit time. Here’s a freeform ramble on what went down:
Our original flight to Beijing was cancelled and moved back 24 hours, so the airline was supposed to put us up in a hotel. We landed at midnight to find most help desks closed. A woman at the Hainan Airlines desk sent us to the information desk. Information Desk person told us to find the Hong Kong Airlines office on the third floor. These were administrative and not open to the public, and also closed. Back to Hainan woman, who did not want to help us, and basically told us “not my problem, bye”. Information Desk guy, who was well meaning but ultimately clueless, told us to go to another terminal. Arriving at this terminal, we finally found someone willing to help, who sent us downstairs, and someone else directed us to the Transfer Accommodation desk. Onto our fifth person, who rang Hong Kong Airlines. The airline told her “not our problem, bye”. We responded with their email that said “don't worry, we'll provide a hotel!!” Finally getting somewhere. This was 1am. We were told to wait to be driven to hotel, this shouldn’t be longer than 15 mins. 30 mins passed. Then an hour. People who arrived after us were being taken away before us. I burst into tears. Finally we were taken to hotel pushing 3am.
The lesson is - if an airline cancels your flight and offers you accommodation, don't accept, just book with someone else if you can. And we won’t be travelling with Hainan Airlines again.
Lots of people had recommended things that we should do with our half day in Beijing that we weren't meant to have. Unfortunately I woke up not feeling like doing anything, and just wanting to go home. We emerged from the hotel around midday and headed into the city centre. Tiananmen square and the Forbidden City were both closed, but it meant things were pretty quiet everywhere went went. We walked round a few parks, one with a large lake was pretty nice, plus local and tourist neighbourhoods. However, the previous night had extinguished my spirit. I was done.
We got to the airport and experienced more Hainan Airline fuckery. We had reserved seats, what we thought would give us legroom, but we were told had to pay again for the real deal. We protested, but ultimately I had to do pay up in order to even be remotely comfortable. Then they said they wouldn't accept Mastercard, when that was all I had. I was about to give up, when to just get rid of us they said “for free!” and shooed us away. We definitely won’t be using these clowns in the future.
Our final hours were spent with yet more beer and chocolate. We boarded at 1am, and after all that nonsense I ended up having the most rest I’d ever managed on a long haul flight.
So, some conclusions! It was another amazing trip that was unfortunately blighted by the last 24 hours. If we had gone straight home from HK, as was the original plan, it would have ended on a positive note. That aside, Hong Kong was everything I had hoped it would be, and Macau was a revelation. People always make something better, and seeing Ed & Dom along the way was a definite highlight. There feels like so much more that we could have done, so a return is very likely. But there’s still so much more of the world to see for the first time.
China Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5
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