Paul and Jess Go Global

We flew from HCMC to HK and planned to check in and then have the whole day in and around the airport while we waited for our flight at 9pm. We arrive in HK about 10:30 so plenty of time to check in our bags. The check in counter seemed to be taking a long time sorting out our tickets and after about 10 mins advised us that we had canceled our flight. Errrm, no? Where is this coming from? Apparently we had not flown from HCMC to HK?? The confusion it seemed was that we had changed our flight from 3rd to 5th but the booking agent booked us on a Vietnam share of a Cathay Pacific flight but didn't cancel the Cathay part of the flight so they thought that we didn't show up. Still following?? The problem was that the flight we were supposed to be on was full and not only that but it was over booked by 14 people and the flights to Delhi were booked for the next month - ouch!! Long story short but they could only put us on stand by and we were to check the stand by counter and 8:40 to see if we could get on. What were we going to do if we couldn't I don't know. We had booked a domestic flight to Goa as well so if we missed this flight we would lose our money.

We went to the Cathay Pacific Service desk to see if they could help and we were there for about 2 hours but the answer was the same. We were on standby. What really upset me was that it wasn't our fault but it seemed that Cathay Pacific didn't care, and to be honest why should they, it wasn't their mistake it was the Quantas office in HCMC that didn't complete the transaction correctly. We were told by Cathay that they had space in Business class and if we wanted to spend HK$10000 on an upgrade that would be fine!!!! It was suggested that we could speak to the supervisor for and upgrade so off we trundled to ticketing. No luck there. We couldn't even get close to a supervisor for a start and the business upgrades if done were given to loyalty members only. We would have to wait. I had resigned myself to this and we got a coffee and sat on the internet. Thank goodness it was HK airport though, one of the best airports in the world. Although we were not able to get through to departures there was still loads for us to do.

Paul is a legend!!! While I was licking my wounds and surfing the net he went exploring and actually found and office directory in a dark corner of the airport. Miracles happen!! There was a Qantas office in the building next door and Paul went to explore. I don't know what he did but about 40 mins later he comes down with a piece of paper saying that we could check in!! No way!! We walked over to the check in and without giving our names or any details we were directed to a check in desk that already had our boarding cards printed and waiting for us - that was a bit weird.

I guess we have learned that to get anywhere you need to speak to the right people. There is no point is wasting energy on people that really cannot do anything about your situation.

Phew!!! India here we come......

We got to Hong Kong OK - JUST!!! We nearly didn't get out of the airport in Brisbane. We got to customs and were told that we could only travel in and out of Australia using our Australian passports as our British passports didn't have any Visas in them. Well, that was a major problem as our Aussie passports were in a container being shipped to England. Well, you can imagine, I got that horrible warm sinking feeling in my gut and went bright red and nearly burst into tears. We had just had some lunch in the airport and left going through customs with only 5 mins left until boarding time. We had to sit at the side while the supervisor sorted it out, thankfully it was sorted out, phew! We got a bit of a slap on the wrists but you see we didn't want to travel with both passports for security reasons. Well, as soon as she told us that we could go she handed us our passports and I jumped up and we went through the security check,Paul's bag came through OK and then I waited for mine, and waited. Other peoples bags came through and I still waited for mine. The security guy looked in the xray machine and my bag was no where to be seen. Oh my god!! I have lost my bag already, how was that possible?? Panic started to set in and then as I looked over to the seating where we had been waiting for our passports my bag was still there!! Ooops. Security nearly didn't let me back to get it but I think he saw the panic and tears welling up in my eyes, he let me go and get it and I think all of the security guys had a laugh as I was convinced the machine had eaten my bag. Finally on the plane and a few deep breaths later we were on our way.

I was bit anxious about Hong Kong as it has about 20 million people in a very small space so I was expecting it to be really manic but it isn't. The public transport is very well organised clean and on time. It is amazing. There is even a flashing light on the subway map on the trains showing you where you are and advises you what side of the train to disembark from. Very impressed. I can now speak Chinese... well, "please mind the gap", "The next station is...." and "Doors will open on the left hand side of the train" Does that count? :0) We got the train straight to our hotel, well 100m from it which was fantastic. We are staying in Chungking Mansions and let me tell you that they are FAR from mansions. I got to the room and nearly hyperventilated. The rooms are soooooo small, very claustraphobic. Paul always knew my initial reaction would be a bad one. The bathroom is not really a bathroom but a "shoilet" this shower over toilet。 Wait until you see the piccies!! After you have spent a night in them the shock wears off and they were not too bad and you don't really spend too much time in them anyway. The beds are solid as a bloomin rock though but we have improvised and put our sleeping bags on them which is much better.

Having Won Ton soup for breakky is a bit weird but we knew that part of the excitement of different countries is the food, I am trying to avoid meat but it is nearly impossible and Paul has not been game enough to try the chicken feet - euuuukkkk!!!!

We were a bit buggered on the first night but knew that we couldn't sit in the room for longer than was necessary so we decided to go for a walk along the harbour. We went to see the city lights which were amazing. Hong Kong from here didn't look as big as I expected, the lights on the buildings were great. It made changing my lightbulbs at home to the envionmentally friendly ones pale into insignificance but I still believe that if everyone does their bit it will make a difference. Anyway we had a wander and it was still hot and humid but as it was evening it was a little cooler - slightly.

We have been to Lantau island to see the HUGE bronze buddha which was pretty cool and well worth a visit. From there we saw a view across the Islands. The budda is 26 metres high and about 56 tonnes of bronze I think. It was built pretty recently in 1992 which was really surprising. The buddha is beautiful though, really peaceful.

We got the tram up to the peak on our last night to see a panoramic view of Hong Kong and I must admit it was the first time we really appreciated the scale of the place. Seeing as a lot of the island is not able to be built on because of the mountains they have certainly packed in the buildings. We then spent hours walking back from the peak. The guide book mentions a huge escalator apparently 800m long and we thought this would be fun to get back down to the city. However, we soon discovered that the escalator is only one way and is it not even one escalator it is several. We ended up walking down what seemed like millions of steps. My feet were pretty raw. Well at least it wore us out so we were exhausted and just drifted into a slumber when we got back to the "mansions".