End of Days in Hong Kong

We have closed the loop! Hong Kong again! But, boy, a very different experience this time around.

It started the day before our flight, when we woke up to the news our flight out of Vietnam had been cancelled. Annoyed, we looked to reschedule to another Sunday flight, but there was nothing available. Further annoyed, we conceded to leave that evening, a day early. Our Hong Kong hotel was fully booked too, so we found a last minute room with enough beds for us just to sleep. Kind of like our overnight train, but fewer announcements and jostling.

Then we got to Hong Kong and realized what had happened. A typhoon was blowing in, the city had issued stay at home orders, and all transportation had been suspended for Sunday. Walking to our hotel through the city streets was wild! Totally deserted. No pedestrians. No traffic except for occasional ambulances. All shops and restaurants closed and shuttered. There was a spit of rain (when we happened to be out) and some little gusts of wind (although signs of more severe weather in terms of blown over items and fallen tree limbs). I guess in a city with such a large population, you have to be pretty cautious?

But we were very happy to have a place to store our bags for a moment. And a sheltered place to hang out. Lots of folks were hanging around the lobby, presumably with nowhere to go. But we made our way into the attached mall and saw a showing of Elio. Then popped up to our suite on the 16th floor and watched the storm roll around the skyscrapers and hills of Hong Kong!

We scrounged dinner from the hotel lobby snack bar. After searching the mall for anything besides Outback (which closed 7 minutes before we arrived) or KFC. The line was crazy! Again, our 16th floor windows were a lovely place to watch clouds roll by and city lights blink on. It was certainly a unique way to experience Hong Kong!

Our last day in Asia we spent in typical fashion: wandering. We bought umbrellas for the continuing rain. Had a lovely and yummy vegetarian dim sum lunch. Took the Star ferry across the water one more time. And happened upon a book fair slash snack extravaganza. It was a reminder of population density and differing personal space expectations. Our spacious suite never felt so good!

And now we are on our plane. Heading for San Francisco and then Denver and then home again home again, jiggety jig. Except it’s actually going to be the longest day of our lives. Literally. Time travel is in effect, since we leave Hong Kong at 11AM and arrive the same day at 9AM, only 13 hours later. Crazy!

This has been a super wild trip! Different than anything else we’ve done. But also exactly the same, since we did it together. The Collins Super Famlily strikes again!