Day 33 - From One Jungle to the Next

It was an early start to the morning today. I felt Laureen rubbing my arm and glanced at my watch. It was 5:45 AM. Aren't we supposed to be on vacation? I'm going to need to take a week off when we get home. We got up, got dressed and dropped the last few things into the suitcases so that we would be ready to leave. Showering the night before is a good way to cut some time off the morning, although it means a little extra time in the mirror trying to get the hair to stay flat. I guess that's part of the reason I brought a hat. Might be time to make use of it.  

We made our way to the restaurant which opens at 6:30 and were the first or second people to arrive. I actually went back to the room to grab my vitamins and morning meds so that I could just take them at breakfast. The restaurant was calmer than we have seen it before and overflowing with a large assortment of breakfast items. This feels a little more like it. It's nice not to be crowded with people. The night previous, some woman who was sitting next to us decided that she would vape at her table. Too lazy to walk the 40 metres to the smoking area. It's that kind of stuff that tires me of being around people.  A little too self important.

With breakfast done, I took one more picture of the sunrise over Patong beach and the pool at our hotel that we only walked along side a dozen or so times. 

Back at the room we made sure to grab all of our belongings and depart for the lobby where Nawin had just arrived. He had WhatsApp'ed me the night before checking in on Laureen and her close encounter with a Portuguese man o'war. He has been super attentive to us the whole time we have been here. It's going to be hard to leave this place now that we've spent more time exploring just a sampling of the surrounding islands. I wonder if I can just drop my passport somewhere?

I settled up the bill with the hotel desk, and noted that the cost of our laundry was the same as the cost of the diner we had the night before. That was interesting. I also wanted to keep one of their pens, so when the asked me to sigh something, I asked for a pen that I could take with me. They happily gave me one of the their branded pens. It seems to be made out of wood.

With that all done, we made our way to the van and started the journey to the airport. It was still a holiday today (they really do New Years with a bang here in Thailand), so the traffic on the streets was lighter than expected. It only took just under an hour to get to the airport. We hopped out, and with our luggage on the curb, we did one final picture with our driver and guide.

We had prepared envelopes for our guides/drivers at the previous locations as this is a more comfortable way to say thank you with a tip than just handing them a wad of cash. Nawin said he would come in with us and help us to the checkin desk and to immigration.  I grabbed the driver's envelope and started to hand it to him, when he took a couple of quick steps forward and gave me a hug. LOL.  That was unexpected.  He said very little as we travelled with him, except for handing us an ice old water each time we got into his vehicle. He had also greeted us every time with folded hands and a bow. 

We got our suit cases on the belt and over to the VAT tax booth (most Asian countries have a refund system for visitors to get the tax back paid on individual purchases over a set amount) with Nawin, and then we said our goodbyes. I handed him his envelope, and he was very grateful.

We made our way through immigration. and into the long line to get through security. I read a sign to Laureen that said we didn't have to remove our running shoes. That's cool.  What did they make me take off when I got to the x-ray counter? Yup, my shoes. Sigh. We made it through with little issue, although one younger guy chatted with us pre-going through security that he was 7 kg over on his checked luggage, so he had brought a bunch of the stuff with him to carry on the plane. On the other side of the body scanner, there he was with a border person looking at items in his carryon. As I passed behind him I said, "Are you able to keep it all?" He replied, "I guess we'll see."  I have no idea how he faired.

Once Laureen received her refund she scouted around the airport for some snacks and a few other things. I sat in the gate waiting area and worked on the outstanding blogs. It's surprising how much work these things really are. I didn't quite finish the “day” I was working on in the airport before we had to move to the gate, so I just saved what I had with the intention of finishing this evening at our hotel in Hong Kong. It came time to board the plane and we sat down in our exit row with plenty of leg room. Ahhhh. Turns out I was sitting in the wrong seat and a dude came in and told me I was sitting in his location. I checked my ticket, and sure enough, I was supposed to be at the window.  I'm usually in the aisle. My mistake.

