Overnight in HK

My travels begin yet again as this annual Conference in Beijing is approaching. This year, I was given an assignment to arrange a Chinese domestic tour package for American K-12 Administrators to kindle relationships with Chinese K-12 schools. We had four applicants, and three ended up going with me.

First stop: Hong Kong!

The last time I was here was in 1997 (making me 9 years old).

As I stepped outside the Hong Kong International Airport to discover the three different types of taxis lined up and ready to serve passengers, I breathed in the city air. This was when I knew: I am back in Asia. It's those subtle feelings you get when entering to a place of familiarity. Sometimes I can't even put a finger on it, but this time, I knew. My taxi ride from the airport to the hotel was comforting. I was sitting in yet another vehicle where we were traveling in the opposite direction as in the States. Since Hong Kong had been under British rule for quite a number of years, this was not surprising.

This is our first stop. I walked along Canton Road at night, passing name-brand stores with bright shimmering lights to the right and left of us. We were in awe. We were dressed down (as we had just gotten off a 22-hour plane commute) and felt like true tourists. There were people lined up to get into Prada at 9:30pm in the evening and Christmas lights were spread along the streets with a bold "Canton Road 2012-Season's Greetings" sign that was alongside the Burberry store. Glamour.

We wandered around and came across a beautiful area with a "Busy Suzy's" Restaurant. It served very high-class Japanese food. Chefs kneeled at table length when making the food and served us the elaborate food on what looked like long wooden pizza oven paddles. It seemed like it was very authentic. I had never experienced food in that type of atmosphere before. The service was rather slow but intentional, and the portion was just enough to leave us feeling satisfied.

Side note: HK restaurants typically charge a service charge of 10% compared to the no tipping rule in China

Off to Zhuhai, China via ferry at the China/Macau Ferry Terminal tomorrow morning...after a nice hotel breakfast (which I am very much looking forward to).

Jet-lag, but off to bed very soon.