First Impressions of a Foreign Land

It is 5 am here. I am lying on the floor of our hotel room typing in the dark. I am typing slowly so the click of the keys doesn't wake Leslie up.

The airport was huge and modern with signs in Chinese and English. The toilet – was a sit down, not a squat, not sure if I am excited about that or not.

They drive on the left side of the road, as HK was a British colony for many years. The highways have multiple lanes and the traffic wasn't very heavy – equivalent to a Sunday evening on the Whitemud. It took about half an hour to get to our hotel in downtown Kowloon., traveling 80 kph most of the time. The ride cost $260 HK – roughly equal to just under $40 CDN dollars. The flat rate for a cab to the airport from the University of Alberta area is $46. - better value here. We did have to pay an extra eighty cents per bag though and four bucks toll as well.

Our hotel is what I would describe as reminiscent of colonialism (but what the hell do I know, I'm no decorator). It gives the impression that the British are still in control here. There is a sort of old world elegance. The elevators have a gorgeous wood paneling that I can't begin to describe, although Leslie says it is the kind of wood sailors use on their yachts. The handrails and floors are marble and brass gleams everywhere. When you arrive the bell captain takes your luggage and keeps it until you know which room is yours. They chained all three pieces of ours together - not sure if I find that reassuring.

We are members of the Royal Executive Club, which allows us to check in in the lounge on the nineteenth floor. Membership has its privileges (which card uses that tag line?). We get breakfast, afternoon tea and appies and drinks in the evening (which we definitely plan to take advantage of) and a mobile USB for intenet in our room. We toasted our arrival with a nice glass of red wine – vintage unknown.

As we were sitting there, Leslie commented that I am a smart person. Of course, I heartily agreed but then asked for a bit of clarification on what prompted that observation. When people get tired their level of smartness drops, but those who are smarter fare better because they have so many more coping strategies. Well, thanks for the compliment, but as soon as that glass of wine hit my stomach and combined with 26 hours of awakefullness, it caused a one hundred point avalanche in my IQ. I passed on the second glass of wine in favor of making it to my room before I became a drooling idiot.

Ah, let me describe the wonders of our room. We are paying about two hundred Canadian a night, close to what I paid in Tampa and to what we paid in Beijing. The comparison ends there. Tampa is what most of us recognize as a standard room. We had two almost queen sized beds, a dresser with a TV, a desk, a closet area, a bathroom with a tub. Pretty standard,

In Beijing we had a sitting room, a huge area with our two smallish queen sized beds, a bathroom with a huge tub and a separate shower. A gigantic closet..... it was opulent.

In HK – our room is a rectangle ten feet by ten feet with a triangle shaped extension that adds another eight feet at the longest part. Our two small twin beds are about six inches apart and there is barely the width of my shoulders between the foot end of the beds and the other wall. The twenty inch TV is mounted in the wall. We have a table, that counts as the desk and one chair. The closet is not wide enough to put my suitcase flat. The bathroom is standard hotel fare although on the small side. However, I got up in the middle of the night and there is water all over the floor. Not sure what is leaking but the water in the toilet bowl is blue, so at least I know its not that.

My hip hurts (what's new), I'm hungry, and its still an hour and a half to breakfast. Not the greatest of starts, but we are off shopping today, so my mood is sure to improve!

Post Script - Leslie just got up and the water all over the bathroom floor is, in fact, blue....stay tuned!