April 6 – 9
Kathmandu, Nepal airport is the only place we’ve encountered in the world so far where you truly need two full hours before your flight to get through all the lines before you finally arrive at the only gate. There is a large electronic sign with all the flights that everyone ignores. When we arrived, our flight had a flashing boarding notice but they were boarding the Qatar flight, not ours. After waiting a half hour or so an official shouted out, “Hong Kong!” and everyone mobbed the gate door.
We arrived in the Hong Kong airport to people stationed at the entrance ramp with well-trained dogs sniffing the incoming passengers. Health workers stood at the end of the moving sidewalks with masks and thermometers in their hands scanning the crowds. Transport into the city was easy and efficient on the airport train. We marveled at the orderly traffic where the cars and buses stayed in their own lanes and everyone obeyed the traffic signals. We missed the sidewalk food stands but it sure made walking easy. We soon discovered the raised system of covered walkways similar to the skyways in downtown Minneapolis and cruised for blocks and blocks above the busy traffic below, looking in at the many shop windows and enjoying frozen yogurt. The only downsides to this clean and well-run city is the high cost ( $4 usd lattes at the Starbucks) and the fact that it isn’t very different from home.
Double decker buses on the streets of Hong Kong.
One of the highlights of our four day stay was lunch at the lovely home of Carolyn Van, the sister of Mitch’s colleague from Idaho, Al Hsiao. It was wonderful to be in a house again and eat a home cooked meal. After lunch we caught one of the double decker buses that are part of the pubic transport in Hong Kong to Stanley which is on the other side of the island. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering through the market and along the oceanfront.
Over the next two days, we explored the city.
The view from the top of the peak tram.
The Ladies Market in Kowloon.
We quickly got used to hot showers, brushing teeth in tap water and clean streets and sidewalks. On our last day, we were sorry to leave but looking forward to four weeks in Indonesia.
-Margit
These are often called the panda buildings because it looks like pandas clinging to the sides.
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