Back from Hong Kong


We got up early this morning and swiftly left the hotel, leaving the Handy phone behind. The Handy phone was a wondrous thing to have. It may have only been a fairly cheap Alcatel Android phone superglued into an orange rubbery case, but it was indeed incredibly handy. Yes, the interface could be a little aggravating at times (it took three to four key presses to turn the ringer on or off) and every time you try to do something, you’re never sure if it would do that something, or if it would first show you an advert. The adverts weren’t that aggravating, once you remembered they were probably one of the ways that the Handy phone is funded. As long as it had the truly awesome connectivity that is 3G in Hong Kong, and we didn’t have to pay for it, it was a wonderful, wonderful thing. The only aggravation we had was that there didn’t seem any way to send or receive texts from it. Since the thing that usually drives me up the wall in a foreign country is trying to find internet connectivity so I can figure out where I am, the Handy phone was a great boon this weekend.

After abandoning the Handy phone, I had to communicate with friends via text message, which left me all confused and worried. It took me half an hour of rushing up and down the waterfront in the morning sunshine before I rendezvoused with my friend, for a fairly innocuous coffee and a long gossip about the comedy scene in Hong Kong, before yomping off to Pacific Place to buy a few more bits of chocolate before we went to the airport.

Our daughter was very well behaved today. She started throwing herself around at one point on the train and banged her head, after which she remained calm until we got through Immigration, at which point she went to sleep. She remained asleep until we got on the plane, and then was pretty good for most of the journey. One good thing about the A380 is how wide the aisles are. However, whereas on the way to Hong Kong everyone had seemed quite relaxed, it felt like there were nothing but disapproving looks as she hurtled up and down the plan today. She dived headfirst into one man’s shins and then I wouldn’t let her run around any more, for fear of getting thrown off the flight early.

One bad thing about the A380 is that the wings are so big and the descent so smooth that you don’t notice you’re descending until the wheels hit the tarmac. So the flight is dull, dull, dull BANG and then your child yelps a bit, but these are minor quibbles to have about the largest commercial airliner currently in operation.

Oh, and La Serpiente Aquatica Negra does love the stairs at the back of the plane that connect the two economy decks.

We got through Customs easily enough, went down the priority lane and picked up a taxi instantly, and then after I’d drawn my daughter a picture of an apple with a smiley face, she passed out until we got home, which was when she woke up, yelled at us for a bit, and then went back to sleep once more.

Unpacking was simple enough in our furnace-like apartment. (Singapore must be too hot if Hong Kong feels cool by comparison.) Back home, it’s now time to get back into the standard schedule once more. At least after I’ve slept for a while.


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