Hong Kong on the flop

On the way back home we had one more night in Hong Kong. This time, we stayed at the Mandarin Oriental. It is on Hong Kong island itself (the Peninsula is in Kowloon) and one of the other great hotels in town. We were greeted by a nice German girl at the front counter who was planning a trip to Cambodia herself. We gave her a few tips as we went up to the room.

The room was done in a very modern style. It was nicely done, but not necessarily to our taste. We wandered about the city a bit before a bath and then off to dinner.

We started with a nice coup of champagne in the bar on the top of the hotel. As we were heading up to the bar, we happened to run into the sommelier for the Pierre Garnier restaurant that is located in the hotel. We asked for a recommendation for a champagne, and he gave us great one that they import solely for their own use.

After the champagne we headed to the Peking Kitchen for Beggar’s Chicken. We had to order this in advance by at least 24 hours. We had arranged this meal before we left Hong Kong for Cambodia.

Now, Beggar’s Chicken is quite good. But for some reason they didn’t ask us to order anything else! I guess they thought “these dumb quai lohs don’t know what the heck they are doing with the Beggar’s Chicken, never mind!” But it is pretty good. You take a chicken, stuff it with some muchrooms, some meat, and then wrap it with lotus leaves. You then cover the lotus leaves with wet clay and back the darn thing. It was quite good. But we could have used some rice, or maybe baby kalian, or something or other.

The next day we headed to the central train station (we took the train rather than getting picked up by the hotel on this leg) so we could check in and hope for lucky transportation. (they have a check in counter at the train station, which is nice)

I had handed over our passports and the guy behind the counter typed our names into the computer. He then stopped, made a phone call, and handed me the phone. Now THAT can only be bad news!

The Continental Concierge told me that we really did have a confirmed seat on our flights. But if I would be interested, they would re route us through Narita (Tokyo) and get us to Houston 5 hours earlier than our original plan. Not only that, but that meant that we would avoid Newark and almost certain delays. We said “You bet!” and were told to hop to it to the airport. They had to get us on a JAL flight that was leaving an hour before our Continental flight.

We got to the airport and were met by a JAL and a Continental person. They hurried us through all the official procedures, and told us we would not be able to sit next to each other on the four hour Hong Kong to Tokyo leg. We were both in center seats, one behind the other (I was behind Doreen). But the seats were very comfortable, we had on demand video, and a pretty good Japanese meal.

We got to Narita and had to proceed briskly to a different terminal. We once again had seats in different rows, but one in front of the other. We were able to secure a trade once onboard, and that is where we are now. Doreen is sleeping, and I am not.