Safely landed at Hong Kong International Airport after a bumpy ride in the air for 3 hours. I was pretty tired especially when I had to wake up at 3 to leave for Jakarta’s airport. At 3:30, my grandparents, my parents, my brother and I left for the airport. Our flight left at about 5:30. I was able to chat with one of my friends during the wait in the lounge. Our journey took a transit at Singapore first where we met my uncle unexpectedly at the exit gate. He kindly escorted us to the skytrain to Terminal 3 where we parted. We did quite a workout in walking through the terminal, especially when I was carrying 3 bags at once! The security check was the usual in Singapore: detailed and complex. We got into the airplane (which was quite huge) and met with my two sisters, my aunt, and my two cousins. Our seats were located on the upper deck of the plane. It might be because of this that I feel quite nauseated mid-flight. The turbulence was crazy. Although I slept most of the way, I was quite disturbed with the frequent turbulence that occurred. Overall, the flight was just fine. Hey, at least we arrived in our destination safely, right?
We took 3 taxis to travel to our hotel. We arrived in a hotel called “Renaissance Hotel Harbourview”. However, only two of the taxis arrived in this destination. The cab with my aunt, cousins, and brother were not there. “Well we’ll wait a while,” I thought. My dad asked me to watch our luggages while he checks in our rooms. The porter stacked our bags on his trolley and was ready bring it upstairs. However, my dad went back to the front door and stopped the porter. “We’re in the wrong hotel,” my dad sighed. Apparently, the taxi driver dropped us at the wrong “Harbourview Hotel”. We were made to walk two blocks down while pulling our luggages through the streets before finally arriving at the right hotel. My brother and the others were already there waiting. I sat and whipped out my iPod to connect with the WiFi in the lobby. Fortunately for me, internet was available. I was able to post pictures in Instagram and chat for a while in Skype. It was a bummer because the message was often pending. We went up to our rooms and quickly freshened up.
After everyone was gathered in the lobby, we walked for ten meters or so to a restaurant called “Cafe De Coral”. The food was very delectable, or it might have been our rumbling tummies talking. Nevertheless, everyone enjoyed the meal.
Our next plan was to head for the Central, a shopping district with a lot of office buildings as well. We walked on the bridge to cross the street and took a tram. On the way there, I suggested to my siblings and cousins that we adopt the “Hong Kong way of speaking” (which my grandmother also practice at times). So I started speaking with a loud voice for no reason. No one seemed to mind at all. I guess this will be a fun experience, after all!
Our tram arrived in the shopping area and our first stop was the one and only H&M clothing store. I never really enjoyed shopping for clothes, unlike my brother and sisters. However, today was an exception, I guess. I ended up purchasing more than my brother did! For me, this is amazing...
After a couple hours, we decided to find a place to have a final meal of the day. I was still quite full from the last afternoon meal, but I followed along anyway. Our search for an available yet descent restaurant was quite an adventure too. We walked uphill for two blocks and all the eating places there were crowded. we had to walk downhill from there for two blocks or so before settling in a local restaurant in one of the buildings. After our meal, we decided we were too tired to continue walking. This is the point of another adventure: going home....IN THE RAIN.
Yes, it was raining quite hard after we finished our eating. We couldn’t hail a cab over because all of them that passed by were occupied. We had to go back uphill and stop by a 7/11 store to buy umbrellas before continuing to retrace our steps back downhill. We finally were able to hail two taxis and head home. There, I thank God for finally giving us this taxi. After a long search in the rain, we finally obtained it. Right then, God also reminded me that we might not be the only ones who had to walk in the rain to find a ride back. So, I prayed for those still in the rain that God would provide for them hastily too.
Back to the hotel, at last! I took another picture of the hotel and posted it in IG. At 23:00, my brother and I wanted to connect to an internet service. However, little did we know that the service was shut off by that time. Disappointed, we returned to our room. It is amazing what randomness can do for you. I aimlessly connected to a random WiFi network and it actually worked! I was able to send a message or two in Facebook before the connection was cut. I had actually planned to post this as soon as I finish writing, but that does not seem possible now. It’s 00:18 at the moment and I’m typing on my bed right now. I really need my rest for the following day. In conclusion, Day One in our trip is quite exciting, and I can’t wait what other things God had planned for us for tomorrow!
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