Hong Kong...A shock to the system.

We were leaving Cambodia and heading on to the second part of our trip, Hong Kong.  I must admit, I was very nervous about visiting there.  Well, that's actually not true, it was the layover in Shanghai that I was worried about.

When I booked my flights 6 months ago, I found a really great deal that left Cambodia at 11:00 pm and then had a layover in Shanghai and then over to Hong Kong.  I thought it sounded like a great way to save on a night at a hotel, we could just sleep on the plane, and wake up for a full day in Hong Kong.  I really should known better.  We booked with a Chinese airline and after doing some research had found out that their flights are usually delayed.  Sure enough, our flight didn't leave until 1:30 am after they tried to switch flights on us because they overbooked their flight with extra airline staff.  So, by this point the boys were way over tired, barely slept on the plane and we landed in Shanghai for our 4 hour layover.

Thankfully, Britton slept all the way through arrival, security, departures, but the rest of us had to deal with the craziness of it all.  The Shanghai airport was crazy.  Even though we were never leaving the airport, they made us fill out arrival & departure cards. I guess that is one way to get another stamp in the passport! This was all after we waited in the longest line I have ever seen for over 1 1/2 hours, just to be told we were in the wrong line.  Then going through security, they checked my purse 4 times and ended up pulling out an American coin that had been stamped at Legoland last summer.  It was ridiculous.  We were exhausted and I was losing my patience.

Britton slept all the way through security.  I was so thankful I brought the stroller!

I was able to sneak in a little nap while waiting for our flight to Hong Kong.  Thankfully, that flight left on time.  By this point, 3 out of the 5 of us were getting sick.  We were feeling awful on that flight. Really, I think it was due to lack of sleep and being on the go for the past four days.

 Waiting for our flight to Hong Kong

The first thing I noticed about Hong Kong was how organized the taxis are there.  They have three different colored taxis to take you to different parts of the city, which is great if you know where you are going to in the city.  We, of course, had some run ins with the taxi drivers.  I also noticed that you could not see more than twenty feet ahead of you.  There was such a thick layer of smog and I was a little disappointed that we were not able to see more of the city on our way to our hotel.

Our hotel was beautiful and I was very pleased we were facing the water and not the garden like the room I had booked.  It was great to be able to look out over the water from the 17th floor of our hotel.  That may have been one of my favorite surprises we had in Hong Kong.  My biggest complaint about our hotel was how unpleasant the hotel staff was.  They barely greeted us and no one offered to show us to our room.  But, by this point in the day, we were all so tired that I really did not care how we were treated, I just wanted everyone to get showers and head to bed. I know we have been really spoiled by living in Thailand and being welcomed with the amazing Thai hospitality.   We spent the first full day in Hong Kong resting and relaxing in our hotel room. (Other than Ben's trek out to a crazy underground market to get food for us for the rest of the week!  I so wish he would have had a camera!!) We had big plans that could not be spoiled for the next day...Hong Kong Disneyland!

 I was very happy with the hotel room.  It was beautiful.

 Loved our view

I came away with some great lessons from our first day in Hong Kong...

1. Never book an overnight flight with the hopes of actually sleeping.
2. Try not to book with Chinese carriers.
3. Do not expect the same service that you get in other Asian countries.  They are not all the same!
4. Remember to bring outlet adapters.  Thankfully our hotel had some to borrow.
5. Do not get the towels dirty in your hotel...but that was a lesson from another day and I will share that in the next post.

I was really hoping a full night of sleep would help us all feel better and wake up with a much better attitude about Hong Kong.