When we booked our flights to the UK, Glen apparently added in a stopover in Hong Kong of less than 24 hours. I’m sure I don’t remember being involved in this discussion as I probably would have said what a ridiculous idea it was and why wouldn’t we want to get to the UK (and a bed) as quickly as possible. Just as well we didn’t remind ourselves of this layover until about three days before we were due to fly.

We landed in Hong Kong at about 7:30am after about four hours’ sleep. I’d forgone the supper service and woke up in time for breakfast, but disjointed plane sleep doesn’t provide a whole lot of rest so the day ahead was going to be a struggle. With no hotel room booked, we just had to keep going until our flight at 12:45am. Perhaps we thought we were still 18, possibly 21.

We joined the queue for immigration with us overhearing an exchange between a married couple in the line that went along the lines of:

Wife: Do you have the cable for the phone?

Husband: Yes but I’m not getting it out now because the line is moving.

At which point she stopped talking beneath his withering glare. I laughed after they’d moved on and waited for Glen to catch on to why. He understood pretty quickly that we had just witnessed an exchange that could have easily been between us (with Glen playing the role of the husband). Good to know we’re not the only ones who struggle.

With only our backpacks to worry about, we got through immigration, out of customs and then went and changed into more appropriate clothes, ready for our day of adventure. First stop was to get train tickets to the city. We figured out the Octopus system, bought our cards and caught the train into Central. I quite like figuring out public transit systems. I’m weird.

I had no ‘must-sees’ for this trip so was happy to follow Glen wherever he wanted to go. This probably contributed to the argument-free day we had. We eventually found the correct exit out of Central station, after going up and down a bunch of lifts, and then walked through waking streets going up. Glen wanted to get to the Peak Tram so we took the scenic route through what looked like part of the old city. It felt very English, down to the narrow and cracked footpaths with their iron railings.

We found the queue for Peak Tram, a tourist attraction that Glen remembers going on when he was little, and joined the queue and waited for the trams to come and go until we could finally get on. There weren’t enough seats for us to have one so we stood in the first car and held onto the poles like monkeys. The tram goes up quite an incline so without keeping a hold of something we would have fallen to the very back. 

The ride took about ten minutes to get us to the top. We then walked around the shopping centre thing they’ve got up the top, then went to the viewing platform up the top. The mist had rolled in by then and Hong Kong wasn’t completely obscured. It was like the time we went to the Grand Canyon and it was completely blotted out with snow clouds. Alas, the spectacular view was not to be seen.

By this stage we were hungry but food options were limited and expensive so we caught the tram back down to the bottom, then a bus to Star Ferry, then the ferry across to Kowloon and a whole lot more walking until we found a food court where we had chicken rice. I was so tired at this stage that I could have happily fallen asleep at the table. But we soldiered on. More walking where we got mango, coconut and agave drinks, with a combination of milk, juice and jelly. The sugar hit did us good. More walking until we decided it would be best to go back to where we were going to be meeting Toby and Tony at 6:30 and perhaps get a massage.

An easy journey on the MRT back to Central and then to Toby’s remedial massage business where I was squeezed into an hour’s slot with Kipper for a very good back massage. Glen then went over the road to another place for shoulders and neck massage. I had a tea and a scone and then went back to Toby’s for a shower and to meet friends of his from England who we’d be having dinner with. The shower was wonderful and perked me right up.

At 6pm Toby, Tony, Rachel, Sean, Glen and I met for drinks and then caught a tram (which was a bit like the night bus from Harry Potter being very tall and slim) to Admiralty for Peking duck and other Chinese dishes for dinner. Wine too. Very good company and a lot of fun. We even managed to stay awake.

At 9:30 we parted ways with Glen and I catching the train back to the airport, going through immigration and security and then vegetating in the lounge for a few hours until it was time to board the plane. I managed to finish off reading a whole book – Anne Rice’s Blood Communion – across the day, which was enough to keep me awake. By the end of the day, Glen had a migraine and just wanted to sleep. Thankfully, once we were on the plane and had taken off we could do that. 

I was surprised we managed to last as long as we did, and without having an argument too! We’ve got a night layover on the way back but I’m so pleased we’ve booked a hotel for that. 

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