Around the World III

Day 8 - Wed 11 Apr 07 - India / Hong Kong

Up at 03:20 to get my taxi at 04:00 out to the airport. Not surprisingly there's not much traffic on the roads at this time. Typically Indian airports do things a bit differently to every one else. You're only allowed in the building if you've got an airline ticket, so that means there's a huge queue outside. Now at night that's okay, but during the day at 40°C it can't be a lot of fun!

Next you have to queue to have your luggage x-rayed and sealed. As I had no luggage to check in, I skipped that little chore, and headed straight for check-in where I got directed to the business desk. No queue, very nice.

Through immigration with no problems and same with security. Super Fast. I was sitting at the gate at 05:00 for a flight at 07:00. Snoozed for most of it. I got an internal aisle seat three rows from the front of economy. They had just started to serve breakfast when the Fasten Seat Belts light came on. There wasn't any turbulence at that point, but it soon hit - they must have spotted it on radar. It wasn't very nice. You could see the plot on the screen how the we moved in a little loop to avoid the worst of the storm.

Landed in Hong Kong and got through immigration quickly, chose the right queue (for once!), then I caught the train into the centre of the city. As soon as I was off the train I was on the courtesy bus to the hotel. We landed at 14:40 and I was checking in at the hotel at 16:30! They asked if I wanted to upgrade my room, breakfast, a better room, and in room Internet access for Ł18. I said yes.

The room is on the 15th floor and is very good, I've even got my very own little IBM Thinkstation. Did a quick wash and then headed out to get something to eat, and see if I could get an xD card for my camera at a reasonable price. I did get something to eat, but the xD cards were way to expensive.

Also saw the harbour light show in the evening - very good!