Did I mention that we had to get up at 4:00 . . . a.m. . . . in the morning? This was the start of a really long day (about 33+ hours worth, in fact). After showering and eatting some of my lemon cake we were off. We woke up the "graveyard" shift at the front desk and checked out. We waited for about 10 minutes until housekeeping had verified the contents of our room, and we were off.
There were no taxis in front of the hotel and our funds were limited, so we needed to find a ¥1.20 cab if possible. We had ¥315 left and we needed ¥90 each to pay the departure tax. Ian estimated that it should cost ¥60 for a ¥1.20 cab and about ¥80 for a ¥1.60. However, that was before adding 50% for leaving between midnight and 6:00 a.m. We went out to the road in front of the hotel and flagged down a ¥1.20 cab. When we got to the airport at 5:45 a.m. the meter read ¥75. The rate listed was ¥1.80, so I assumed that that was the total. However, we had gone through a ¥15 toll and the cabbie said the total was ¥125. No idea how he arrived at that number, but it left us with ¥180 to get out of the country and an extra ¥10, so who cares?
We went in and paid our departure tax and waitied for our flight to be listed. When it was, we went over to the set of counters marked "D" that were listed on the board. There was no one there. A few minutes later a woman showed up and when I showed her our tickets she pointed over to the "C" counters. I went where she pointed and the person there pointed us back to the original woman. I explained to the original "D" woman what had happened and she pointed us to another counter in the "C" area. We went there and were actually checked in!
Our flight to Hong Kong was reasonably uneventful. We got through customs and dropped off our bags at the "left luggage" counter. We held onto our, mostly empty, backpacks and paid HK$50 ($6.50) for each of our three bags. We headed over to the train and took it to Kowloon. We then took the free shuttle to the Holiday Inn and walked over to my tailor's shop, stopping at Giordano's on the way to check E-mail. My tuxedo was ready and only need a couple of minor adjustments. I told them that I would pick it up at 6:00 p.m. Oddly, I had no real desire to carry it around all day while we went shopping.
We headed over to the Arts & Crafts store in which Anne had first seen the globes. They say that the globes are painted on the inside with various semi-precious stones. it is very difficult and exacting work and the painters careers are necessarily short. The prices here were much cheaper than anywhere else on the trip and they had a nice large globe on a table stand with the gold base, and cheetahs on the feet. So, Anne bought it and they packaged it up and said that they would hold it for us.
Next, we took the underground to Central and grabbed lunch at McDonalds. Air conditioning + easy-to-read menu + change for the bus = good lunch. We caught the express bus to Stanley Market. we were a bit short on time so we raced around the shops looking for the last few items on our lists. I found some cool warriors, listed at HK$499 each, which I got for HK$600 ($78) for the pair. i failed in my attempted negotiations for a jewelry box and wooden chopstick case with five sets of chopsticks. I was running short on time and the proprietors were not in a hurry to reduce prices.
Anne, who decided to collect flag pins from every country she has visited, picked up several pins. She also picked up some small abacuses for people at work. We left Stanley Market a little after 5:00 p.m., giving us less than an hour to get back to Kowloon and the Hard Rock Cafe, where I hoped to meet up with Michael Dimitruk, who was doing a study-abroad program in Hong Kong. We got back to Central and took the underground back to Tsim Tsa Tsui. We walked to the Hard Rock and got there right at 6:00 p.m.
Michael was not there, so we grabbed a table and ordered some drinks. At 6:25 p.m. there was still no sign of Michael, so I went over to my tailor's shop to pick up my tux. Everything was all set, they just had to let out a stitch to remove a little fabric bubble, and wrap up my tux. I got back to the Hard Rock, but still no Michael. So we ordered dinner and used their Internet access. Their PCs were really nice, much better than the PCs and Macs we had used up to this point.
After dinner I picked up a shirt and Anne got a hat. Then, we headed over to the store with the snake wine. It was still HK$228 per bottle, and despite the fact that we bought three bottles, they would not budge on the price. Ah well, it was really cool anyway.
Next, we headed back to pick up Anne's globe. It was ready and we decided to pick up the remainder of our list items there. I got a jewelry box and wooden case with five pairs of chopsticks. Anne got about 20 pairs of "health balls," which you roll around in your hands 9and they have little bells inside them). She also got six sets of chopsticks and some cool little fish chopstick rests. I wanted the chopstick rests, but she wouldn't give them to me. How cruel!
Weighed down with our many purchases, we headed for the airport. Despite its size (or at least the size of its box), the globe was not too heavy. As luck would have it, we were right across the street from the Hyatt, so we caught the free shuttle bus from there to Kowloon Station and the train back to the airport.
Anne could not find the left luggage ticket, but we were able to retrieve our bags when she showed her passport. So, we re-packed our bags and I filled my new North Face bag, and original bag and packed my backpack away as well. This left me with just my camera bag as a lone carry-on, with two checked bags. Anne had one suitcase and her globe as checked bags and her new backpack as her lone carry-on. The security scanners took a second look at Anne's ackpack, which was full of health balls.
After checking in, we headed for the Business Class lounge, which was really nice. We got some snacks and grabbed two extra bottles of water for the trip back. We were about the first people onto the plane. We both fell asleep almost as soon as we took off. I got about 5 hours of sleep and Anne got over 6 hours. I watched The Dish and Heartbreakers, both of which were pretty good. I had an ice cream snack and Anne got some dim sum. They did not provide chop sticks, and Anne was not sure how to eat the little dumplings, so she used two knives as chopsticks. Sad.