The flight was 3 hours in length and Laureen cross stitched while I watched an older movie I had downloaded from Netflix called "The Lost City of Z". I am pretty sure I saw this before, but it was from back in 2000, so, long enough ago for me to forget most of it. The stewardess who sat in the seat (during take off and landing) opposite me must have been tired, as when we were landing she was nodding off. I kinda wanted to snap a photo, but didn't get the chance. We arrived in Hong Kong.

We made our way off the plane and took a short pit-stop before heading to immigration to enter the country. They made us walk over to section "A", even through we came in on section "B". So, we did that with multiple people smiling and pointing the way. We clearly stand out as being 'visitors'. The guy at the immigration booth took more looks than I was comfortable with, comparing my passport photo to me. It was weird enough that I felt myself starting to want to look around and see what he was looking at behind me. I resisted that urge and eventually, he stamped my passport and dropped a little piece of paper that came out of the printer in between the pages. I was allowed in the country. 

The information from GoWay said that we were to meet our representative at Hall B, but as I noted earlier, we exited out into Hall A in order to retrieve our luggage. This was starting to ring familiar with our entrance into Thailand. We didn't see any signs with Laureen's name on them as we exited Hall A, so once we were fully in the arrivals area, we walked over to Hall B which was just 100 metres or so on the other side of the building. It was more challenging to try and find our name on a paper when we were not coming out of that door, but we eventually got a good look and it wasn't there either. Oh boy.  Here we go again. 

I decided to walk back over to the other Hall and have another look. While on my way over there I pulled out my phone to look at it in case Laureen sent me a message, and I noticed I had received one from a local number. It was the GoWay representative asking if we were picking up our luggage. I responded to her and turned around to walk back to where Laureen. I saw that Laureen was talking to a lady. It was our driver/guide for the trip to the hotel from the airport. It seems that this leg will have different people for each of the items.

We walked outside and she went over to the parking area to pick up her vehicle. We loaded our belongings in the back and headed off toward our hotel. She shared a bit of information with us as we made our way. It took about 30 minutes to get to our hotel - the InterContinental Grand Stanford Hong Kong. It looked very nice from the lobby, and once checked in, we made our way to our room for the next four days. Pretty nice, but not a villa like in Bali.

Although the view was NOT the same as our last place.   See if you can see the contrast

Phuket View

Hong Kong View

Not quite the same.  

We unpacked our daily stuff, but left our clothes in our suitcases. This just makes it easier to pack up when leaving and lowers the risk of picking up any kind of bugs that may be in the drawers. Apparently, it's a thing. We decided to eat at one of the hotel restaurants tonight which was an Italian styled place. The food was very good, but the prices are, well, much higher than what we've experienced in the other places that we have been thus far. And, to be fair, we were told the Hong Kong is expensive. So the next four days will have a heftier price tag. 

The View of Victoria Harbour From Our Dinner Table

Incidentally, I kinda watch what looked like a father/daughter dinner on the left of the image. In the entire time that we were there, there was no exchange of words. She spent most of her time with her earbuds in and watching her phone. He did the same. There were times when it looked like he wanted to talk to her, but she almost wouldn't even look at him. Weird. 

We struck up a conversation with the restaurant manger who seemed to take a bit of a liking to us. When dinner was over, and we ordered dessert, he had a third dessert brought out (complimentary) for us to try. It was REALLY good. The waitress also brought us out a small chocolate wafer with the name and logo of the hotel on it to share.  Actually, when we were done it, the manager brought out ANOTHER one and told us to stay as long as we wanted enjoying the view. By the end we were quite full. We paid for dinner with a credit card as when we checked in, they never took a credit card for a deposit or incidentals. No problem. 

The Dessert-Fest at the InterContinental

After that we went up to the top floor where there was a roof top pool. We figured we might get a good view of Victoria Harbour from there, but no dice. Just a nice pool and a full moon.

Back to the room to finish three blogs so that I could get them published. 

Tomorrow we have a half day tour through the harbour and in the area. Looking forward to seeing some of Hong Kong.

Curt and Laureen in Hong Kong